The Archaeology of the Pueblo Revolt and the Formation of the Modern Pueblo World

Abstract

The Pueblo Revolt and its aftermath (AD 1680-1696) was a crucial period in the history of the American Southwest. Previous studies of this era have focused primarily on the causes of the Revolt, often casting it as an isolated and anomalous event. This article takes a different approach, investigating the effects of the Revolt era on Pueblo cultures and communities in the years, decades, and centuries that followed the uprising of 1680. Recent archaeological research on ancestral Keres and Jemez villages in the northern Rio Grande reveals evidence for cultural revitalization and ethnogenesis in the wake of the Revolt. The long-term implications of Revolt-era diaspora and migration are also reviewed, as well as the role of memory and oral traditions of this tumultuous period in the formation of modern Pueblo cultures and communities.