Posi-Ouinge - New World Ancient Evidence on Waymarking.com

The trail to Posi begins at the Ojo Caliente Mineral Spa at N36 18.312 W106 03.165 next to the Posi Center Lodging. A rough sketch of the trail and a BLM interpretive pamphlet can be obtained from the Spa Lodge reception. The trail is steep and rocky in places, sandy, and level in others. The trail is not paved. It winds westward up the drainage from the Hot Springs, heads south and bisects the Pueblo at its highest point. It continues northward above the west side of the Rio Ojo Caliente and connects back to the main trail. The round trip hike covers about a mile.

Visitors should wear comfortable hiking shoes, carry water, and plan on an hour's walk.

Remember it is not only disrespectiful but also illegal to remove any pottery, building stone, or other artifacts. Please leave the artifacts where you find them.

The interpretive pamphlet available at the Spa reception identifies 5 stops. As it can be easy to miss the markers, the GPS coordinates for these stops are :

1) N36 18.022 W106 03.396
2) N36 17.974 W106 03.400
3) N36 17.946 W106 03.379
4) N36 17.924 W106 03.355
5) N36 17.930 W106 03.329

The Tewa Indians have a story about their origin. It is a tale of a long journey. They tell about the beginning when the Tewa were one people. Dividing themselves into two groups called the Summer People and the Winter People, they traveled along the sides of two big rivers: the Rio Grande and the Rio Chama. They made many stops along the way, building a village at each location.

Oral histories tell us Posi-ouinge was the Tewa home for a long time until an epidemic struck and the elders decided the people should depart. When the people left Posi-ouinge, they founded several other villages. The Tewa called the first one Yunque-ouinge. When the Spanish arrived, the Tewa moved across the river to Okhay Owingeh, "the place of the strong people."

Archaeologists know that Posi-ouinge or Posi, the "Greenness Pueblo", is a special place for many Tewa Indians. The Tewa are descendants of prehistoric peoples who lived in the Ojo Caliente drainage during the late 1300s until the early 1500s, just before the Spanish entered the area. The word "Tewa" refers to a group of puebloan inhabitants living along the northern Rio Grande and speaking a simlar language. The word "pueblo" means "town" or "village" and was used by the Spanish to describe the communities where the Tewa and other native people lived.

Adolph Bandelier and Edgar Hewitt were archaeologists working in the Southwest during the late 1880s and early 1900s. Both researchers conducted extensive surveys in the area, locating many places where early inhabitants of pueblos lived. Although neither of them excavated Posi, they did describe the layout of the Pueblo and lamented the effects of erosion and pothunting.

Because of their work, we know that Posi, like many of its sister pueblos occupying the neighboring drainages, was a vibrant center of activity in the 15th century. Inhabited by generations of people for over a century, the village may have had as many as 1000 ground floor rooms and almost as many on the second and third stories! The rooms may have been built in different episodes, much like additions to a modern home, providing storage or extra space for visiting relatives or newcomers moving into the Pueblo.

Type: Ruins How did you find this "Ancient Evidence": Deliberately Searching Terrain Rating: Trailhead: Not Listed

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