9,000 bc -- Clovis points

the oldest tools found on the American continent, named for the city of Clovis, New Mexico, where the first points were found. Now, Clovis points have been found all over the American continents.



 

Petrogylphs

- 3,000 bc to around 1650 ad -- Petroglyphs are found etched in basalt boulders along a 17 mile escarpment near Albuquerque, New Mexico. Those made between 1300 and 1650 are important cultural symbols of the Pueblo peoples of the area, who still return to hold rituals at the site. .



 

1050 ad- the Pueblo of Acoma

Acoma was founded in 1050 ad, making it the oldest continuously inhabited village in the New World. It is built atop of a 357 ft high mesa and was at first reached only by a secret trail with hand and footholds carved into the rock. The Spanish stumbled on Acoma in 1540, and conquered the people in 1598. As reparation, the Acomans were forced to build a mission on top of their mesa, which still stands, but is no longer used for religious ceremonies.
Today, the Acomans open their town to tourists on a strictly controlled basis. There is a visitor center at the base of their mesa, and tourists are taken up by van in small groups (with a guide) and are not allowed to wander off by themselves. This is a living village and the residents' privacy must be repected. Still photography is allowed, for a fee.



Crypto-Jews.

Soon after the New World was discovered, Isabella and Ferdinand demanded that the Jews convert or leave. Most left, but about 50,000 converted. They were called "conversos" by the Spanish, and "marranos" (meaning "swine") by the departed Jews.
Although Judaism is a patriarchal religion, it is the women who sustain it through the home rituals. Many of these conversions were not sincere, and although the "conversos" attended mass and had their children baptized, these families kept the dietary laws, lit candles (obscured by pots) on Friday night and observed other Jewish traditions.
When the new world was opened to settlers from Spain, these conversos - (today called Crypto-Jews) - fled, hoping to practice their religion more openly. Unfortunately the Inquisition followed them to the new world establishing offices in Lima Peru and Mexico City. The Crypto-Jews moved farther north, eventually settling in Arizona and New Mexico.
There are about 30 families remaining. the traditions handed down from mother to daughter. They are not anxious to join traditional temples even now because the secrecy has become a part of their tradition.



 

Sante Fe

was founded in 1607. making it both the oldest capital city in N. America and site of the oldest public building in the U.S. - the Palace of Governors.



The Lincoln County Wars

- In the 1870's JJ Dolan & Co (called "the House" and managed by the Murphy brothers) held a monopoly on the economic life of Lincoln County, with the only store and contracts with the army for supplies, cattle, hay. It was very profitable.
Then an Englishman, James Turnstall, established his own store, thinking he could break the monopoly and take over the army contracts. Many Lincoln residents, who resented the high prices of the Murphys, backed Turnstall.
They did not realize the ruthlessness of Murphy's gang, who ambushed and killed Turnstall. Both the sheriff and the judge were indebted to the "House", and the murder of Turnstall was not investigated. But Turnstall's men, who called themselves "the Regulators" and included a teenager from New York called Billy the Kid, took the law into their own hands and went after Murphy's men. Open warfare broke out, and 1/4 of the residents of Lincoln County were killed in the ensuing gun battles.
President Rutherford B. Hayes declared the county in a "state of insurrection" and sent in troops from Fort Stanton.
It was a war that no one won. The House was bankrupt, Turnstall and many on both sides were dead.



 

Fort Seldon

was built in 1865 to protect travelers and settlers from the Apache Indians. In 1866 two companies of Buffalo Soldiers were garrisoned there. These units, created after the civil war, were made up of black soldiers.
As a child, Douglas Macarthur lived in the fort during 1884 - 86 when his father was commander of the fort.
The fort was decommissioned in 1891. A contractor, who was removing the bodies in the fort cemetery to Fort Bliss, took the wood roofing from the buildings of the fort, and the walls were left to decay in the weather. Today, it is a New Mexico state monument with a small museum and interpreters dressed as post Civil War soldiers. Visitors can walk through the ruins.