Travel Secrets by V

Visit ancient Native American ruins from 1300 AD with beautifully painted murals inside a ceremonial kiva. In order to protect the mural, pictures are not allowed inside the kiva. Click here to see it.

How the Coronado came to be

Native Americans started settling around this area in 600 AD. The Rio Grande runs through here and the valleys around it were lush with vegetation. It was a great place to hunt and gather vegetation. The Native Americans started building “pit-houses” on the terraces along the river and they began farming the flood plains below. Pit-houses are semi-subterranean houses. They would have provided good insulation.

Eventually immigrants from Arizona, southern New Mexico, Colorado and Utah started to settle in the same valley and together, they created the Village of Kuaua around 1300 AD. Kuaua means evergreen in Tiwa, the language the people spoke here at the time. The village grew to over 1000 rooms and it had 10 ceremonial Kivas to accommodate a population of over 1200. The homes were made by piling adobe on top of itself and letting it dry, then repeating the process until they had a wall. They built up to 3 stories high using this method. They became a unique multi-ethnic society that flourished along the Rio Grande.

Why is it called the Coronado?

In 1540, an army led by Francisco Vásquez de Coronado came through the Rio Grande valley around this area. They were searching for the fabled Seven Cities of Gold. They didn’t find gold. Instead they found a bunch of very prosperous farming villages. During the winter of 1540-1541, Coronado led an expedition against the Tiwa Indians which was called the Tiguex War. It didn’t produce any gold so he returned to Mexico in 1542.

In 1598, during colonization, Juan de Onate built an estate south of Kuaua and he started taxing the Tiwa villagers. A lot of the locals were killed when they refused to cooperate and many others died from the diseases the colonists brought in. It was abandoned in 1680 after the Pueblo Revolt.

The Murals and Painted Kivas

The site was unoccupied until the ruins were excavated from 1934-1939. Inside the kivas they found murals that were painted on top of murals. One kiva had 17 layers of painted murals!

The main attraction at this site is the mural inside the ceremonial kiva. Pictures inside the kiva are not allowed so I can’t show you what it looks like.  I will try to get permission to take pictures when this site becomes more popular.  In the meantime, you have to trust me on this one and go see it for yourself. It’s totally worth it! The mural is absolutely gorgeous. It’s amazing to see that people were able to create such beautiful artwork in the late 15th to early 16th century.

It was designated as New Mexico’s first State Monument in 1935 it was also the first state archaeological site that was open to the public in NM. Since this site is made from Adobe and that deteriorates quickly, a large portion of this site is still buried in order to help preserve it.

From I-25 take Exit 242. Take US-55 Turn right on Kuaua Rd. Destination is on your right.

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