With a mandate to preserve and protect all archaeological featurs on Mesa Prieta, north of Espanola, the project implements two educational programs and a large recording program.Our 4th - 7th grade STEM-based curriculum, "Discovering Mesa Prieta: The Petroglyphs of Northern New Mexico and the People Who Made Them", is currently taught in about 17 Pueblo and community schools between Taos and Santa fe. At least one teacher training is held at the Northern Rio Grande Heritager Center each year. Our national award winning Summer Youth Intern Program celebrates its 16th anniversary in 2017. Each summer for two weeks, local Pueblo, Hispano and Anglo youth 13-18 are trained to record petroglyphs. Skills learned include teamwork, outdoor skills, digital photography, mapping, metrics, GPS use, Geographical Information System (GIS) data gathering, entry and manipulation, scientific terminology and petroglyph categorization. Students receive a small stipend. Tours of the Wells Petroglyph Preserve, a state and nationally registered heritage property of petroglyph concentration, serve about 1000 children and adults across the state and beyond each year. Petroglyphs and other archaeological features such as trails and structures are recorded on private land. It is estimated that there are some 100,000 glyphs existing, about half of which have been recorded.These data will increase the knowledge base of historic and prehistoric remains in New Mexico.
The Mesa Prieta Petroglyph Project promotes heritage stewardship and the preservation of archaeological features and the environmental and cultural landscape of the Mesa Prieta region of the northern Rio Grande Valley through documentation, education and public outreach.
1431 Hwy 68