Salinas Pueblo Missions NM - Gran Quivira Ruins

Gran Quivira, or Las Humanas as the Spaniards called it, was the largest of the Salinas pueblos, with a population of about 1,500, and an important trade center for many years before and after the Spanish expeditions.

Of the three pueblos in this national monument, Gran Quivira has been the most extensively uncovered. The early pueblos here (1200-1400 AD), were concentric circles with excellent masonry and mortar work. The later pueblo (1550-1670 AD) was built on on top of the earlier pueblo; its rock work and masonry are decidedly inferior. Note, too, that the rock available here to build both the church and the pueblo is not the red sandstone of the more northern Abo and Quarai pueblos.