Rio del Norte - Carroll L. Riley

Rio del Norte chronicles the upper Rio Grande region
and its divers peoples across twelve thousand years of continuous history. Based
on the most up-to-date historical and archaeological research, Rio del
Norte is a tour de force, highlighting the unbroken history of the upper Rio
Grande.

Beginning with the mammoth hunters of eleven millennia ago,
Carroll Riley adeptly eaves the threads of twelve thousand years of continuous
history through the introduction of agriculture, the rise of the
Basketmaker-Pueblo (Anasazi) people, and the extraordinary "quickening" that
occurred along the Rio Grande and its tributaries as the Anasazi era
ended.

At that time large towns appeared, some holding several thousand
people who practiced irrigation-based agriculture, maintained complex social and
political organizations, and had a rich artistry. This "golden age" was
continuing when Spaniards contacted, then colonized and missionized the region.
In 1680 the Pueblos joined in a powerful record and ousted the invaders.
Although the Spanish returned, the Pueblos have maintained important parts of
their cultural heritage to the present.