The Acoma Nation & its Mesa-Top Pueblo
US National Park Service
Set within the vast desert of northern New Mexico, a massive, 357-foot tall mesa stands proud. Known as Acoma Rock, the craggy, flat-topped mountain is home to Acoma, a National Historic Landmark, & one of the oldest continuously occupied communities in what is now the United States. The pueblo’s lofty, isolated location made it virtually impenetrable throughout the precontact period, which allowed the village & its people to flourish & develop distinct cultural traditions.
Founded as early as 1100 A.D & evolving throughout the centuries, Acoma illustrates the significance of early native peoples in New Mexico & the profound influence of Spanish culture in the Southwest beginning in the 16th century. The pueblo is home to the San Esteban del Rey Mission Church, which the Spanish Franciscan friars built in the early 1600s. The mission is the oldest surviving European church in New Mexico & an impressively large, stately presence among Acoma Pueblo’s adobe homes. The pueblo illustrates the amalgamation of European & Native cultures in New Mexico & helps illuminate the history of Spanish contact & interaction with the ancient peoples of the United States.
Opinions differ on the age of the Acoma Nation & its mesa-top pueblo. Traditional Acoma oral history tells of an ancient city far older than our imaginations & current calendars can comprehend. “Acoma” itself translates in local dialects to a “place that always was” & legend tells that the Acoma people have lived on the mesa forever.
Scientific, historical & archeological evidence dates the Pueblo’s oldest extant remains to around 1100 A.D. & suggests that the Acoma people likely lived in the desert surrounding the mesa during earlier times & at some point decided to scale the massive rock & move their village to the top. An extensive archeological survey of the pueblo in the 1950s revealed the ancient people to be prolific potters, & skilled artisans & architects.
In the early 1500s, Viceroy of New Spain Antonio de Mendoza called for the first explorations into the lands north of Spain’s holdings at the time, which are now in modern-day Mexico. Rumors flew of vast cities of gold & incredible riches waiting for the Spanish Crown to claim them. Throughout the 16th & 17th centuries, many expeditions traveled into present-day Arizona & New Mexico. Even though Acoma sat isolated on its mesa, several Spanish explorers visited it, including Hernando de Alvarado in 1540 (a member of the Francisco Vásquez de Coronado mission), the Chamuscado-Rodriguez expedition in 1581, Antonio de Espejo in 1583, & Juan de Oñate in 1598.
Early Spanish reports indicate that the pueblo was a village of roughly 500 three or four stories tall adobe houses. Windows were small & limited & doors at the ground level did not exist. Instead, residents entered buildings via ladders placed through holes in the roof. At the time, the only way to the mesa’s top was a series of hand & toeholds carved into the steep rock. The people had to carry all of the materials used to construct the original community up the cliffs on their backs.
Because of its location, Acoma was one of the most resistant pueblos to Spanish rule. During early Spanish contact, reports indicate that the Acoma were friendly, often meeting expedition parties at the bottom of the mesa to greet & assist them. As time moved on & the Spanish presence became more & more persistent, however, the Acoma retaliated. In December 1598, residents lured Captain Juan de Zaldívar, one of Oñate's officers, into the pueblo & murdered him & 14 of his men. This had dire consequences for the village two months later when Zaldívar’s brother arrived with a force of 70 Spanish soldiers to avenge the deaths. A bitter battle resulted in the sacking & burning of much of the pueblo & the death of approximately 1,500 residents. The Spanish forced those who remained to surrender the pueblo to the Spanish. Oñate himself demanded sentencing survivors to indentured servitude & bodily mutilation. Oñate’s harsh & unfair treatment of the Acoma people would later lead to his legal expulsion from New Mexico & Mexico City.
With the rebuilding of the pueblo under Spanish rule in the early 1600s, missionary efforts began to convert the Acoma to Catholicism & Spanish ways of life. Still, strong resistance remained among the natives, & the Spanish did not have a mission church constructed until the late 1620s. Although earlier priests visited the pueblo, Father Juan Ramirez is noteworthy as the first permanent Franciscan father to live in Acoma. It is likely that he began the building of San Esteban del Rey Mission Church upon his arrival in 1629, but the exact dates of its construction are unknown. The huge church, which still stands today, is an impressive work of architecture – especially considering that native workers had to carry all of its materials up the mountain. These materials included the church’s 40-foot long roof beams, originally hewn in the San Mateo Mountains, 30 miles away.
The church is simple in plan, with a long nave & a polygonal sanctuary at its western end. Its exterior is impressively tall due to battered walls that are up to seven-feet high from the base, tapering up to a mere 30 inches at their peak. Two square bell towers flank the main façade & contain bells brought from Mexico during the 1800s. A one-story convento sits along the north side of the church & once housed living space, workrooms, & storage for the father & friars who were in residence. A large cemetery surrounded by a low wall sits in front of the church & contains the remains of both native & Spanish residents from throughout the centuries.
During the 1600s, tensions remained high between the Spanish & native peoples throughout the Southwest. Most of the conflict centered on religious disagreements, & in 1680, many villages, including Acoma, took part in a large pueblo rebellion. The rebellion resulted in the death of several hundred Franciscan fathers, the destruction of many churches, & the death or banishment from pueblo towns of many Spanish residents. Acoma’s priest, Fray Lucas Maldonado, & the other Spaniards living in the pueblo did not survive the rebellion, but San Esteban del Rey Mission Church remained largely unharmed. It has continued to serve Acoma’s Catholic residents since Spanish re-conquest of Acoma Pueblo in 1699.
