NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – Happy birthday, New Mexico! Today, the Land of Enchantment is celebrating its 113th anniversary of statehood. With a rich history and culture spanning thousands of years, this milestone is worth celebrating.
New Mexico’s first known inhabitants were the members of the Clovis culture of Paleo-Indians. Footprints discovered in 2017 suggest humans were possibly present in the region as long ago as 21,000-23,000 BCE. The Mogollon and Ancestral Pueblo cultures, which are distinguished by their fine ceramics and urbanization, are instances of later occupants; Pueblos or their ruins, such as those at Acoma, Taos, and Chaco Culture National Historical Park, demonstrate the scope of Ancestral Puebloan residences in the vicinity. The Ancestral Puebloans’ extensive trading networks gave rise to tales of an enigmatic northern empire rivaling Mesoamerica and the Aztec Empire, which they dubbed Yancuic Mexico, translating to “a new Mexico.”
