Mesa Prieta Petroglyph Project
Grants Awarded
The Summer Youth Internship Program aims to educate students in archaeology and environmental science, fostering their understanding of local history through advanced STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) concepts and leadership training. Participants will gain hands-on experience recording petroglyphs while local K-12 students benefit from engaging outdoor educational visits, promoting community involvement and awareness of local heritage.
This funding request is focused on maintaining and improving the trails at Wells Preserve to ensure safety and enhance accessibility for visitors and K-12 schools from Rio Arriba County and local tribes. Additionally, by addressing trail erosion, the program will highlight the diverse archaeological features and enrich the understanding of the region's history for all community members.
The program focuses on preserving New Mexico's largest petroglyph site and sharing its cultural, historical, and archaeological richness with local students. Through the Summer Youth Program, students learn about archeology and environmental science, and contribute towards documenting the site's 80,000 petroglyphs and artifacts. This strengthens ties with local education, sparking interest in land preservation, and encouraging students to seek higher education in related fields, ultimately benefiting the local community.
The Mesa Prieta Petroglyph Project (MPPP) has three goals: 1) to record archaeological features, 2) to protect and preserve the cultural legacy of the mesa, and 3) education outreach to communities to promote heritage stewardship. Over the last twenty-five years, MPPP has worked with hundreds of volunteers, recorders and students who have documented over 80,000 archaeological features on the mesa, a major accomplishment of the project. We estimate there are well over 100,000 petroglyphs and archaeological features at the site. Our recording and documentation of the site have been publicly shared with K-12 schools, students and local tribes and communities. Located on Ancestral Tewa lands, MPPP recognizes the responsibility of stewardship and building strong community partnerships. Local schools such as Ohkay Owingeh Community School and Khapo Owingeh, bring students regularly and incorporate our curriculum, Discovering Mesa Prieta: The Petroglyphs of Northern New Mexico and the People Who Made Them. This was developed in 2009 and in 2011 MPPP received the Take Pride in America National Award for our Summer Youth Intern Program. Over the last 25 years, MPPP has worked with students, teachers, and community members to engage in outdoor and STEM education. Some of our summer youth alumni have gone on to further their studies and build careers in science, land management and education. We have alumni currently working at Los Alamos National Laboratory and education leaders employed at Ohkay Owingeh and beyond.