Oshara tradition

The Oshara Tradition was a way of life from long ago in the American Southwest. It was centered in parts of what we now call New Mexico and Colorado. This tradition grew from an earlier culture known as the Picosa culture, which lived in the same area.

A scientist named Cynthia Irwin-Williams studied this tradition carefully. She worked in a place called the Arroyo Cuervo in northwestern New Mexico. From her studies, she created a timeline to understand how people lived during the Archaic times, called the Archaic culture.

Many believe that the people who later became known as the Ancestral Puebloans began from the Oshara Tradition. This helps us learn about the history and changes of ancient communities in this part of the world.

Phases

This sequence includes six different periods, each identified by special tools and items.

• Jay phase (7,450 to 6,750 years ago) – People were hunters and gatherers, living near canyons. They used simple stone tools and long, narrow tools for hunting.
• Bajada phase (6,750 to 5,150 years ago) – New tools and different places for fires appeared.
• San Jose phase (6,750 to 3,750 years ago) – Tools for grinding food were used, and more places where people lived were found, along with trash heaps.
• Armijo phase (3,750 to 2,750 years ago) – People began to grow maize, which helped them have more food. They also started using special meeting places for up to 50 people.
• En Medio phase (2,750 to 1,550 years ago) – More living places appeared, usually at the bottom of cliffs, and people began storing extra food in pits.
• Trujillo phase (starting about 1,550 years ago) – Pottery was first used during this time.

Sites

Oshara sites have been found near Denver, the Upper Gunnison River basin, and the Mesa Verde area of Colorado as well as in several sites in New Mexico and Arizona. These places show where people lived and worked long ago.