Refiguring the Population History of the Tewa Basin

Estimates of regional population sizes in the Northern Rio Grande region (NRG) of New Mexico during the Coalition period (A.D. 1200-1350) have been used to infer large-scale immigration from the central Mesa Verde region of southwestern Colorado after A. D. 1250/1275. Here we compare the most recent population estimates for these two regions and critically examine the assertion that the Tewa language was brought to the Tewa Basin within the NRG through large-scale immigration from the central Mesa Verde region. Our results suggest that the number of immigrants in the Tewa Basin, who were likely refugees of violent conflict and famine, represented less than half the total population, and thus was likely insufficient to precipitate language replacement. This finding, combined with recent research identifying Late Developmental period (A.D. 900-1200) villages in the Tewa Basin with Tewa names, and the previously described continuity in material culture and architecture, suggests the Tewa Basin is likely the ancestral homeland of the Tewa.