Last week our Take a Walk with Birkenstock series took us to the Estancia Basin in New Mexico and the ruins of the pueblo town Quarai. This week we will take a visual tour of Gran Quivira.
At an elevation of 6,500 feet above sea level, Gran Quivira is a little lower in elevation than Quarai, hence their abundant building material was a type of blue-gray limestone with a yellow clay mortar instead of red sandstone.
The history of Gran Quivira pueblo is similar to Quarai, with differences being Gran Quivira had less water so the Native Americans needed to create rather ingenious water catchment systems, wells and cisterns.
It was a thriving town with an extensive trade network with the Plains Indians to the east.
The ruins are especially beautiful as the low light of sunset makes them glow.
Take a walk with Birkenstock.
