Shaft House Pueblito, Cuervo Canyon, Dulce, Rio Arriba County, NM

Significance: The Pueblo Revolt of 1680 and subsequent Spanish reconquest of 1692 forced many Pueblo tribes to flee westward and seek temporary refuge with the Navajo. Shaft House Pueblito was one such refugee site. Much like the Anasazi ruins at Mesa Verde National Park, Shaft House was constructed high atop a precipice sandstone cliff face. The precarious location afforded the Pueblo and Navajo with a strategic view of Cuervo Canyon. The two story structure contains fourteen inter-connected rooms. An impressive masonry tower connects the lower and upper stories. The narrow second floor passageway is pierced with several small loopholes, one of which looks directly down the hatch of the tower. The archeological site, containing a mixture of Navajo and Pueblo features, was probably abandoned some time around 1750.
Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: N557
Survey number: HABS NM-153
Building/structure dates: ca. 1692 Initial Construction