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Kate Nelson
Author
Kate Nelson

Kate Nelson has been discovering New Mexico’s stories, towns and restaurants since 1989 as a Midwestern transplant. Today, she serves as New Mexico Magazine’s managing editor and enjoys hearing from our longtime readers.

Unearth the Wonders of Portales

THE PLAINS OF EASTERN NEW MEXICO begin bending into gentle hills and folds—grass-coated dunes, some of which are still “actively migrating,” says Brendon Asher. The archaeologist and director of the…

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Take a Spin to See the Roto-Sphere

WHEN IT WORKED, the Roto-Sphere above the El Comedor de Anayas restaurant, in Moriarty, lured hungry motorists off I-40 and onto Old Route 66. Neon lights lined its 16 colorful spikes. The ball they…

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A Brief Timeline of Native History

850: First great houses built at Pueblo Bonito and Una Vida in Chaco Canyon. 1050: Chaco culture reaches its height. 1068–1072: First Chacoan structures built at what is now called Salmon Ruins. 1105:…

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Ancient Enigmas

IN THE 17TH CENTURY, the Four Corners region turned cruel. Chaco’s Ancestral Puebloan people had fled three centuries earlier, their elaborate social structure abandoned as the culture’s various…

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Cultural Vocabulary Lesson

Navajo people use the name Diné to describe themselves. The Bureau of Land Management area with Navajo defensive sites is called the Dinétah by archaeologists. In the Diné language, Dinétah refers…

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Protect Our Historic Sites

Volunteers donate time and gas money to monitor archaeological sites all across the state for erosion, vandalism, looting, and deteriorating conditions. The Salmon Ruins Museum’s team of site stewards…

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Explore Archaeology

THE CHACOAN PAST enthralls visitors to Chaco Culture National Historical Park, southwest of Nageezi; Aztec Ruins National Monument, in Aztec; and Salmon Ruins Museum, in Bloomfield, which also tells…

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The Stolen Smith Family Totem Pole

RISING A TRIUMPHANT 41 FEET INSIDE THE HIBBEN CENTER on the University of New Mexico’s Albuquerque campus, the Smith Family Totem Pole traveled a long and controversial route from the Tlowitsis Nation…

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What We're Reading: Blind Eye

A DOUBLE MURDER ANCHORS MARTHA BURNS’S debut novel, Blind Eye (Atmosphere Press), but the mystery of its perpetrator fits into larger dramas of generational abuse and a community’s reluctance to…

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