Media:

The party to celebrate the many contributions that Larry has made took place on June 8th, 2024. We were thrilled to host it here at Salmon Ruins, around the amphitheater on the lower grounds. About 60 people attended, many of whom were old friends and work partners going back to the 1970s. We had music played by Matt Palulis, the best brisket and pulled pork that anyone had ever eaten from San Juan BBQ in Aztec, and equally delicious beans and potato salad from Dickey's BBQ in Farmington, Larry's favorite beer and wine, and a celebratory cake. Larry and many of the guests recounted memories and stories from the past, and of course there were gifts! A commemorative bench from his family will be permanently installed on the patio of the museum, and a personalized pot engraved just for him from his employees at the museum were some of the gifts. Many of his friends also made or found unique items for him as well.

In May, Larry received the prestigious lifetime achievement award from the New Mexico State Archaeology Department, recognizing primarily his work to educate the public about, and to physically stabilize, early Navajo sites in San Juan and Rio Arriba counties known as Pueblitos. These buildings are defensive sites that were built to protect semi-nomadic family groups from the effects of Spanish Colonization, which began in 1705. In August, he also received the prestigious Victor Stoner Award from the Pecos Conference, again focusing on his lifetime of preservation and education work in the southwest. Larry has decided to stay on part time as our Coordinator of Preservation and Research.

Museum Displays:

The San Juan County Museum Association is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that was formed to acquire and organize funding for Salmon Ruins, which is not supported by federal or state tax money. It is through our entrance fees, private Tours, Gift Shop sales, donations by members and visitors, and our archaeological contract company, the Division of Conservation Archaeology (DCA) that we are able to provide educational outreach, an exhibit space, and maintain stabilization and structural repairs to the Salmon Ruins site itself. These needs are extreme and constant, and we appreciate all of the individuals who have supported our mission in the past, and who continue to do so. Become a member to help out, follow the links to learn more about us, and continue reading to find out how Salmon Ruins came to be.

Larry Baker Retires!

Events:

The pueblo village is now named Salmon Ruins in honor of the family who went to such effort to preserve and protect the site. In the 1960s, the family was ready to move on but wanted the site and homestead to be used for educational purposes. The San Juan County Museum Association took over in 1969, and arranged for excavation of the ruin between 1972 and 1978. This was conducted by archaeology students from Eastern New Mexico University and was directed by Dr. Cynthia Irwin-Williams. The museum was built to display recovered artifacts and manage visitation at the site. Salmon Ruins opened to the public in 1973. Heritage Park was started in 1990 to commemorate the lifeways of the region’s diverse cultures who didn’t live on the grounds but are part of the cultural use of the area.

Real Life Archaeology:

Research Never Stops:

Gift Shop:

What do we have to offer? And what does it have to do with the fish?

You bring the adventurous spirit, we'll supply the archaeology!

The site itself was built in A.D. 1088 by people we know today as Ancestral Puebloans. The village was lived in until around 1288. The structure and artifacts show a clear architecture and culture relationship to those in Chaco Canyon, identifying Salmon Pueblo as a Chacoan Outlier. Starting as early as 1050, and becoming extensive by 1200, a slow migration began to draw family groups away from villages throughout the Four Corners region and towards protective locations atop steep mesas, or to reliable water sources near the Rio Grande region. By 1300, the inhabitants of most Four Corners pueblos had migrated, leaving their villages to fall into ruin. Athabaskan-speaking hunters and gatherers began to expand into the region by the 1400s, often reusing the resources and materials from the abandoned villages that they encountered. Athabaskan groups were well established and thriving when Spanish explorers entered the Four Corners region in the mid 1500s. Defensive Pueblito structures were built by the Navajo during the 1600s and 1700s throughout the region and can still be seen at the heads of canyons or perched atop boulders where the view enabled them to protect their families and livestock.

OPEN 9-5 daily. Access to grounds is permitted through museum ONLY.

Salmon Ruins

Salmon Ruins brings the ancient world into a modern perspective, where visitors have a unique opportunity to walk through an excavated archaeological site, see some of the artifacts on display, visit a surviving New Mexico frontier homestead, and explore full-scale reconstructions of the habitations used by Native Americans in New Mexico going back to the end of the Ice Age. All of these experiences are in one location, accessed from US Highway 64, just 2 miles west of Bloomfield, NM.