Based on oral historical interviews funded in part by the Stahl Fund conducted in August of 2024, this talk explores community and Indigenous values and memories about birds at Picuris Pueblo. This oral historical research is part of a larger investigation into avian-human relationships at Picuris Pueblo in tandem with a legacy collection of avifaunal remains from the 1960s excavations at the pueblo. I will describe how Picuris community members describe their own relationships to birds, and the larger environment as well as relate these narratives with the zooarchaeological narratives emerging the faunal analysis of the avifaunal collection. I explore how close avian relationships in the past shape Picurian values of reciprocity and respect with animals and the larger animate environment.
As described by interviewees at Picuris, birds are teachers that have given knowledge to Indigenous peoples in New Mexico for time immemorial and continue to do so. Methodologically, this research demonstrates how zooarchaeological interpretations are bolstered and bettered by knowledge from descendent communities who continue to foster Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), even when the knowledge is fragmentary due to centuries of colonialism and estrangement from traditional activities.