ThePueblo IV period (1350–1600) was the fourth period of theAncestral Puebloans inOasisamerica. At the end of priorPueblo III period, ancestral Puebloans living in the Colorado and Utah regions abandoned their settlements and migrated south to thePecos River andRio Grande valleys. As a result, pueblos in those areas saw a significant increase in total population.

The Pueblo IV period (Pecos Classification) is similar to the "Regressive Pueblo period" or, referring to the Ancestral Puebloans of Colorado and Utah, the "post-Pueblo period." It is preceded by Pueblo III and is followed by the presentPueblo V period.

Puebloan villages in Arizona and New Mexico had multi-storied pueblos of up to a thousand clustered rooms. The New Mexico villages were generally larger than those of western region, which had large plazas with long, rectangularkivas.^[1]

The great migration out of Colorado and Utah at the end of thePueblo III period resulted in an influx of people into theRio Grande andLittle Colorado River valleys. Within Arizona and New Mexico there was an aggregation of people from outlying sites to larger pueblos. The puebloan territory of the Pueblo IV period also included theWhite Mountains,Verde Valley,Anderson Mesa, andPecos areas.^[1][2]

• Rio Grande valley. Many puebloan people were found in the Rio Grande Valley, including theAcoma Pueblo andZuni Pueblo areas, when the Spanish arrived about 1540.^[1]
• Bandelier area pueblos experienced considerable construction, increased population and improved standard of living after 1300.^[3] Black-on-white pottery excavated at Bandelier was indistinguishable from that of theMesa Verde National Park, indicating that at least some of the new residents came from Mesa Verde.^[4]
• Abandoned communities. Many of the sites of the early Pueblo IV period were abandoned by the 15th century, such as those in the White Mountains, Verde Valley, Middle Little Colorado River and Anderson Mesa.^[5]Petrified Forest villages were generally abandoned by the late 16th century. The land continued to be used for its resources and for travel.^[5]

• 
  Pecos National Historic Park
• 
  Taos Pueblo 1880
• 
  Puye Cliff Dwellings

An upsurge in the lifestyle of the Rio Grande valley residents in the beginning of the Pueblo IV period was tempered by the 16th centurySpanish colonization of the Americas which extended north intoNew Mexico.Juan de Oñate, thecolonial governor of New Mexico in New Spain, led 400 soldiers and farmers in 1598 to establish settlements into the Rio Grande valley area.^[3]

• The people of the Frijoles Canyon inBandelier area in the 14th century had black hair and red-brown skin and were short in stature, an average of about 5 feet and 4 inches tall for men. Women were about 5 feet tall. Generally, couples had a few children. Domesticated dogs were often part of a family's household.^[6]
• Religion. The Ancestral Puebloans integratedKachina religious rituals into their lives by 1300. This helped to integrate diverse groups of people who migrated into the area and inhabited the large pueblos. The culture inspired a life of mutual cooperation, food sharing and religious rituals, such as rain-making. Kachina images appeared in murals in kivas,pictographs andpetroglyphs. The Kachina religion was foundational for modernZuni andHopi people.^[1][5]

Sites were located next to reliable water sources which were often used to irrigate farm land. Gardens were established in terraces and stone-outlined "waffle gardens" near the pueblo.^[1] Once harvested,maize was ground usingmanos andmetates. The presence ofgriddle stones hints at the creation of baked paper-like cornbread.^[7]

Small game and birds were hunted or trapped and seasonal wild plants were gathered to supplement the diet:

• Spring –beeweed andmustard greens
• Summer –chokecherries,currants,gooseberries andraspberries,yucca fruit
• Fall –seeds,nuts,juniper berries andprickly pears^[7]

Plain surfaced pottery replaced the corrugated pottery of thePueblo II andPueblo III periods. Red, yellow, and orange ware and polychrome (multiple-colored) pottery replaced black-on-white pottery of the previous pueblo periods. The pottery was often mass-produced, high quality pottery, and in the case of the western Ancestral Pueblo, includedKachina figure and symbol designs.Glazed pots, created when mineral paints on the pottery surface were fired at high temperatures, emerged in the Ancestral Pueblo sites.^[1][2] Artisans in thePetrified Forest created sophisticated Glaze-on-Red polychrome pottery.^[5]

Emerging material goods during this period were small triangularprojectile points andpiki stones for making bread.^[5]

The cultural groups of this period include:^[8]

• Ancestral Puebloans – southernUtah, southernColorado, northernArizona and northern and centralNew Mexico.
• Hohokam – southern Arizona.
• Mogollon – southeastern Arizona, southern New Mexico and northernMexico.
• Patayan – western Arizona, California and Baja California.

Colorado River tributaries

Pueblos in the Rio Grande valley

• 
  Taos Pueblo
• 
  Bandelier National Monument ruins
• 
  Pueblo Grande, Arizona
• 
• 
  Acoma Pueblo,Ansel Adams
• 
  Sandia Mountains, sacred land of the Sandia Pueblo people
• 
  Zuni Pueblo, 1850 illustration

• Reed, Paul F. (2000)Foundations of Anasazi Culture: The Basketmaker Pueblo Transition. University of Utah Press.ISBN 0-87480-656-9.
• Stuart, David E.; Moczygemba-McKinsey, Susan B. (2000)Anasazi America: Seventeen Centuries on the Road from Center Place. University of New Mexico Press.ISBN 0-8263-2179-8.
• Wenger, Gilbert R.The Story of Mesa Verde National Park. Mesa Verde Museum Association, Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, 1991 [1st edition 1980].ISBN 0-937062-15-4.

• Native American history of Arizona
• Native American history of Colorado
• Native American history of Nevada
• Native American history of New Mexico
• Native American history of Utah
• Oasisamerica cultures
• Pueblo history
• Southwest periods in North America by Pecos classification

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