Former Ohkay Owingeh Governor Herman Agoyo once remarked, “to us, these petroglyphs are not the remnants of some long-lost civilization that has been dead for many years…they are part of our living culture. What is stored in the petroglyphs is not written in any book or to be found in any library. We need to return to them to remind us of who we are and where we came from, and to teach our sons and daughters of it.”

In this talk, Dr. Matthew Martinez discussed Geographies of the Sacred and took us to landscapes and rock images that reflect movement and living histories. He discussed that despite an ongoing misrepresentation of being non-literate, Indigenous people have always been skilled at documenting stories. Tewa people view themselves within a larger ecological system interconnected to all things living. Mesa Prieta or Tsikwaye is one example of a vast landscape comprised of more than 100,000 petroglyphs and archaeological features that date back thousands of years. Located on the northern Rio Grande region, this place is embedded in stories that are foundational to sharing New Mexico histories and beyond.

Dr. Matthew J. Martinez currently serves as the Executive Director of the Mesa Prieta Petroglyph Project, a nonprofit in northern New Mexico whose mission is focused on land stewardship and educational outreach. He is a former First Lieutenant Governor of Ohkay Owingeh, an Emmy award-winning documentary film producer and has an established career as an educator. Martinez previously served as Professor of Pueblo Indian Studies at Northern New Mexico College where he taught for 10 years courses on Indigenous History and New Mexico History. He received his Ph.D. in 2008 from the University of Minnesota in American Studies and American Indian Studies, and M.A. in 2000 from Arizona State University in Political Science and a B.A. in Political Science from the University of New Mexico in 1997. He is a proud father of a 14 year old son, Malachi, who currently attends the Santa Fe Indian School.