Mound 7

Mound 7 is the biggest pueblo mound at Gran Quivira. After the earlier circular pueblo was abandoned around 1400, the first rectangular rooms of Mound 7 were constructed between 1400 and 1515. After being deserted for thirty years, the rooms of Mound 7 started to grow again. By the time the Spanish arrived with Don Antonio de Espejo in 1583, Mound 7 had more than 200 rooms. In 1629, Fray Francisco Letrado managed to use eight of these rooms and added another eight the next year.

Mound 7 was completely excavated from 1965 to 1967. This process revealed all 226 rooms and uncovered the remains of an earlier circular pueblo located beneath Mound 7. A large number of artifacts were found, including intact pots, water jugs, animal figures, and stone tools. Many of these items are now showcased in the museum at the Gran Quivira Visitor Center. An interpretive trail was established on top of Mound 7 by backfilling several rooms, while one room was left open to provide a view into the lower circular pueblo, illustrating the connection between the older structure and the newer rooms of Mound 7.

In 2012, a project was completed to backfill most of the remaining open rooms of Mound 7. The Park Service decided that backfilling was the best way to preserve the Mound 7 Pueblo. A group of 40 high school students from the local Mountainair and Estancia communities worked together to finish the project in just 10 weeks. Before backfilling, every wall in each room was reinforced. Vertical drains were installed in each room during the filling process to help prevent water from pooling on the surface. The rooms were filled to create a mounded appearance, with the inner rooms being filled higher than the outer ones. However, the rooms of the Letrado's Convento and the deeper room that looks into the circular pueblo remain open.