Curtis Quam, of the A:Shiwi A:wan Museum and Heritage Center in Zuni, New Mexico, will share his share his background and the Zuni origin story during a lecture Friday at the Aztec Ruins Visitor Center at 7 p.m.

“Travelers can find the vital and historic Pueblo of Zuni in west central New Mexico today,” according to a news release from Cyresa Bloom, park ranger at Aztec Ruins National Monument. “Layered through time, the complexity of Zuni history is evident in many adobe and sandstone structures, dating as early as the 1200s, still visible as they slowly return to the earth.”

Hawikuh, located on a long ridge in the river valley, was one of those earlier pueblos and is said to be the first pueblo that Spanish explorers found.

Although the history of the Puebloans’ contact with Europeans and Americans has become familiar, hundreds of years of lesser-known history survive in the origin stories and traditions of American Indians throughout the U.S.

Quam, museum technician and cultural educator, will share the origin story in a free presentation.

For more information, call Aztec Ruins at 505-334-6174 or visit facebook.com/AztecRuinsNM/events.