Ana Steffen addresses Girl Scouts during a guided program at the Valles Caldera. The archaeologist died Friday from cancer. Steffen became a foremost expert in obsidian.
Ana Steffen addresses Girl Scouts during a guided program at the Valles Caldera. The archaeologist died Friday from cancer. Steffen became a foremost expert in obsidian.
For Ana Steffen, the most stunning elements of Valles Caldera National Preserve lay beneath the majestic, prehistoric landscape that captivates most visitors.
Obsidian — a black, crystalline rock formed by a series of volcanic eruptions and deposited throughout the caldera — drew her attention.
As an archaeologist, she saw the rock’s profound significance, connecting its ancient geologic history with the area’s cultural heritage, when Indigenous tribes through the centuries gleaned obsidian and forged it into hand tools and weapons.
Steffen, who would become a foremost expert in obsidian, both with chemistry and anthropology, died Friday after battling cancer. She was 60.
Those close to her say she formed an everlasting bond from the moment she stepped foot in the caldera in 2000, shortly after it became a national preserve. There she would work for the rest of her life in one job or another.
“It was very personal for her,” said Jorge Silva-Bañuelos, the preserve’s superintendent. “Her research and science and inquiries were focused on this place. That was developed from a sincere, personal love for Valles Caldera.”
Amid the grasses of Obsidian Valley, Ana Steffen in 2008 describes how ancient peoples transported Valles Caldera obsidian across North America.
J. McHugh/National Park Service
Steffen was a driving force for the park’s archaeology, developing, coordinating or augmenting the various programs.
She began working at the preserve in the U.S. Forest Service, then in the Valles Caldera trust, then in the National Park Service.
Steffen led an effort, using specialized equipment and tools, to determine where obsidian came from, Silva-Bañuelos said. From there, her team determined how widely the Indigenous peoples distributed the rocks, finding trade routes extending into Canada and Mexico. The work underscored the caldera’s national and even international significance, Silva-Bañuelos said.
She also painstakingly documented the history uncovered in her research, not only from ages ago but the activities that took place in the area during the 19th and 20th centuries, he said. Steffen was responsible for unearthing and chronicling so much of the region’s history and will leave behind a wealth of archeological knowledge, Silva-Bañuelos added.
Ana Steffen, second from right, tells wildland fire resource advisers how fire affected obsidian during the Cerro Pelado Fire in 2022.
National Park Service
“That’s probably one of the most long-lasting legacies she’s going to have,” Silva-Bañuelos said.
On a web page, colleagues paid tribute to Steffen, expressing gratitude for how she helped them professionally and sadness at her passing.
Rachel Loehman, research landscape ecologist at the U.S. Geological Survey, described Steffen as a mentor, teacher and inspiration. Loehman tells of how Steffen, over a drink and burrito at a local eatery, drew a diagram on a napkin to illustrate her understanding of how human and natural history intersected in the Jemez Mountains over thousands of years.
“With a few pen strokes [Steffen] defined an entirely new and infinitely exciting framework for understanding the shared history of humans and ecosystems in her beloved home landscape,” Loehman recalled. “This understanding — this vision — comes not just from Ana’s deep knowledge of multiple disciplines ... but from her truly unique way of seeing the world.”
Colleen Olinger, a volunteer at the preserve, wrote how Steffen offered her and a survey team guidance in examining dendroglyphs — or tree carvings — left by sheep herders, timber workers and others. The project received a Michelle Obama volunteer achievement award in 2010.
“Working with Ana, I’ve learned that she knows what she wants and pursues that goal until she is satisfied,” Olinger wrote.
Nick Jarman, an archaeologist at the preserve, wrote Steffen built data sets on the caldera’s unique interplay of climate, soils and obsidian chemistry. The data could eventually unlock a new way to date sites through obsidian hydration dating, a technique that looks at microscopic traces of weathering on obsidian artifacts to determine when those artifacts were created.
“This technique is already in use in other parts of the world, and Ana’s foundational research could enable future archaeologists to see the deep human history of Valles Caldera with unprecedented clarity,” Jarman wrote.
Silva-Bañuelos said Steffen spent almost half of her life in the caldera, creating a deep bond that enabled her to give a personal touch to her scientific work.
“To me, that exemplifies her devotion, her passion, her connection to this place that, frankly, no one else that I know of even comes close to rivaling,” he said.
Correction: This story has been amended to reflect the following correction: An earlier version had incorrect spelling for Ana Steffen's first name. Photo captions also included the spelling error.
