The pueblo of Yuque Yunque was taken by Juan de Oñate, and he founded his colonial government there.

[2] The archaeological site was leveled and plowed over in 1984, and a historical marker has been placed on the west side of the Rio Grande, off the old New Mexico State Road 74.

When Juan de Oñate arrived in 1598 to establish a Spanish provincial headquarters, he at first established a military camp outside the Ohkay pueblo, which he dubbed "San Juan" (a name by which the Ohkay pueblo was known for many years, before reclaiming its native name in the early 21st century.)

The Puebloans agreed to make the Yunque pueblo, located between the Chama River and Rio Grande, available as a compound for the Spanish, and its residents were evacuated to Ohkay.

After these excavations, the natives began removing adobe bricks from the ruins for reuse, and the site was levelled and buried.