New Mexico Archaeology New Mexico Archaeology
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NTheNew ewNewsletter MMexicoexico of the Friends AArchaeology rchaeologyof Archaeology November 2010 From The Director Treasury Report Eric Blinman, OAS Director, THANK YOU! and John Karon, FOA Treasurer FOA support for the furniture and fixture campaign for the Center for FOA is an educational, research, and fund raising New Mexico Archaeology (CNMA) has been overwhelming! With organization; the latter supports the former. FOA pledges and contributions, we have reached our goal of $75,000. doesn’t charge dues for membership, so if you are a More than 100 people have contributed, with contributions honoring member of the MNM Foundation and express inter- the memories of Marjorie Mizerak, Marshall Clinard, and Jerome est in archaeology you are an FOA member. Lipetzky. Most of you knew Marj and her surviving husband, Bob. FOA raises funds through specific events, They have been long term volunteers for OAS and trip leaders lectures and trips as well as donations from indi- for FOA. Marshall was the husband of Arlen Clinard, an OAS viduals. The Endowment and the Center for New volunteer, and Marshall was the last surviving member of Edgar Mexico Archaeology furniture and fixtures cam- Lee Hewett’s Chaco field schools. Jerry Lipetzky was a high school paign are separate, and their status is summarized in teacher who created the teaching simulations DIG and DIG 2 that are “From the Director”. This report provides a snap- used nation-wide. He sparked my interest in archaeology in 1967, shot of FOA fund raising and distributions over the and he is responsible for initiating the careers of at least six Ph.D. past year for the 2010 fiscal year ending June 30, archaeologists who are contributing to the discipline around 2010, with some adjustments for transactions before the country. and after that year; figures are rounded. CNMA is a test of patience (it has been more than 20 years FUND RAISING EVENTS & DONATIONS in the planning stages). The building remains 98 percent complete, FOA’s two big fund raising events are usu- lacking only the utilities that are needed to bring it to life. The current ally Chiles & Sherds and the Holiday Party. Chiles delays have been in the process of granting the easements for the & Sherds at Los Luceros cost about $11,750 to put utility trench leading to the campus. Our owl families have flown on, compared with revenue of $19,600, for a net of south, but we will confirm that by using fiber optics to check out their $7,850. Last year’s Holiday Party cost about $5,900 potential underground refuges before the trenching starts. New Santa with revenue of $13,150, for a net of about $7,250. Fe County administrators are in place, and I have great confidence in, Although the activities covered several years, Dave and respect for, the team now leading the public works department. Brewer and all of the volunteers and OAS staff who The water supply systems are being redesigned to their specifications, contributed to the NMHM Arrow Project and the and water will be my focus while the mechanical systems of the National Geographic Film Project earned $7,000 for building are tested and balanced. FOA. Donations and income earmarked for particu- lar OAS programs and research projects amounted On the archaeology front, Robert and Steve have led the to just over $15,000. Total income from these OAS staff in preparing for our next big project. We are assuming sources was approximately $34,000. archaeological responsibility for the New Mexico Spaceport Authority. The project is bureaucratically complex, involving multiple LECTURES regulatory agencies. The archaeology spans the full range of time Because of low overhead, last years lecture series from Paleoindian surface artifacts, to the Camino Real, to 20th was unusually successful (the lecture series often century ranching. Lying within the aptly named Jornada del Muerto, break even or lose money), with revenue of $5,850 human use of the landscape has been sparse, but that makes the nature and a net of $3,950. and rhythm of the sites even more interesting. (continued on page 7) --Eric Research Spreading the Knowledge about NM Archaeology in British Columbia by Pamela J. McBride, OAS Ethnobotanist It was wonderful to have the opportunity (partially supported by FOA) to attend the 33rd Society of Ethnobiology Conference in Victoria, B.C. I presented a poster with data from Nancy Akins faunal analysis and the Paleoethnobotany lab’s plant analysis of Colonial features at the Palace of the Governors. The poster was entitled Early Spanish Cuisine in the City Different. The poster presents a little history of the Palace, followed by tables of animal and plant remains with interpretations and conclusions. Sheep were the most common animal remains recovered, and the Palace was unique in producing a diversity of native fauna including a variety of fish species (although comprising a very small percentage of the Archaeologists Nancy Akins and Pamela McBride assemblage). The higher number of native fauna at the Palace Spanish, in addition to cotton mantas. The large number of might indicate higher status residents had more leisure time to piñon nuts substantiates historical accounts that mention large fish and hunt or had the means to purchase or barter for wild amounts of piñon acquired by elites through tribute or other meat. means. Both New World and Old World plants were recovered The plant assemblage at the Palace of the Governors from the Palace and compared to assemblages from other Early can be interpreted in two ways. Elites living at the Palace may and Late Colonial sites. The Palace is unusual because a large have been eating a mixture of Old and New World plants and/ number of burned cotton seeds and piñon nuts were present. or the assemblage represents debris from meals consumed by The presence of cotton seeds suggests that raw material might servants as well as the governors and their families. have been part of the cotton goods levied on the pueblos by the Thanks to FOA for helping to fund my presentation. Gallina Field Trip Report David Grant Noble, FOA Trip Leader On September 18, twenty FOA members and friends enjoyed a along a creek bed for a quarter mile, climbed a steep trail up full-day excursion to three archaeological sites in the Gallina re- a canyon and arrived to our surprise and delight at a true cliff gion west of the Jemez Mountains. The weather was bright and dwelling, two-stories in height and built of adobe and stone. sunny, perfect for hiking to see ancient sites. Mike Bremer, the The site has been much visited for decades and, unfortunately, archaeologist for the Santa Fe National Forest, was our guide also vandalized. and interpreter. David Noble served as the trip coordinator. Stop two involved a short easy walk to Rattlesnake The tour was centered in the Llaves Valley, on the Ridge Ruins, which features a large excavated tower with mas- west side of the Jemez Mountains, between Cuba and Coyote. sive stone walls. The upper section collapsed to form a mound Ancestral Pueblo people thrived in this remote rugged canyon while the lower level is sunk deep in the ground. Surrounding country between around A.D.1050 and 1275. Although their the tower on three sides are houses, some of which have been origins remain unclear to archaeologists, it is thought that they excavated. Nearby are more pueblo-style rooms and a large came from the Gobernador region around present-day Navajo reservoir. Reservoir and, perhaps, were joined by Chacoan peoples after Our final hike led us up a steep hillside to a hamlet A.D.1130. Shortly thereafter, their culture became morphologi- of minimally excavated Gallina houses as well as a series of cally distinct and is known to researchers as Gallina. The Gal- garden terraces. The residents of this settlement must have lina folk built many of their dwellings including several stone enjoyed their rooms with a view over the Llaves Valley. From masonry towers on hogbacks, mesa tops, and hillsides over- this vantage point, Mike Bremer pointed out how many of the looking the valley, locations that suggest at least a perceived surrounding mesas and ridges were topped by Gallina sites to need for defense. They also built many terraces for farming, form a substantial overall population. Mike filled us in on the hunted in the game-rich mountains, and gathered edible native archaeological history of the region, which included investiga- plants. tions by Frank C. Hibben, Herbert Dick, and Florence H. Ellis. We drove through Abiquiu, Coyote, and Gallina to We thank Steve Post for handling the paperwork neces- reach our rendezvous at the intersection of routes US 550 and sary to acquire our trip permit and for accompanying the tour NM 96/112. From there, then turned up NM112 to the starting as the OAS representative. Especially, we are grateful to Mike point of our first hike to Nogales Cliff Dwelling. We walked Bremer for serving as our excellent guide and teacher. Friends of Archaeology November | 3 THE Civil War in New Mexico Chuck Hannaford, OAS Project Director I became interested in the Civil War when I learned that my Strategic Bridge that spanned the Great-Great-Grandfather was a Union soldier in the Army of Galisteo Creek is deteriorating and the Potomac. He enlisted in the Second New Hampshire Vol- is in desperate need of stabilization. unteers on the 26th of April 1861 at the age of 18. His Great- The 18-foot bridge had been disman- Great-Grandfather had been a Minute Man in the Revolutionary tled by rebel troops and ninety-nine War and as a good New England Yankee my ancestor was quick Union soldiers are said to have raced to enlist and defend the Union after the southern states rebelled their horses in column of two towards and began their second quest for independence.