Investigating a Ten-Millennia Record of Hunter-Gatherer Lifeways in the Northeastern Chihuahuan Desert

The Lower Pecos Canyonlands of southwest Texas contains one of the longest and best-preserved records of hunter-gatherer lifeways in North America. Since 2009, the Ancient Southwest Texas Project (Texas State University) and Shumla Archaeological Research and Education Center have been conducting intensive multidisciplinary research into understanding aboriginal hunter-gatherers in this unique area on the northeastern fringe of the Chihuahuan Desert. Focusing on sites and assemblages ranging from earth ovens and rockshelters to rock art and bedrock features, presentations will highlight research strategies used to investigate the diverse hunter-gatherer record spanning from Paleoindian to Protohistoric times in the rugged canyonlands of the Rio Grande borderlands. Investigative approaches include rock art, geoarchaeology, 3D data acquisition, methodology, chronology, paleoethnobotany, and zooarchaeology.