MACROFLORAL ANALYSIS AT SIX SITES IN THE SUBSURFACE HEATING EFFECTS STUDY AT BANDELIER NATIONAL MONUMENT, NEW MEXICO

Summary

Sediment samples from six sites in Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico, were

floated to recover macrofloral remains as part of the Subsurface Heating Effects Study. The

main purpose of this project was to determine the effects of fires on archaeological material.

Saint Peter's Dome Fire of 1996 burned a total of 16,516 acres in northern New Mexico,

including 4,779 acres in Bandelier National Monument. Of the six sites examined, four were

burned in the 1996 Dome Fire, one was burned during a prescribed burn in 1994, and one

represents an unburned area as a control. The six sites in this study also represent both large

pueblo habitation sites and small sites commonly categorized as "field houses." The study

looked at samples from sites with different burn intensities, time periods, and locations.

Macrofloral analysis at these six sites will contribute to determining the kinds and extent of fire-related

changes and damage to subsurface archaeological materials, and if these changes and

damages can be used to detect past fires at other archaeological sites. In addition, macrofloral

analysis will contribute to answering questions of Ancestral Puebloan subsistence in the Northern

Rio Grande area, paleoenvironment, and site function.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• PaleoResearch Institute

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