Folsom on the Edge of the Plains: Occupation of the Estancia Basin, Central New Mexico

Summary

At the end of the Pleistocene, during Folsom occupation, the Estancia Basin contained the eastern-most pluvial lake in the American Southwest. The basin has a long history of archaeological research and the story of changing lake levels has played an important part in understand the Paleoindian occupation of the New World. Within the basin, geoarchaeological assessment at the Martin site can be used as a baseline for understanding environmental change during the late Pleistocene. The large well documented Martin and Lucy Folsom artifact assemblages provide a window into lithic technological organization. Combining these data within a broader basin-wide analysis provides a glimpse at Folsom occupation and land use between the well-studied Southern High Plains and the Middle Rio Grande. By combining the stories of environmental change, fluctuating lake levels, lithic variability, and human mobility a better picture of life at the Pleistocene/Holocene transition emerges.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)   •
• New Perspectives in Folsom Archaeology

Keywords

Spatial Coverage