Dendroarchaeology of the Otero Cabin, Valles Caldera National Preserve, New Mexico

Summary

The Valles Caldera National Preserve in northern New Mexico has been the site of many culture group activities from prehistoric to present times due to its exceptionally resource-rich environment. During the early 20th century, profit-driven ventures left the landscape that we see today. A few families during this period were critical participants in the development of the VCNP environment. The earliest of these families was the Oteros who used land in the VCNP primarily for grazing horses, cattle, and sheep. As part of this land use, the Oteros built cabins to serve as housing for family and workers, corrals, and other outbuildings. One such structure, the Otero Cabin, is said to have been constructed in 1908, and based on historical records, is one of the oldest Euroamerican structures in the VCNP. Dendroarchaeological samples from the Otero Cabin were collected during our 2014 field season and the results are presented here. These data and resulting interpretations will provide the VCNP staff with the most recent and accurate data to be presented through interpretative tours while also informing the public about dendroarchaeological methods.

SAA 2015 abstracts made available in tDAR courtesy of the Society for American Archaeology and Center for Digital Antiquity Collaborative Program to improve digital data in archaeology. If you are the author of this presentation you may upload your paper, poster, presentation, or associated data (up to 3 files/30MB) for free. Please visit http://www.tdar.org/SAA2015 for instructions and more information.

Cite this Record

Dendroarchaeology of the Otero Cabin, Valles Caldera National Preserve, New Mexico. Rebecca Renteria, Ronald Towner, Anastasia Steffen, Galen McCloskey. Presented at The 80th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, San Francisco, California. 2015 ( tDAR id: 396622)

Spatial Coverage

min long: -115.532; min lat: 30.676 ; max long: -102.349; max lat: 42.033 ;