Earthwatch at the Valles Caldera National Preserve: Building a Successful Volunteer Research Partnership with Obsidian, Quarries, Soil, and More!

Summary

Since 2012, the Valles Caldera National Preserve has partnered with Earthwatch Institute to bring volunteer-scientists into the field to participate in archaeological research. Volunteers stay overnight on the Preserve for 11 days and work side-by-side with Preserve archaeologists to excavate a large obsidian quarry in the heart of the caldera. The volunteers gain skills in applying archaeological methods, while living and working in one of the most spectacular landscapes of northern New Mexico. Each person feels personally invested in the research that will help Preserve managers interpret and protect a poorly understood resource. Outcomes from excavations so far include insight into site formation processes and ongoing research and analysis aims to explore quarry site use over time as compared to a nearby habitation site. Beyond the research aspects of our partnership, connecting our constituency (the American people) to the archaeological resources under our stewardship is the transcendent goal of the partnership between the Preserve and Earthwatch.

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.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

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

Keywords

Spatial Coverage