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

Author(s): Jamie Civitello

Year: 2015

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.

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Cite this Record

Earthwatch at the Valles Caldera National Preserve: Building a Successful Volunteer Research Partnership with Obsidian, Quarries, Soil, and More!. Jamie Civitello. Presented at The 80th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, San Francisco, California. 2015 ( tDAR id: 397444)

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Keywords

Spatial Coverage

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