Site analysis and excavation of the Gila River Farm Site in Cliff, New Mexico

Summary

Archaeology Southwest and the University of Arizona’s Upper Gila Preservation Archaeology (UGPA) field school excavations at the Gila River Farm Site (LA 39315) produced interesting results from the 2016 field season. The Gila River Farm Site is a Cliff Phase (A.D. 1300 – 1450) Salado site located on the first terrace of the Gila River, in southwestern New Mexico. It was recorded by archaeologists in the 1980s but had never been excavated. Although now protected on land owned by the New Mexico Nature Conservancy, the site has been subject to mechanical disturbance associated with agricultural activity as well as looting in the past. Despite this history, test excavations revealed more intact deposits throughout the site than had been anticipated. This poster presents the results from this season’s field school and suggests future directions for preservation archaeology at the Gila River Farm Site.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• A Flurry of Field Schools in the Upper Gila and Mimbres Drainages   •
• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 15690