Salvage Excavation: NMSU Summer Field Project at the South Diamond Creek Pueblo in the Northern Mimbres Region

Summary

New Mexico State University (NMSU) anthropology students spent the summer of 2016 getting to know a bit more about the Mimbres people who lived more than 1,000 years ago, and along the way helped preserve their history. Eight NMSU students joined community volunteers for four weeks to explore and excavate areas of the South Diamond Creek Pueblo (SDCP) in the Gila Wilderness of New Mexico. The project had three major goals: 1) to contribute to our understanding of cultural trajectories in the northern Mimbres region, 2) to assess the damage to the site by erosion and looting activities, and 3) to learn about being stewards of cultural resources for the public at large. This project was remarkably successful and several NMSU students have used data from the excavations for their own research. Their projects are diverse and include studies of ceramic exchange, lithic tool-stone procurement, and environment-human relationship on this landscape. In collaboration with NMSU students and volunteers, the SDCP project helps us improve our knowledge of when and how the Mimbres people inhabited southern New Mexico from A.D. 900 to 1150.

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)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 15577