Exploring the Relationship between Surface and Subsurface Contexts in the Permian Basin, Southeastern New Mexico

Summary

Analysis of previous cultural resource management investigations conducted in the Permian Basin of southeastern New Mexico indicate that many data are of poor quality, unstandardized, and of limited utility for comparative purposes or regional planning. Part of the problem is the limited understanding of which methods are best suited for site recording and testing and, more specifically, how observations made at the site surface correspond to subsurface content. This poster presents an experimental project sponsored by the Bureau of Land Management that investigated how survey, site-recording, and subsurface testing methods can be used to improve the analysis and interpretation of sites in southeastern New Mexico. Four previously recorded sites were re-recorded with the transect recording unit (TRU) system, then tested through a continuum of hand and mechanical techniques and subjected to intensive geoarchaeological investigations in order to identify techniques best suited to understanding their significance, integrity, and subsurface potential. The results of these efforts were analyzed to better understand the costs and benefits of the TRU system for survey and site recording, identify analytical procedures for leveraging TRU data in a management context, and assess the utility and reliability of different test methods commonly employed during site testing.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 21726