Of Truck Tires and Kelly Bars: Geoarchaeological Perspectives of a Toolpusher

Summary

Over the course of several summers I had the opportunity to apprentice to Vance Holliday as he worked on the Southern High Plains. Whilst this work typically involved long hot days I had the opportunity to learn a lot of the intricacies of how field work is conducted by itinerant geoarchaeologists. This allowed me to be directly involved in research at some of the most prominent projects in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. It also exposed me to a cross-section of small towns, motels, and BBQ restaurants few people will ever experience. I learned a great deal about the intricacies of hydraulics and witnessed first-hand the tensile strength limits of steel. I was even exposed to a fair amount of soils and sediment analysis. While these things at times formed a steep learning curve, I had the opportunity to apply them to my own work in the Estancia Basin of Central New Mexico. My dissertation research focused on developing an interpretation of Paleoindian behavior in conjunction with models of shifting environments at the Pleistocene/Holocene transition. This paper will present my research in the Estancia Basin, interspersed with my educational foundation in field geoarchaeology with Vance on the Southern Plains.

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): 20823