Exploring Cultural Differences in Irrigation Canal Systems through Time at the Creekside Village Site, New Mexico

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Irrigation systems provided the foundation of many prehistoric and historic communities in the Southwest. Creekside Village near Tularosa, New Mexico, is a Jornada Mogollon site occupied from AD 400-1150 containing evidence of both prehistoric and historic irrigation systems. Geoarchaeological investigations of stratigraphic sequence and site formation processes are used to reveal possible morphological differences in the two systems, which may be used to distinguish the canal systems culturally and chronologically. This comparative phenomenological and geoarchaeological approach to Creekside Village's irrigation systems is an investigation into the potential of sediment characteristics, canal morphology, and placement to inform our understanding of past cultural landscapes. Methods include participatory excavation/trenching and survey to aid site understanding as well as stratigraphy, particle grain size distribution, soil texture, organic and calcium-carbonate content, and GIS modeling. A focal goal of the project is to contribute to our diachronic understanding of past cultures' perspective and mitigation of water scarcity in the Southwest.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 25780