Historic Occupation Revealed: Exploring an Understudied Link in Gila River Farm’s Archaeological Record

Summary

This is a poster submission presented at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Archaeology Southwest, in conjunction with the University of Arizona, has hosted field schools for the last four years at the Gila River Farm Site, a large 14th century Salado period site in Cliff, New Mexico. Research for the field school has largely been driven by Salado research questions concerning construction and habitation, leaving historic occupations understudied. Despite this, several seasons of excavation have begun revealing important historic occupations of the site as well. Students have excavated historic thermal pits and numerous diagnostic metal, glass, leather, and ceramic artifacts primarily dating from the 1880s through the 1910s. This poster will demonstrate how these underappreciated historic assemblages provide important insights into late 19th and early 20th century life in southwest New Mexico, establishing the Gila River Farm site as part of an ever-changing cultural landscape.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2020   •
• 2020 SHA Poster Submissions

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 974