Patents, Peaches, and Perseverance: The Homestead-Era on the Pajarito Plateau

Summary

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

Beginning in the 1880s, Euro- and Hispanic-American homesteaders expanded from either the Rio Grande Valley or the eastern United States onto the Pajarito Plateau in northern New Mexico. In 1943, the US Army/Government displaced these groups in preparation of the coming of Manhattan Project scientists. While journals and documentary accounts from visitors and descendants provide insight into the everyday livelihood of these farmers and ranchers, few studies have investigated their shared experience based on examination of physical remains. A comparative analysis of artifacts recovered from these homesteads allow us to better understand the similarities and differences among homestead experiences for both of these groups. This poster examines common functional artifact categories, such as food stuffs and indulgences, as well as variations in site structures between Euro- and Hispanic-American homesteads in order to develop a richer and more nuanced understanding of pre-Manhattan Project life on the Pajarito Plateau.  

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

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

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 1067