Sites, Non-sites, and Landscapes: Changing Land-Use Patterns in Wild Horse Draw and Vicinity, Trans-Pecos Texas

Summary

This is an abstract from the "The Big Bend Complex: Landscapes of History" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The University of Texas at El Paso 2014 summer archeological field school was hosted by the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo at Chilicote Ranch near Valentine, Texas. Students conducted a pedestrian sample survey focused on the cuestas and mesas between the Sierra Vieja and Wild Horse Draw. The survey identified 95 sites and a number of non-sites; distributional patterns revealed several kinds of small-scale topographic features that influenced aboriginal use of the drainage. In some cases, landforms were altered by the addition of subtle rock features, and it is apparent the use of such features, and the terrain on which they occur, varied over time. Micro-terrain details also influence site exposure, erosion, and artifact and feature visibility. Comparisons to the Indio Mountains to the west suggest that Chilicote Ranch may be at or near the western boundary of rock-based wickiup features commonly attributed to the Cielo Complex, but that Mescalero Apache–style agave roasting features do not conform to that boundary.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• The Big Bend Complex: Landscapes of History

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 32415