LA 38326: An Unusual Late Formative Site in Southeastern New Mexico

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

LA 38326 encompasses what was apparently a sustained settlement on a high bluff edge overlooking the Pecos River Valley in the Carlsbad area of southeastern New Mexico. The site was first recorded in the 1980s during investigations for the Brantley Reservoir, and recently SWCA and Lone Mountain Archaeological Services conducted work here as part of a project under the BLM’s Permian Basin Mitigation Program. The remains of this settlement include several stacked-stone features, both rings and cairns, along with an associated sheet midden of dark, ashy soil and high artifact density. The stone rings may mark individual wickiups, and the cairns are perhaps shrines and/or burial features. There are also numerous bedrock mortars at the site. Diagnostic artifacts suggest the settlement was occupied during the Maljamar phase (A.D. 1100-1300), and radiocarbon dates partially support this affiliation. This is an unusual site for the Carlsbad region, and is some ways is similar to sites in northeastern New Mexico & in neighboring parts of Texas. This includes the Cielo Complex, far to the south in the Big Bend area of Texas and adjacent northeastern Chihuahua and northwestern Coahuila to the south.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36406.0