NRHP Eligibility Evaluation of Five Sites Within Oscura Range, White Sands Missile Range, Lincoln County, NM

Summary

Between May 5 and May 8 of 2017, Versar, Inc., conducted a National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) evaluation of five sites within U.S. Air Force Oscura Bombing and Gunnery Range on White Sands Missile Range (WSMR), Lincoln County, New Mexico. This project was conducted under the F2F Environ. Contract No. W912PP-14-C-0009 held by Baer Engineering and Environmental Services, Inc. All of the sites are within, or adjacent to, the Oscura Bombing Range, and, thus, there is the potential for adverse impacts to them from base activities. These evaluations were conducted to assist in compliance with Section 110 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (as amended through 1992), the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation regulation (36 CFR Part 800). To successfully evaluate NRHP eligibility, the location of each site was investigated, and all cultural manifestations present were documented. Twenty-one shovel test pits and four 1-x-1-m test units were excavated across the five sites to examine contextual integrity and determine if buried cultural deposits were present. Sites that retained geomorphic integrity and demonstrated the potential to provide significant information regarding regional research issues were recommended eligible for inclusion in the NRHP; sites that do not were recommended ineligible.

Of the five sites evaluated during this investigation, two prehistoric sites are recommended eligible for inclusion in the NRHP and three are recommended ineligible. LA 86477, represents Unknown Prehistoric, Early Archaic, and Protohistoric/Historic period occupations, while LA 88023 also exhibits multiple components, including Paleoindian, Archaic, and Formative activities. Investigations at LA 111314, yielded a calibrated radiocarbon age that dated between A.D. 597 and 670. This age range corresponds to the Mesilla phase of the Formative period (A.D. 200/400 to 1000). However, the occupational surface was deflated and the assemblage did not produce any corresponding diagnostic artifacts. The other two ineligible sites, LA 86479 and LA 111316, contain Early to Middle Archaic components and Unknown Prehistoric components, respectively.

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Holloman Air Force Base CR Manager

Record Identifiers

Versar Project No.(s): 858EP

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