Marxist Dendroarchaeology: Examining Labor’s Effects on Landscapes and Living Conditions in Cebolla Canyon, New Mexico

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The effects of unregulated (laissez-fair) capitalism on working class people and on landscapes are often only beneficial in the short-term. The 1930s were especially difficult times for Americans as people became displaced during the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. Many were forced to move into new areas in search of work and better living conditions for themselves and their families. This research examines labor’s effects on landscapes and on the living conditions of Dust Bowl migrants using a multidisciplinary approach including dendroarchaeology, historical records, oral histories, and artifact analysis from early 20th century logging sites and homesteads in the Cebolla Canyon area of west-central New Mexico. The results help us to better understand labor conditions, including identifying periods of heavy logging in the area, examining how logging sites were structured and grew over time, and assessing the living conditions of workers and their families. They also reveal long term landscape and ecological effects of logging under these labor conditions.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38623.0