Life in a Land of Little Rain: Historical Agricultural Landscapes on the Carrizo Plain, California

Summary

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

The Carrizo Plain National Monument (CPNM) contains a large number of structures and features associated with historical agriculture on the Carrizo Plain. This largely intact cultural landscape spans a period of significance from the Homestead Act through industrial scale dryland farming. Historical and archaeological contexts have been developed for the monument, and four farm/ranch headquarter structures have been formally evaluated and determined eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. Ongoing use and maintenance of the larger CPNM, however, has the potential to adversely impact isolated, but potentially contributing, features such as grain tanks, water tanks and troughs, corrals and fencing. As important components of the agricultural working landscape, the identification of the associations and context of these features is critical to delineating and understanding this cultural landscape, and preserving its ability to convey its values. This poster describes and discusses the process of documenting these resources, and developing a NRHP district nomination and resource management plan for protecting this historical agricultural landscape.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

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

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38128.0