Anchoring the Gun: The intersection of the Manhattan Project and the Homestead eras at Gun Site, Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico.

Summary

This is a poster submission presented at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

During World War II, leaders of The Manhattan Project searched for suitable laboratory space to develop the world’s first nuclear devices to end the War. Los Alamos in northern New Mexico was selected. An appealing aspect of Los Alamos was the Ranch School, which had housing and infrastructure readily available. The Project also utilized existing ranches and homesteads with cleared fields, and other useful infrastructure. At the Gun Site, where the Little Boy Gun-type device was developed, existing farm fields and arroyo from the former Anchor Ranch were transformed into a testing area with concrete bunkered buildings and testing structures. Existing ranch buildings were used as laboratories until more permanent structures were completed. Recent archeological survey at Gun Site has found a significant mix of pre-Manhattan Project artifacts, along with Manhattan Project era artifacts. This poster will describe the intersection of the two time periods at Gun Site.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2025   •
• 2025 SHA Poster Submissions

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow