Bruce Huckell and the Paleoindian Record of the West Mesa, NM

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Papers in Celebration of Bruce B. Huckell, Part 1" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The West Mesa is an expansive eolian plain atop a basalt-capped terrace of the Rio Grande in central New Mexico. Seminal work carried out in the 1960s-1970s led to the identification of an abundant Paleoindian record, and the Rio Rancho site became the first Folsom camp to be excavated in the Middle Rio Grande Valley. The West Mesa received little further attention until Bruce Huckell of the University of New Mexico initiated a program of renewed investigation. Dr. Huckell undertook new excavations at Rio Rancho in the late 1990s. In the years that followed he enlisted students and volunteers to carry out archaeological survey as well as excavations at newly discovered Folsom sites such as Boca Negra Wash, Deann’s site, and others. A collaborative relationship with Vance Holliday of the University of Arizona focused on the geoarchaeological context of these sites. In addition to training a generation of future archaeologists, Bruce’s approach to the archaeology of the West Mesa demonstrated the information and interpretative potential of these relatively shallow and poorly preserved sites. This paper reviews the history of Bruce’s work on the West Mesa and what we have learned from the investigation of this important Southwest Paleoindian record.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Papers in Celebration of Bruce B. Huckell, Part 1   •
• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 52366