Tag: Surface Archaeology

This is an early pre-review version of a article published in American Antiquity and available here 

  Time and Population from the Surface at San Marcos Pueblo (LA98), North Central New Mexico

Ann F. Ramenofsky

University of New Mexico

Christopher Pierce

Web Data Works

Unpublished manuscript

DRAFT: Do not cite without permission of the authors 

Understanding the effects of European contact on the organization, size, and mobility of Pueblo populations in the Southwest requires detailed knowledge of the occupational histories of the large, aggregated settlements that typify the late prehistoric and early historic record. Unfortunately, such understanding is generally lacking because the methods used to document occupational histories of settlements tend to either obscure fine-grained temporal distinctions or necessitate costly and politically objectionable large-scale excavations. To overcome these difficulties, we analyze the surface record at San Marcos Pueblo (LA98), a large, late site in the Galisteo Basin of New Mexico, in an attempt to reconstruct the occupational and population history of the settlement. Using detailed mapping, systematic surface collections, and multiple seriations of midden deposits, we document several alternating periods of occupation and abandonment of the pueblo with population size varying from one occupation to the next. This reconstruction challenges conventional wisdom regarding the occupational history of these late, large settlements as representing deep sedentism with population decline and abandonment occurring only after Spanish contact.

Proposal to Conduct Archaeological Research at San Marcos Pueblo (LA98) by the University of New Mexico

Ann F. Ramenofsky and Christopher Pierce 

In 1997, The Archaeological Conservancy and Dr. Ann Ramenofsky began discussions regarding the potential for long-term, significant research at San Marcos Pueblo (LA98). The site, located on a 60 acre Conservancy preserve adjacent to New Mexico State Highway 14 in the Galisteo Basin south of Santa Fe, is among the largest ancestral Puebloan ruins in the American Southwest. The property contains the remains of numerous Pueblo structures, estimated to have between 3,000 and 5,000 rooms, and a seventeenth century Franciscan mission complex. During brief field sessions in 1997 and 1998, a team from the University of New Mexico (UNM), under the direction of Dr. Ramenofsky and Christopher Pierce, conducted a surface-mapping program at San Marcos Pueblo. The goal of this work was to produce a modern, detailed map of the Pueblo and Spanish Mission areas of the site, which could provided a basis for future research. In addition, we began compiling information on previous archaeological research at the site. These previous studies include excavations by Nels C. Nelson of the American Museum of Natural History in 1912 and 1915 (Nelson 1914, 1916), test excavations by Erik Reid in the 1950s (Reed 1954), surface collections and test excavations by Winifred Creamer and Jonathan Haas in the late 1980s and early 1990s (Creamer and Haas 1988; Haas 1997; Haas and Creamer 1992), and aerial photo interpretation of the site and surface examinations by a group from the University of Colorado in the early 1990s (Eddy et al. 1996; Welker 1997; Welker and Carr 1995).

A Summary Report on Archaeological Mapping at Pueblo San Marcos (LA98), 1997 & 1998

 Ann F. Ramenofsky and Christopher Pierce

In 1996, Dr. Ann Ramenofsky and Chris Pierce began discussions with the Archaeological Conservancy regarding the potential for long-term, significant research at San Marcos Pueblo (LA98). The site is located on a 60-acre Conservancy preserve adjacent to New Mexico State Highway 14 in the Galisteo Basin south of Santa Fe.  At the time, the Conservancy was in the process of acquiring the entire parcel that included numerous room blocks and a mission-complex. Given the integrity of the site, the tourism potential, and the importance of the site for understanding a significant part of Rio Grande prehistory and history to the Pueblo Revolt, the Conservancy was interested and supportive of sustained archaeological field work at San Marcos.

Will the Real San Marcos Pueblo Please Stand Up: An Examination of Bias and Error in Site Maps

 Shawn L. Penman, Ann F. Ramenofsky, Christopher Pierce, David Vaughan, and Eden A. Welker

Poster presented at the 63^rd Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, March 25-29, 1998, Seattle, Wa.

Maps make up an essential element of information about the archaeological record. Although archaeologists construct a wide variety of maps at different spatial scales, site maps are most fundamental. Site maps depict the locations and arrangements of architecture, features, and artifacts at ancient settlements. We routinely use site maps to carry out important resource management and research activities such as delineating site boundaries, estimating past populations, and reconstructing the internal organization of settlements. These uses of site maps are so common, in fact, that we tend to forget that the maps are two-dimensional abstractions and interpretations of a complex three-dimensional surface, and treat them instead as objective, accurate, and reliable descriptions.

In this poster, we take advantage of the existence of three, independently produced maps of one site, San Marcos Pueblo (LA 98) located in Galisteo Basin of north central New Mexico. We use these maps, produced over a period of 82 years, to examine similarities and differences in the ways the maps depict this large, complex settlement. Further, we evaluate how different goals, methods, conditions, and perceptions affect the accuracy and precision of site maps.