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The San Luis ValleyARCHAEO-UPDATEThe Bulletin of the San Luis Valley Archaeological Network Vol. 5, No. 2, April 2000 |
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Contents:
Up Coming Spring & Summer Field Trips
Trip to Northern New Mexico, Saturday, May 13
On Saturday, May 13 * (*Please note that the last Archaeo-Update stated Sunday, May 13) there will be a field trip to the Ojo Caliente area, in northern New Mexico, to visit the sites of the Tewa Pueblos of Ponsipa', Akeri and, Hupobi. The historic road in Upper Comanche Canyon will be driven in route. The road is known as the "Old Wagon Road to Colorado", the route that was used in 1694 by Don Diego de Vargas and in the early 1800's by Zebulon Pike. Ron Kessler will be the trip leader. Please plan to meet at 9:00 AM, on Saturday, May 13 at the junction of U.S. Highway 285 and Colorado Highway 17 in Antonito, just south of the Cumbres & Toltec Train Station. Four-wheel-drive vehicles are not needed, but a higher clearance vehicle, like a pick-up, is needed. The trip will involve walking only a short distance to view the sites. There will be an opportunity to eat lunch in Ojo Caliente or you may bring your own lunch. This trip is by reservation only. For further information please phone Ron Kessler at 719-852-5225.
Trip
to Creede Stone Structures and to Either Historic Spar City
OR the Creede Mining Museum on Saturday, June 17
Researchers
Paul Frick and Jeanne Welch, from Green Valley, Arizona, spent much time
tracing the migration of the Navajo culture from Canada to the Southwest
searching for stone structures with certain types of pottery, and a distinctive
flake style. The Navajo are members of a sub-branch of a large family
of languages called Athabaskan. While looking for sites relating to the
Navajo Athabaskan migration they discovered a series of stone structures
about six miles to the southwest of Creede. These structures are not thought
to relate to this migration, !as the distinctive artifacts were not found.
Vince Spero and Ken Frye visited the site, which is on the Rio Grande
National Forest, last fall. At least nine stone enclosures (in a beautiful
setting immediately above the Rio Grande) with evident pathways leading
from one structure ,to another were noticed. The site has not been formally
recorded and the surrounding area has not been adequately investigated
to date. We will visit this site and spend some time searching the immediate
area for evidence of artifacts that may relate to the structures.
After spending a few hours on site we will either visit Spar City (if we can get permission from the landowners) or we will pay a visit to the Creede Underground Mining Museum. Spar City, located along Lime Creek about 10 miles from Creede, was first known as Fisher City in 1892 when about 300 miners were in the camp. The town had a main street with stores, saloons, two livery stables, and a lumberyard. Area mines included the Denver Tunnel, the Fairview, and the Big Spar. After the Silver Panic of 1893 the camp was quickly deserted until, in 1905, a group of Kansans bought the town and buildings to spend vacations and to pursue fishing and hunting. As a result many of the buildings and are now used as cabins. As mentioned, if we cannot go to Spar City we will visit the Creede Underground Mining Museum where hard rock miners blasted tunnels out of the mountainside for the museum. Exhibits recreate the experience of working in an underground mine, complete with the dark, damp environment. Retired miners will take us on a guided tour through the tunnels and explain the workings of a mine. We will meet in the town of Creede on Saturday, June 17 at 10:00 AM at the Gazebo, located downtown in the town park, and then drive to the stone structure site. The site is a short distance from the road, but be aware that we will have to walk on a very rocky slope. After viewing the structures we will hike in the vicinity for about an hour in search of additional features or associated artifacts. The trip will be limited to the first 20 people. Please call Vince Spero at 719-852-6242 or 873-5916, after May 6, to make reservations. Any vehicle type is OK as roads are good. The trip will end at about 3:00 PM.
REPORT ON THE CLOVIS AND BEYOND CONFERENCE, OCTOBER 1999, SANTE FE
What
had been billed as "one of the most important conferences on New
World archaeology" the Clovis and Beyond Conference more than 'lived
up to expectations. Over 1,000 archaeologists and other interested people
attended the late October event featuring lectures about ! current perspectives
of the early peopling of the Americas. In addition, extensive collections
of Clovis, and artifacts thought to predate Clovis, were on display
for all to study. Clovis is now thought to date from 11,500 to 11,000
years before present. The conference ended with the unveiling of an
exciting new interpretation of human colonization of the New World.
Presented papers revealed that a number of sites with radiocarbon dates
of about 11,000 before present, with distinct tool technologies, are
found in many ecological zones of South America. Tom Dillehay of the
University of Kentucky excavated the Monte Verde site, located in far
southern Chile that dates to about 13,000 years ago. Preservation of
items made of wood, hide, and other perishable materials were found
at the site-consisting of a village with the remains of about twelve
huts.
Artifact collections exhibited included those from Meadowcroft Rockshelter,
in southwest Pennsylvania, including distinctive blade flakes, polyhedral
blade cores, bifacial and unifacial tools, and Miller type projectile
points, dating from about 14,000 to 9,300 years ago. Cultural material
from eastern New Mexico's Blackwater Draw site, where Clovis cultural
material was first identified, were also on display. Cultural remains
found at the site included mammoth remains in association with Clovis
points. A roasting pit, complete with turtle remains, was found, along
with a feature thought to be a well. At the Anzick site, in southwest
Montana, there is a Clovis burial with the partial remains of two juveniles
buried in red ochre. Numerous artifacts were buried with the remains,
including eight Clovis points, sixty Clovis performs (points broken
in various stages of manufacture), and eleven bone artifacts, possibly
of mammoth bone.
Dr. Dennis Stanford, former Chairman of the Anthropology Department at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, delivered the Clovis & Beyond Conference banquet presentation titled "Alternative Views on the Peopling of the Americas ". In the presentation Dr. Stanford stated that he, and others of his colleagues, think that migrations of people to the Americas were multiple and that they involved numerous ethnic groups, including those from northeastern Europe. Stone tool technological similarities indicate a possible link between Clovis and Solutrian cultures that were in present-day France and the Iberian Peninsula. The cultural practice of caching artifacts, along with red ochre, a pigment, is also noted for the two cultures. Dr. Stanford indicated coastal migration, in boats along the edges of the ice sheets to the east coast of North America, as a strong possibility. The presentation, meant to expand the thinking of how the Americas were first colonized, was a fitting end to the intrigue of the Clovis and Beyond Conference.
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