Early Irrigation on the Colorado Plateau near Zuni Pueblo, New Mexico

2002 ◽  
Vol 67 (4) ◽  
pp. 665-676 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan E. Damp ◽  
Stephen A. Hall ◽  
Susan J. Smith
Keyword(s):  
New Mexico ◽  
Agricultural Landscape ◽  
Colorado Plateau ◽  
Irrigation Canals ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Maize Agriculture ◽  
Zuni Pueblo

The introduction of maize agriculture into the Southwest and onto the Colorado Plateau was accompanied by irrigation techniques. Twenty-six radiocarbon dates at two sites, K'yana Chabina and K'yawa:na'a Deyatchinanne, in the Zuni area of New Mexico, establish the use of irrigation canals to between 3,000 and 1,000 years ago. Associated features and the presence of nearby habitation sites independently corroborate the chronology of canal building. The geomorphology of the Zuni landscape and the morphology of the irrigation canals are consistent with the artificial construction of the canals. Pollen evidence points to an agricultural landscape and the cultivation of maize.

scholarly journals The Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation in north-central New Mexico–Linking Colorado Plateau stratigraphy to the stratigraphy of the High Plains

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 117-129 ◽  
Author(s):  
Spencer Lucas
Keyword(s):  
New Mexico ◽  
Colorado Plateau ◽  
Far East ◽  
River System ◽  
Upper Jurassic ◽  
High Plains ◽  
Morrison Formation ◽  
Southern High Plains ◽  
North Central ◽  
The North

Most study of the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation has focused on its spectacular and extensive outcrops on the southern Colorado Plateau. Nevertheless, outcrops of the Morrison Formation extend far off the Colorado Plateau, onto the southern High Plains as far east as western Oklahoma. Outcrops of the Morrison Formation east of and along the eastern flank of the Rio Grande rift in north-central New Mexico (Sandoval, Bernalillo, and San­ta Fe Counties) are geographically intermediate between the Morrison Formation outcrops on the southeastern Colorado Plateau in northwestern New Mexico and on the southern High Plains of eastern New Mexico. Previous lithostratigraphic correlations between the Colorado Plateau and High Plains Morrison Formation outcrops using the north-central New Mexico sections encompassed a geographic gap in outcrop data of about 100 km. New data on previously unstudied Morrison Formation outcrops at Placitas in Sandoval County and south of Lamy in Santa Fe County reduce that gap and significantly add to stratigraphic coverage. At Placitas, the Morrison Formation is about 141 m thick, in the Lamy area it is about 232 m thick, and, at both locations, it consists of the (ascending) sandstone-dominated Salt Wash Member, mudstone-dominated Brushy Basin Member, and sandstone-dominat­ed Jackpile Member. Correlation of Morrison strata across northern New Mexico documents the continuity of the Morrison depositional systems from the Colorado Plateau eastward onto the southern High Plains. Along this transect, there is significant stratigraphic relief on the base of the Salt Wash Member (J-5 unconformity), the base of the Jackpile Member, and the base of the Cretaceous strata that overlie the Morrison Formation (K unconfor­mity). Salt Wash Member deposition was generally by easterly-flowing rivers, and this river system continued well east of the Colorado Plateau. The continuity of the Brushy Basin Member, and its characteristic zeolite-rich clay facies, onto the High Plains suggests that localized depositional models (e.g., “Lake T’oo’dichi’) need to be re-eval­uated. Instead, envisioning Brushy Basin Member deposition on a vast muddy floodplain, with some localized lacustrine and palustrine depocenters, better interprets its distribution and facies.

scholarly journals Two New Late Pleistocene Avifaunas From New Mexico

The Condor ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 108 (3) ◽  
pp. 721-730 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecka L. Brasso ◽  
Steven D. Emslie
Keyword(s):  
New Mexico ◽  
Great Basin ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
New Records ◽  
Rocky Mountain ◽  
Subalpine Forest ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Aegolius Funereus ◽  
Boreal Owl ◽  
Gymnogyps Californianus

Abstract We report two new late Pleistocene avifaunas from New Mexico, recovered from Sandia Cave during archaeological excavations by F. Hibben in the 1930s and the nearby Marmot Cave excavated in 2000. The fossil assemblage from Sandia Cave consists of at least 30 taxa, including seven extralimital and two extinct species, Coragyps occidentalis (extinct vulture) and Ectopistes migratorius (Passenger Pigeon). The avifauna from Marmot Cave is limited to eight taxa shared with Sandia Cave. Two new records of Gymnogyps californianus (California Condor) are reported from these sites, as well as new records of Lagopus sp. (ptarmigan), Aegolius funereus (Boreal Owl), and Micrathene whitneyi (Elf Owl) from New Mexico. Two new radiocarbon dates on fossil G. californianus from Sandia and Marmot cave are reported at 10 795 ± 50 and 25 090 ± 220 14C years before present (B.P.), respectively. These collections provide further evidence for mixed avian communities in New Mexico during the late Pleistocene and are similar to other cave avifaunas of comparable age from the Great Basin and Rocky Mountain regions. The birds from Sandia Cave that are shared with other fossil avifaunas include species currently found in arctic tundra, boreal, and steppe habitats, as well as open, xeric communities. This collection provides additional evidence for widespread steppe-tundra, shrub, and subalpine forest environments at lower elevations of western North America during the late Pleistocene.

Corn, Cucurbits, Cordage, and Colonization: An Absolute Chronology for the Appearance of Mesoamerican Domesticates and Perishables in the Jornada Basin, New Mexico

2005 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 147-164 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. C. Hyland ◽  
J. M. Adovasio ◽  
R. Ervin Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Mass Spectrometry ◽  
New Mexico ◽  
Material Culture ◽  
Accelerator Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Mexican Origin ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
South Central ◽  
Attribute Analysis ◽  
Non Local ◽  
Jornada Basin

Detailed attribute analysis of basketry and cordage remains from Pendejo Cave and the region encompassed by the Jornada Basin in south-central New Mexico has suggested that the introduction of non-local cultigens in the study area is signaled by the simultaneous and not unrelated appearance of bundle foundation coiling, twill plaiting, and final S twist cordage of north Mexican origin or affiliation. Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dates of selected allochthonous perishable fiber artifacts from Pendejo Cave are presented and evaluated in terms of the local chronology of coiling, plaiting, and cordage types, their association with the adoption of cultigens, as evidence of material culture change via migration and hybridization, as well as their role in the onset of the Formative in the Jornada Basin.

Age of the Shasta Ground Sloth from Aden Crater, New Mexico

1964 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 390-391
Author(s):  
Elwyn L. Simons ◽  
H. L. Alexander
Keyword(s):  
New Mexico ◽  
Tissue Sample ◽  
The Other ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Excellent Preservation ◽  
Ground Sloth ◽  
Late Survival

AbstractLate survival of the Shasta ground sloth, Nothrotherium shastense, an assumption partially based on excellent preservation of a specimen from the Aden Crater, New Mexico, can no longer be supported, at least on the basis of this specimen. Two radiocarbon dates, one derived from desiccated tissues and the other from an associated coprolite (9840 ± 160 and 11,080 ± 200 B.P.), place the specimen within the temporal span of other dated ground-sloth finds. The discrepancy of over 1000 years in these two dates can be explained by alcohol contamination of the tissue sample.

Late Pleistocene Human Friction Skin Prints from Pendejo Cave, New Mexico

1996 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
pp. 357-376 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald Chrisman ◽  
Richard S. MacNeish ◽  
Jamshed Mavalwala ◽  
Howard Savage
Keyword(s):  
New Mexico ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
New World ◽  
Human Remains ◽  
Careful Analysis ◽  
Human Origin ◽  
Human Occupation ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Human Construction ◽  
Botanical Remains

In the excavation of Pendejo Cave (FB 9366) near Orogrande, New Mexico, 16 friction skin imprints were found in five stratified zones on clay nodules, baked at over 120°C. After careful analysis, expert dermatoglyphologists determined that these imprints had positive primate characteristics. The imprints are probably of human origin, since no other primates are known to have existed in prehistoric New Mexico. Eight of the imprints occurred in three well-dated zones falling in the late Pleistocene. These zones have direct radiocarbon dates between 12,000 and 37,000 B.P. In addition to their association with radiocarbon determinations, the prints come from three of 24 stratified zones, intensively studied by geologists and pedologists, that are dated in sequence by 34 other radiocarbon determinations acquired from four different laboratories. The imprints are associated with a column of over 35,000 paleontological specimens and more than 15,000 botanical remains. These specimens indicate Pleistocene changes and supply evidence of human transportation and modification of various materials. The prints are also associated with artifacts, ecofacts, features of human construction, and human remains. The imprint specimens therefore provide evidence of Pleistocene human occupation in the New World.

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