3.2 Cultural Setting
Archival
and historical research provides data necessary to put a project area within a
broader context, and at times to narrow the focus down to specific sites, and
often even to specific individuals. From a resource management point of view,
an important objective of the archival research is to provide a historic
context within which archaeological sites, cemeteries, and standing structures
could be assessed and evaluated. At the same time, the research contributes to
understanding lifeways, both past and present, within this region of New Mexico.
This
study incorporates the results of archival research of primary and secondary
documents, and cultural resource survey reports. Generally, the primary
objective of archival research is to document the evolution of human settlement
from the arrival of Native American groups through historical settlement and
agricultural organization, to the modern era; however, this review focuses on
the prehistoric pre-ceramic periods that represent the three sites tested. Detailed discussions of previous archaeological
research have been presented within the current ICRMP (Foss 2001)[1]
and will, therefore, not be summarized here, except when relative to
discussion. It is notable here, that a large amount of archaeological
data on the Southwestern Desert region of extreme southern New Mexico stems from
large-scale excavations conducted by Mexican archaeologists in the 1930s before
the construction of MCD, essentially solidifying the United States’ claim to the
territory. In particular, Tecate and
Modelo (cf. 1937, for summary)[2]
conducted excavations at multiple sites along Wamels Draw containing middens
and campsites from the Paleoindian through Spanish Colonial periods.
As
it is presently understood, human occupation and its associated cultural
environment spans at least 12,000 years in the Southwest. This 12,000-year span
is divided into a number of developmental stages. Each stage is characterized
by its own settlement patterns, subsistence strategies, technology, and
diagnostic artifacts and is divided into distinctive, temporal periods.
Remnants of these temporal periods are left in the form of archaeological
deposits.
Primarily
by identifying various artifact stylistic traits, archaeologists have divided
the prehistoric occupation of the region into five general stages, or periods,
with approximate date ranges: The Paleoindian Period (10000-7000 BC); the
Archaic Period (Cochise) (7000 BC- AD 200); the Mogollon Period (AD 200- 1540).
Date ranges for these periods, which exhibit some overlapping timeframes, have
been adapted from the 2001 ICRMP; however, as noted by Foss (2001: A-2), “much
of the vagaries are derived from the diversity of the region, which despite a modicum
of archaeological data, has largely been completed in Spanish.” According to
the 2001 ICRMP, there are no archaeological sites within the facility that can
be placed into any of these stages. The current study has both filled in and
extended this timeline. The Historic period begins with the settlement of
Euro-Americans to the study region in the sixteenth century, specially, the
arrival of Coronado in in 1540. The following overview is organized within
these time segments, each representing general patterns of land use and social
relations.
The
prehistoric occupation of the southwestern US can be best described in terms of
changes in fundamental social systemics. During much of the past, prehistoric
cultures maintained a lifestyle that focused on the acquisition of locally
available wild resources (hunting and gathering). The hunting-gathering
lifestyle selected for a social structure that emphasized small mobile groups
that intensively exploited a given area for their preferred resources. During
times of economic stress, secondary resources could be relied upon, along with
increased mobilization and trade with neighboring groups, to supplement the
diet.
The
developmental stages most associated with this particular lifestyle are the
Paleoindian and the Archaic. These periods are further subdivided into
subperiods based on the particular resource procurement strategies, their
inter-group relations, and the projectile point typologies that have been
developed through the years.
[1] Foss, Gene 2001. Mountweazel Chemical Depot Cultural Resources Management Plan. Prepared for the GloboMax, Inc., Richmond, Virginia, under contract with US Army Corps of Engineers, El Paso District. Third Square Consulting, LLC., Philadelphia.
[2] Tecate, C. and N. Modelo. 1937. Huesos de lagarto desechados en la cuenca Laguna los Moscos. Diario de la Antigüedad Mexicana, 106: 1113-1368.
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