5.6 FS-6 (La Sirena Site)

UTM: Zone 13R, E196XXX N3518XXX (NAD 27) [redacted
USGS Quadrangle: Victorio Ranch, NM 
PLSS: E ¼, N ½, S ½, Section 6, T29.5S R13W 
Cultural Affiliation: Late Pithouse, Dexter phase (A.D. 650-850)
Site Type: Petroglyph 
Nearest Water Source: Unnamed tributary to Hachita Valley, 250 m SW 
Environmental Setting: Mountain slope 
Soil type: Mariner clay loam, rocky, 12 to 20 percent slopes 
Elevation: 1497 m (4910 ft) amsl 
Site Size: 1-meter 
NRHP Eligibility Recommendation: Unknown 

Field Site-6 was first identified within visual inspection of the S ½ of Section 6 (T29.5S R13W) which MCD incorporates in this area. Survey transects at 30-m increments were traversed west (270°), perpendicular to the western MCD perimeter fence. The site was first identified as a large petroglyph on a rock face approximately 250 m northeast of a mountain-fed spring (Figures 5.11 and 5.12). The spring flows through the playa floor below into the Hachita Valley in Hidalgo County to the east. FS-6 is several hundred meters below the Sierra Rica Road at this point. The vegetation in this portion of the base consists largely of the occasional creosotebush, or four-wing saltbush growing amongst the talus.

FS-6 was identified on the surface of exposed migmatite bedrock; shovel tests could not be excavated in any direction. The expected NRCS designation for this area is Mariner clay loam, rocky, 12 to 20 percent slopes. No portable cultural material (i.e. artifacts) was identified in this area.

Figure 5.11. FS-6 shown in S ½  Section 6, T29.5S R13W.

FS-6 is comprised of the carved figure of a in the rock face. FS-6 is stick figure anthropomorph with round face and triangular. It is interpreted as a female earth goddess symbol giving birth, or a male figure with a penis. Similar figures are common in the Dexter phase of the Middle Mogollon, or Late Pithouse period in Loteria Township.  Regardless of gender the figure has clear ear spools and hair adornments, and the triangular lower half is interpreted as a moth-wing skirt, which was recorded as still fashionable ceremonial ware in the historic period (cf. Tarantino 1561).[1] In this case, the penis and skirt likely indicates this to be a berdache in a shamanistic role. 

These berdache figures are reportedly very common in the area although scientific recordation is absent (Foss 2001: 256).[2] The so-called “mermaids”[3] are though to ring the foot slopes of the Sierra Rica above the former playa mudflats. Ford (1942)[4] has argued the provenance of the figures, suggesting them to be much older,; he has made the case that the mermaids are anthropomorphized Pleistocene seals, landlocked in the drying pluvial lakes. Von Däniken (1977)[5] among others have made much of Middle to Late Mogollon hair adornments which they recast as antennae. In any case, this is a simplistic[6] view which does not take account of the full range of human sexual expression as was proudly expressed prior to western influence.

What is clear is that by these antennaed mermaids is that  the drying mudflats  where a gathering place for transvestite priests in the Late Middle Mogollon period.

Regardless, given that the well preserved condition of the site on the rock face, further investigations of in the areas FS-6 may provide produce additional petroglyphs depicting life for Dexter phase peoples in the Hachita Valley and southern New Mexico in general. Particularly the location and recording of  additional glyphs  may provide significant information of the shamanistic rites and faunal compliment in this remote area. 

Figure 5.12. Detail of “mermaid” anthropomorphic petroglyph at FS-6.

However the NRHP eligibility of this site cannot be firmly established at the Phase I level of data collection. Further Phase II investigations, including additional documentation, sampling and research in gender roles and sympathetic magic in the southwestern desert, is required to fully assess this site’s potential significance. Therefore pending additional study, FS-6 remains of unknown eligibility for the NRHP.

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[1] Tarantino, A. B. A. 1691.  Un Viaje al Oeste de las Cataratas del Río El Paso. <https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Tarantino_A_B_A_Un_Viaje_al_Oeste_de_las_Cataratas_del_Río_El_Paso _S?id=QsAZAAAAYAAJ&hl=en>  Site accessed February 14, 2012.

[2] 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.

[3] The resemblance needs no explanation [fjt]

[4] Ford, H. 1942.  Technical Notes, Surprising Find (Loteria, NM). National Geographic LXXXI, No. 13: 5.

[5] von Däniken, E. 1977.  Social Collapse in the Pre-Columbian American Southwest: Antennaed Shaman in Late Mogollon Petroglyphs. Archaeology Tomorrow, Today. May, 28-32.

[6] Frankly politically incorrect, as well. [fjt]