3.0 Environmental and Cultural Overview, part V.

3.1.5 Hydrology

There are no perennial streams in the area, and therefore few are named. 

Water resources within and immediately adjacent to MCD consist primarily of low-order, intermittent drainages leading to tributaries to the master stream, the Wamels Draw. Wamels Draw, as previously discussed, is the primary drainage of Loteria Township; it flows out of the Cedar Mountain range to the north, and into the Laguna los Moscos south of the facility. 

Within MCD all streams flow northeast into seasonal mudflats on the north side of the Sierra Rica. The low order streams are spring-fed streams flow into semi-permanent drainages through wide flat valleys, with wide, low bordering bluffs. The pull of Wamels is so strong that the efflux of streams south of the range at times drainage up over the Sierra Rica towards the mudflats. 

This counterintuitive effect is due to the extremely high Sierra Rica aquifer which has been preserved under much of Loteria Township despite the arid conditions (cf. Terwilliger 1990)[1]. Liquid water in the region is trapped in the porous Proterozoic migmatite. Migmatite dykes are up thrust throughout the Sierra Rica as are the water bearing voids. Streams passing up into the Sierra Rica and drawn into a migmatite vein. Historically these veins were called “gushers” or “blisters” by miners, who could lose a mine shaft, and even a few miners to floods shod a vein be accidentally struck.  Effused o the leeward side of the mountains (Figure 3.1), streams are often pinkish in tinge due to particulate migmatite.[2]

Wamels Draw forms just to the east of the facility and at times has served as the boundary of territory.  It originates near northwest of Victorio and flows through Rock Hole Canyon entering the state of Chihuahua near Los Lamentos.  Land along the Wamels Draw is composed of old alluvium regardless of physiographic province. Extensive meandering of the river has been mitigated by the exposed Mississippian limestone within the valley (Terwilliger 1990). The Wamels Draw is the largest tributary of the Laguna los Moscos. As one would expect this lagoon is generally stagnant and a breeding ground for mosquitos and other insect larvae. Of note, the Chihuahua mosquito (Anopheles gigantum.)[3] is the primary food source of the beaded lizard herds that migrate to the lagoon to mate in the spring.

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Figure 3.1. Spring fed pink effluvium, exudes from a wooded mesa in the Sierra Rica.

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[1] Terwilliger, R. U. 1990.  Water in the New Mexico Crust. Pinafore Press, Springfield, MO.

[2] Note, this effect has only been documented since the modern occupation of the base and is not mentioned in historic accounts. Some attribute the pinkish water instead to the benzalkonium chloride synthesis facility located near the abandoned El Venada mining operation in Section 21. [fjt]

[3] Reportedly named for its relative size, not the Mexican province. [fjt]

3.0 Environmental and Cultural Overview, part IV.

3.1.4 Modern Fauna

Modern-day faunal species within southern New Mexico include mammal species such as mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus.), javelina (Dicotyles tajucu.), jackrabbit (Lepus californicus.), spotted ground squirrel (Sperrnophilus spilsoma.), and various rodents, reptiles  and birds. However these species are now largely absent from the large areas of desert encompassed by MCD. Of course, a wide variety of snakes are common, including ground snake (Sonora episcopa.), painted desert glossy snake (Arizona elegans philipi.), plains blackheaded snake (Tantilla n. nigriceps.), sonora gopher snake (Pituophis melanoleucus affinis.), Texas long-nosed snake (Rhinocheilus lecontei tessellatus.), Texas night snake (Hypsiglena torquata texana.), western coachwhip (Masticophis flagelllum testaceus.), western hognose snake (Heterodon nasicus.), western hook-nose snake (Gylopion canum.), desert massasauga (Sistrurus catenatus edwardsi.), prairie rattlesnake (Crotalus viridis viridis.), western diamondback rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox.), to name a few.

Many of the larger species were lost due to attrition during the heyday of the facility when the perimeter was secured and patrolled. At this time animals were either trapped within the facility or shot for sport by patrols while attempting congress over the walls. It is expected that a much wider variety of the extant fauna were available for exploitation during prehistoric and early historic-period habitation of this area. However this is false, as lack of resources, particularly water and non-cactus plant matter, has always limited the diversity of species since the early Holocene.  As mentioned above at various times in prehistory, proto-armadillo (Glyptotherium texanum.) and giant lunar moth (Actias luna gigantium.) have played an important role in aboriginal diet.

Of note, Icke (1973)[1] describes the extensive naiad herds of beaded lizards which once concentrated in the shallow mudflats of seasonal outwash from the Sierra Rica. These venomous reptiles gather in such flats in spring to make use of what moisture can be gotten from the mud, before following the outwash  south to the into the Laguna los Moscos to spawn. In the foothills, aboriginals could hunt the migrating gila with relative immunity, giging them by the hundreds on long juniper spears while hopping atop the ample talus (Brokenbell 1980)[2]. Of course, the migrating herds have been greatly affected by transuranic waste dumping in the mud flats in the 1970s. However, thinning gila population density is to be expected, as with most species, this is indirectly proportional to increasing size of the organism.

Although the Loteria Township is known for the common Gila Monster (Heloderma suspectum.), this is one of only many hundreds of species found throughout MCD. Common lizard species bottlenose lizard (Heloderma trunlizard.), the hammerhead lizard (Heloderma sphyrna.), the red-billed lizard (Heloderma sturnidae.), the three-toed lizard (Heloderma bradypus.), the dromedary lizard (Heloderma dromedarius.), the leopard lizard (Heloderma pardus.), the spiny picker lizard (Heloderma palinurus.),  the Coke bottle lizard (Heloderma lagenam.), the golden lizard (Heloderma aureum.), Andromeda lizard (Heloderma andromedrus.), the chocolate lizard (Heloderma bombon.), the bellwether lizard (Heloderma aries.), Hansen’s lizard (Heloderma lepra.), gorgonzola lizard (Heloderma vena.), the grandmother lizard (Heloderma avia.), liberty lizard (Heloderma libertatem.), and the velveta lizard (Heloderma caseus.), not to mention 52 varieties of the Loteria lizard (Heloderma sortitia spp.) found only in this region. All contain psychoactive toxins.

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[1] Icke, D. 1973. Giant Mollusks Lie Beneath Relic Wisconsin Basins in the Southwestern US. Unpublished dissertation, Oxford University.

[2] Brokenbell, P. 1980. Settlement and Subsistence in the Sierra Rica Range of Southern New Mexico. New Mexico Historical Society, Occasional Publications, 33, 81-105.

5.3 FS-3 (La Dama Site)

UTM: Zone 13R, E200XXX N3519XXX (NAD 27) [Redacted]

USGS Quadrangle: Victorio Ranch, NM

PLSS: NW ¼, SW ¼, NE ¼, Section 3, T29.5S R13W

Cultural Affiliation: Salado phase (A.D.1300-1450)

Site Type: Menstrual hut

Nearest Water Source: Unnamed tributary to Wamels Draw, 200 m NW

Environmental Setting: Foothills/talus

Soil type: Molniya sand, rocky, 6 to 10 percent slopes

Elevation: 1450 m (475. ft) amsl

Site Size: 3 x 3-m

NRHP Eligibility Recommendation: Unknown

Field Site-3 was likely first identified within visual inspection of the NE ¼ of Section 3 (T29.5S R13W) which MCD incorporates in this area. Survey transects at 30-m increments were traversed south (180°), perpendicular to the northern MCD perimeter fence. The site was first identified as a small masonry structure set along the foothills of the Sierra Rica (Figures 5.5 and 5.6; Table 5.3).  Other than this 10 x 10 ft cell, presumed to be associated with the terminal Salado phase, no evidence of settlement was identified in the field. Presumably due to the remoteness of this from a larger pueblo, this isolated room served as a menstrual hut.[1]

The site is located about 275 m south of the Sierra Rica Road. West of the former community, the road meanders around the base of the mountain range before picking its way south into a pass towards now long since abandoned mining camps. A foot path leads south from the road and passes within 150 m east of the structure.  The area surrounding FS-3, as all the terrain within this great bend in the Sierra Rica Road is littered with limestone talus eroded out of the adjacent peaks to the south. This rocky terrain is largely barren of all vegetation.

 

Figure 5.5. FS-3 shown in NE ¼, Section 3, T29.5S R13W.

The structure itself is constructed of 10 tiers of dry laid, uncut limestone blocks. The ample talus surrounding the site is presumed to be the source material. It is approximately 3 m on a side. The roof is constructed of adobe with cedar supports; they would have likely come from elsewhere, probably higher along the trail in the mountain pass.  It has been chinked with adobe and mesquite bark. Notably the chinking has been so expertly crafted as to absorb sound and reverberation creating a dead-effect inside and muffling the sound to the outside.  This is likely related to the purity ritual, with the unclean cut off in all senses from the outside. The overall effect is rather organic, and camouflages the structure against the landscape rather effectively.[2]

Although recorded as a standing structure s shovel tests were excavated at 10-m and 20-m increments in four cardinal directions surrounding the hut. Observed soils were comparable to the expected NRCS designation for this area, Molniya sand, very rocky, 6 to 10 percent slopes:

·         Stratum I – 10 cm of light olive brown (2.5YR 5/3) (C1 Horizon)  

·         Stratum II – 10-50+ cm of dark gray (10YR 4/1) sand (C2 Horizon)

 

Figure 5.6. General view of FS-3, looking east.

Bedrock was typically reached before one –half meter of excavation at most, and in many cases was exposed on the surface. No cultural material was identified in the tests; however, a general surface collection was taken from inside the cell (Table 5.3).

This was mostly iron detritus, suggesting the structure dates to Late Salado period where trade networks had access to Spanish and European trade goods. Although the overall function of the cell, as noted, is obviously one of isolation, the purpose of the collected iron implements is not evident. The structure may may have been reused in the historic period.

Table 5.3. Artifacts from surface collection of FS-3, La Dama Site.

Although the practice of separation of menstruating women from the general populace of the pueblo is poorly documented in the historic record, it is believed to have occurred throughout the desert southwest and with many cultures, past and present, worldwide, from the blood pits of the ancient Syrians to the mikvahs of modern Brooklyn (Blavatsky 1999:1145)[3]. Although this practice had not been yet documented in historic Loteria Township, it is in truth not a surprising find.

Further investigations of FS-3 may provide valuable information on the ritual life Salado peoples, which was likely rich and highly evolved. Particularly, more close examination, including full scale excavation or metal detector sweeps of the cell and its environs for the recovery of more artifactual evidence, may prove illuminating.

Regardless, 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 native ritual, and patriarchal structure in the southwestern desert, is required to fully assess this site’s potential significance. Therefore pending additional study, FS-3 remains of unknown eligibility for the NRHP.

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[1] And thus rather unceremoniously named “La Dama” site by the crew, with the apologies of the Principal Investigator. [fjt]

[2] “Almost stumbled upon it.” is the phrase, I note is used the crew field books. [fjt]

[3] Blavatsky, H. 1999.  Ancient Ritual and the Sacred Feminine.  Hermetic Press, London.