Lone Mountain Archaeological Services
NEW DATA ON OLD ISSUES
The National Register Eligibility Evaluation
of 30 Sites in Training Area 32 and Maneuver Area 8, Fort Bliss, New Mexico.
This project, conducted on Fort Bliss, yielded some of the earliest dates for cultural materials documented in the region. Three ash-and-charcoal stain features were radiocarbon dated to 13,020 to 12,200 B.C. If this date is accurate, it would be the earliest ever documented in the Tularosa Basin, outside of the controversial Pendejo Cave, and indeed one of the earliest in North America. There is a possibility that the three features are natural in origin (lightning strikes, etc.); however, several artifacts (flakes from stone tool manufacture) were found within the site boundary, attesting to human activity. In the same project area, but at a different site, an incised tabular stone artifact was found. Similar artifacts were discovered at the Gault Clovis site in Texas, possibly representing the earliest art in North America (see the University of Texas website). While it is next to impossible to date the incised artifact, its context and possible Paleoindian affiliation bolster the evidence for early Paleoindian activity in the area.
Another startling find is the apparent longevity of occupation in the area. In addition to the evidence for Paleoindian occupation noted above, the 30 sites investigated during this project were periodically occupied from the Archaic (6000 B.C. to A.D. 200) through the Formative (A.D. 200 to 1450) periods, covering virtually the entire span of human prehistory. Over 1,400 lithic and ceramic artifacts from all periods were recovered, and no fewer than 57 features including hearths and possible pit houses were located. Four ceramic game pieces were found (pictured among the artifacts at right), offering a rare glimpse into prehistoric leisure activities. This cluster of sites provides a unique opportunity for archaeologists to track changes and patterns in domestic behaviors throughout prehistory.
The project also yielded tenuous evidence of early agriculture. Analysis of fill from one thermal feature revealed possible traces of corn. The feature was dated to approximately 1,800 years before present, which until recently placed it at the early end of the spectrum for agricultural strategies, right at A.D. 200. Prior scholarship held that corn was introduced to the Southwest in the Formative period no earlier than A.D. 200, although some have argued for an earlier introduction of this cultivar. The site discovered by Lone Mountain could shed light on the earliest period of corn agriculture in the Southwest.
