Field Notes

CONSER V ANC Y

FieldNotes

Hopewell Earthwork Transferred to National Park Service

MIDWEST—The High Bank earthwork, a massive Hopewell circle and octagon complex, has been acquired by the National Park Service as part of the Hopewell Culture National Historical Park in Chillicothe, Ohio. Congress directed High Bank and two other Hopewell culture sites be added to the park in 1992. One of the largest and best-preserved of the massive Hopewellian sites in the Chillicothe area, High Bank has often been linked to ancient astronomical alignments. N’omi Greber of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History has been conducting research on the site for the past decade trying to determine its use and make-up.

The Conservancy purchased the northern half of the earthwork in 1992. Having preserved this portion of the 1,900-year-old earthwork for the last decade, the Conservancy sold it to the National Park Service. The proceeds from the sale will be used to purchase other endangered sites.

The southern portion of the earthwork, encompassing most of the octagon structure, was nearly lost. Its owner was Alva McGraw, a local farmer and longtime supporter of archaeology in the Chillicothe area. McGraw often spoke of his plans to permanently preserve the site by bequeathing his portion of the earthwork to either the Conservancy or the National Park Service. Unfortunately, when he died last winter at the age of 94, he had not revised his will in over 40 years.

The entire McGraw estate, including his portion of the High Bank earthwork, passed to a cohort of 37 distant relatives. They chose to have all McGraw’s holdings sold at public auction. Miraculously, the attorney for the McGraw estate was able to arrange for the National Park Service to purchase McGraw’s portion of the High Bank site prior to

The Albuquerque Archaeological Society visits San José de Las Huertas. The Conservancy acquired this preserve by obtaining three tracts of land between 1986 and 2000.

the public auction, averting a potential catastrophe.

Research Continues at San José de Las Huertas

SOUTHWEST—A clearer picture of the Spanish Colonial settlement of San José de Las Huertas near Albuquerque, New Mexico, is coming into focus as researchers Nan Rothschild and Heather Atherton with Columbia University continue their mapping and archival research of the 24-acre Conservancy preserve. This

past summer, a group of graduate students assisted the researchers in the completion of a topographic survey of the site, as well as the collection of additional soil resistivity and magnetrometry data, that will help them identify the locations of the site’s buried features.

The walled village of San José de Las Huertas was occupied between 1765 and 1826, and contains at least nine housemounds, two trash areas, and what may be agricultural fields within the walled area, surrounded by agricultural and grazing lands. The site is considered a buffer community on New Spain’s northern frontier due to the role it played in protecting principal frontier settlements from the raids of nomadic Plains tribes. The village is one of only a handful of intact colonial period sites in the Southwest, and as such, is important to archaeologists and historians studying the area’s early history.

“The 19th century is the final stage of Spanish Colonial control and is marked by weakened central control and more autonomy, especially on the frontier,” explains Rothschild. “We are particularly interested in how the residents of San José de Las Huertas saw themselves: as Spanish, Hispanic, or as members of some other group, and how they used material culture, architecture, and other archaeologically accessible behavior, to express their identity.”

The researchers hope to finish the geophysical survey and remote sensing next summer, which will guide them in conducting limited test excavations of architectural features such as the houses, the plaza, storage areas, and corrals. The archaeological evidence, historical

A view of the McColman Tract from the Cahawba River. Old Cahawba is the site of Alabama’s first state capital.

records, and oral histories will be used as complementary sources of information to build a more complete picture of the settlement.

Conservancy Acquires Two More Tracts at Old Cahawba Site

SOUTHEAST—The Conservancy recently acquired two additions to the Old Cahawba site. Old Cahawba, located about 12 miles west of Selma, is the site of Alabama’s first state capital. It is also a multicomponent prehistoric site. The new acquisitions primarily relate to Cahawba’s 19th-century occupation.

The three-acre Zito Tract, on the far north end of the old town, is located where the toll bridge on the old Cahawba-Selma Highway once crossed the Cahawba River. The bridge and the bridge keeper’s house were destroyed in the 19th century during a major flood

The 4.5-acre McColman Tract, which is on the Cahawba River close to the Zito Tract, is located in what was once the Cahawba Commons, an area where the townspeople kept their livestock and gardens. Archaeologists have not yet examined the commons.

When coupled with the 400+ acres at Cahawba already acquired by the Conservancy, the two tracts will help to tell archaeologists the story of Alabama’s frontier capital, as well as that of the people who lived on the site hundreds of years before.

The Conservancy has transferred all its holdings at Old Cahawba to the Alabama Historical Commission for the developing state park. The park is open to the public from 9 A.M. to 5 P.M. daily, except for major holidays.