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CONSERVANCY
Field Notes Las Huertas Creek Riparian Restoration SOUTHWEST—Another stage of The Archaeological Conservancy’s Las Huertas Creek Riparian Restoration Project, funded in part by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department, has been completed. In late March, Steve Koczan, the Conservancy’s site management coordinator, and Amy Espinoza-Ar, its Southwest field representative, along with consultant Bill Zeedyk and volunteer Pete Adolph, planted 20 cottonwoods and 20 New Mexico olive trees along the newly reconstructed stream bank of Las Huertas Creek, which runs through the San José de las Huertas preserve in New Mexico. The planting of these trees should help with stream bank stabilization and also attract riparian wildlife back to the area. A series of stone weirs and baffles (deflectors) were constructed in the stream channel last October by Steve Carson of Rangeland Hands under the direction of Zeedyk. These stone features are specially designed to induce meanders in the stream channel, help control the water during flood events, and generally help establish a stable and healthy stream environment. The Conservancy and Zeedyk have planned follow-up inspections during the summer months to evalu50
ate the progress of the project and to determine if any maintenance is needed due to the spring run-off. The final phase of the project is scheduled for Spring 2006 and it includes planting willows along the stream channel to further enhance the riparian habitat. This riparian restoration project follows a similar restoration project completed by Susan Blumenthal next to the San José de las Huertas preserve and coincides with her archaeological easement donation that includes 14 acres of land adjacent to the preserve. Within the easement is Cottonwood Pueblo, a 20-room pueblo built around a small plaza that dates from A.D. 900 to 1000. To honor her parents, Ernst H. and Mary Blumenthal, and their dedication to archaeological preservation, this easement permanently preserves the pueblo, the riparian environment of Las Huertas Creek, and agricultural terrace features of San José de las Huertas.
Geophysical Research Conducted at San Marcos Pueblo SOUTHWEST—Students and faculty with the 2004 Summer of Applied Geophysical Experience (SAGE) group conducted geophysical investi-
gations at San Marcos Pueblo last summer using ground penetrating radar, seismic refraction, magnetometry, and electromagnetic techniques. San Marcos Pueblo, occupied from the mid-13th century until the Pueblo Revolt in 1680, is a massive adobe village located south of Santa Fe in the archaeologically rich Galisteo Basin of northern New Mexico. This Conservancy preserve is thought to have as many as 2,000 surface rooms in 22 roomblocks. These roomblocks enclose from eight to 10 plazas, as well as the remains of a Spanish Franciscan mission church and convento built in the 17th century. The focus of much field research in recent years, San Marcos Pueblo has seen an increased application of geophysical and remotesensing techniques that enable researchers to pinpoint areas where excavation is likely to yield the most information while limiting the damage done to archaeological features and deposits. The SAGE group, in collaboration with local archaeologists familiar with the site, employed these techniques to identify two depressions in the northeastern corner of the site that researchers suspect may be kivas—circular subterranean structures thought to hold religious significance. The dimensions and shape of the two depressions are similar to summer • 2005
