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Field Notes
C O N S E R V A N C Y FieldNotes
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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.
Aseries of stone weirs and baffles (deflectors) were constructedin the stream channellast October by Steve Carson of Rangeland Hands under the direction of Zeedyk. These stone featuresare specially designed toinduce meanders in the stream channel, helpcontrol the water during flood events, and generally help establish a stable and healthy stream environment.
The Conservancy and Zeedyk have plannedfollow-up inspections during the summer months to evaluate the progress of the project and to determine if any maintenance is neededdue 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 followsa similar restorationproject completed by Susan Blumenthal next tothe San José de las Huertas preserve andcoincides 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.
SOUTHWEST—Students and faculty with the 2004 Summer of Applied Geophysical Experience (SAGE) group conducted geophysical investigations 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
that of known kivas. Ground penetrating radar readings indicate that the depressions, which were dug at some time in the past, have subsequently been filled with fine-grained sediment. It’s thought that the depressions were filled in either by the Spanish in early historic times, or by erosion. An excavation will be required to determine if these depressions are in fact kivas.
Meanwhile, the SAGE researchers believe that archaeologist Nels Nelson was mistaken when, during his 1915 exploration of San Marcos, he identified another circular depression as a large kiva.
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