Albuquerque Archaeological Society members worked at Petroglyph National Monument in Albuquerque from 1997 until 2003. Crew members volunteered over 14,000 hours over a period of seven years to document petroglyphs across a 28 kilometer volcanic escarpment and nearby areas. The objective was to provide a comprehensive record that includes photographs, sketches, and various types of descriptive data about the petroglyphs for resource management and research purposes. The data is compiled into a Geographic Information System (GIS) and includes over 24,000 images, with data entry still in progress. Since the close of field work for this project, many of the crew members have moved on to record petroglyphs at Creston and other sites in the Galisteo Basin.
Dara Saville
RAFS Heritage Preservation Award photo: AAS members Jack and Anne Francis, Helen and Jay Crotty, Jean and Jerry Brody along with Eric Brunnemann in Santa Fe to receive New Mexico Heritage Preservation Award for their work in the Rock Art Field School recording petroglyphs at Petroglyph National Monument, May, 1998. Photo submitted by Anne Francis.
Piro Archaeology
During four summer sessions Tom O’Laughlin and Michael Bletzer led a team of volunteers, many from the Albuquerque Archaeological Society, excavating a Piro site south of Soccoro, New Mexico. The site is on private lands and is identified as LA 31744, Plaza Montoya. It is believed this site was occupied between A.D. 1450 – 1650 and eventually contained 200 hundred ground floor rooms, whereas the actual count may well be in the mid- to high 300s or 400s. Many artifacts have been found, including points, Kiva Bells, flutes, pots and wonderfully preserved mealing bins where the imprints of the grinding stones were swept clean indicating an orderly abandonment. The ceramics generally fall within the Glaze E, 1515 – 1640 timeframe, with some Glaze F sherds mixed in, indicating a post 1625 pottery style. Spanish influence was also found with evidence of metal artifacts and some room blocks that were built with adobe bricks and European style doorways. In summary, the site is one of the largest Piro pueblos and was abandoned in an orderly manner. All human remains were cremated, scattered through the pueblo in a random fashion. As part of the final season in 2005 with Tom O'Laughlin and Michael Bletzer as
archaeologists.
Identified in the pictures are AAS members Anne Francis, Jack Francis, Tom
O'Laughlin and Wayne White. The others are Steve Roberts of Bennett, Co. and an
unidentified AAS member. July, 2005. Picture submitted by Ann Francis.
Jack Francis/Ann Francis
CRM Excavations at the Chamisal Site
A major PIV site underlies Arnold Sargeant's lot at 850 Chamisal Road. It came to the Sargeants' attention when they put in a swimming pool. The late Kit Sargeant, with volunteer help, excavated portions of the site, which she named the Chamisal Site and she had entered in the Museum of New Mexico files as LA 22765. In the spring and summer of 2002 some twenty volunteers from the Albuquerque Archaeological Society helped excavate along a proposed sewer line that was to cut through both architectural and plaza areas of the site, recovering large quantities of sherds, lithics, bone and even some intrusive 20th century materials, mapping previously unknown portions of the site and providing respectful treatment of human remains. The collections are curated at the Maxwell Museum where some of our volunteers continue to work preparing them for long term storage. We hope eventually to have a completed report on this project.
Dave Brugge
Chamizal Site photo: Roberto Ibarra and Joan Wilkes working on
Test Pit II at the Chamizal Site (LA 22765), June 22, 2002. Photo by Dave Brugge.
Check back soon for more including information on the Edith Ave. excavation, the Bethsheba Mine Site project and Report, and photos of our field projects, too.
Plaza Montoyo
Petroglyph National Monument