GMI has been contracted by the Fort Bliss Environmental Division to conduct an investigation of four rock art sites located on the installation. During the fall of 2010, GMI, in collaboration with Sacred Sites Inc., Mark Willis Consulting, Rupestrian CyberServices Inc., and the El Paso Archaeological Society, conducted fieldwork. Both artistic and photographic techniques were used to create scaled drawings with in-camera analysis using “D-stretch” software, ultra-high resolution digital photographs and photogrammetric studies to document, enhance and model rock art panels and elements. In addition, archaeologists used a portable X-ray fluorescence device to test a non-destructive method of analyzing pigment composition. Results of this fieldwork will be used to prepare a report for the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) eligibility evaluation of these four sites. The report will also provide a status update of these rock art sites, and address the research topic of the social and ritual role of rock art in prehistoric societies of the Jornada Mogollon region.

GMI is currently conducting archaeological investigations at Sacramento Pueblo, a newly discovered Late Formative period (A.D. 1150-1450) pueblo located along the Sacramento River, the most prominent of several watersheds along the southern flanks of the Sacramento Mountains. The pueblo consists of two or more room blocks. The data recovery program at Sacramento Pueblo will provide an important opportunity to expand our understanding of Late Formative period pueblo occupations in the Jornada Mogollon region. It will focus on issues of social and ritual organization, subsistence economy, abandonment and other forms of site formation processes, and the interaction between pueblo social groups in the Sacramento Mountain highlands and the desert lowlands of the Tularosa Basin.

During the summer of 2010, GMI archaeologists conducted an intensive cultural resources survey of 3,000 acres within the upland plains of southern Idaho. Previous surveys conducted since the early 1980s had identified 18 sites within the survey parcel. During the 2010 efforts, GMI archaeologists identified a total of 26 archaeological sites and over 100 isolated finds. Site types included prehistoric lithic scatters, rock shelters, and historic trash scatters associated with sheep farming.

During the summer of 2009, GMI conducted archaeological investigations at LA 85774 to mitigate a trespass to the site that occurred during the construction of the nearby fence along the US/Mexican border. The site, known as Columbus Pueblo, contains evidence of the activities, trade, and mobility of populations in the southern Mimbres region. It represents a limited use site occupied for a short duration – a few weeks or a season – abandoned and subsequently re-occupied. Based on the current evidence, these occupations took place between A.D. 870 and 1100. During those occupations, the site residents appear to have had significant interactions with groups to the south and east of them, brining their prized Mimbres Black-on-white bowls, and exploiting local resources.

During the summer of 2009, GMI conducted archaeological testing at ten prehistoric archaeological sites in southern Idaho. In addition to traditional archaeological testing, GMI incorporated two specialized studies as part of this project. Archaeogeophysical and geoarchaeological investigations were completed at select sites to assess the potential of locating buried, in situ, prehistoric occupations within the project area. The geoarchaeology of this particular project focused on Holocene alluvial deposits, finding that all of the streams examined contained Holocene alluvial deposits with good potential of preserving buried in situ prehistoric occupations to varying degrees. Smaller streams had generally shallow preservation cover in small areas, whereas larger streams contained alluvial deposits in excess of 2.5 m thick with much greater preservation potential.

Archaeological testing of site 41DL391 in Dallas, Texas was conducted to determine the limits, density, and eligibility status for inclusion in the NRHP as part of EIS investigations. Backhoe trenching to locate the site at 3 to 3.7 m below the current flood plain surface was conducted prior to hand excavations. All hand excavated units were 1-x-1 m, 1-x-.5 m, and .5-x-.5 m in size. Special samples were collected for radiocarbon dating, molluscan identification, macrobotanical identification, and other interpretative analyses to aid in the eligibility determination of the site.

The investigations revealed two discrete living surfaces. Both of these living surfaces yielded very little material, but radiocarbon dating put one at approximately 1,000 years B.P. and the other between 940–700 B.P. Although the investigations yielded important information concerning the nature of subsistence patterns during this portion of the Late Holocene, the site yielded little else to clarify the relationship of the inhabitants of these foraging camps to the inhabitants of known sites within the region. The site was recommended as ineligible for inclusion in the National Register.

GMI archeologists excavated a 13-room pueblo settlement located on Fort Bliss in south-central New Mexico, about 15 miles north of El Paso, Texas. The pueblo, known as Madera Quemada, is situated on a terrace above Old Coe Lake playa, a small desert lakebed intermittently flooded by rainfall runoff from the Organ Mountains. The occupation of the pueblo occurred sometime between A.D. 1275 and 1450, a period that has been termed the El Paso phase in the regional prehistoric sequence. Madera Quemada is Spanish for “burned wood” and refers to the large quantities of burned wood roof beams and roof support posts found on the floors of several rooms.

Madera Quemada pueblo was covered by a hard, dense deposit of adobe. This helped protect the pueblo from the damaging effects of wind and water erosion and animal burrowing that is so common among other prehistoric sites in the desert setting of West Texas and Southern New Mexico. The pueblo is exceptionally well-preserved and numerous artifacts remain on the floors of rooms. The excellent preservation and research potential of the pueblo, combined with the fact that no El Paso phase pueblo had been professionally excavated for over 20 years, provided GMI archeologists with an exceptional opportunity to study how prehistoric pueblo groups adapted to the desert environment of the region.

The excavations at Madera Quemada pueblo were funded and supported by the Directorate of Environment, Fort Bliss, Texas

GMI evaluated 90 archaeological sites located within active firing groups at Fort Bliss in the southern Tularosa Basin, Doña Ana County, NM. Geoarchaeological studies revealed Holocene soil horizons at both basin and alluvial fan contexts. Forty-four of the sites exhibited geomorphic integrity and significant artifact deposits. The regional expertise of Geo-Marine staff contributed to the recognition of important Middle Archaic components at several sites and the realization that a cluster of Early Formative sites has the potential to provide data critical to an understanding of cultural changes within the Tularosa Basin at A.D. 200–1000.

In 2003 under contract with the U.S. Navy, Atlantic Division, GMI conducted archaeological inventory and paleoenvironmental investigations within 1,200 acres of the U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The purpose of the work was to provide the Navy with an initial database for the formulation of a comprehensive historic preservation program for the station. Selected areas of the station perceived to have a high probability of containing evidence of prehistoric and historic occupation of the landform were inventoried.

 

As a result of the investigation, 19 Precolumbian sites spanning the Archaic through Ceramic periods and 22 sites associated with early Spanish colonial occupation (n=1), the Spanish American War Battle of Cuzco Wells (n=1), the initial 1904–1908 U.S. Navy development of the base (n=19), and Precolumbian/Spanish colonial occupations (n=1) were recorded. Macrobotanical analysis of flotation remains and soil micromorphology analysis of selected profiles from sampled Precolumbian sites yielded data critical to an understanding of the changing prehistoric environment. The primary result of the studies was an evaluation of the potential for additional archaeological sites and the need for systematic survey of portions of the installation.

GMI conducted a series of surveys for proposed locations of Cingular Wireless cell tower compounds, in various states. Each proposed cell tower survey involved archival research to review known sites and previous survey files. Site visits to each proposed cell tower location were conducted, with shovel testing and photodocumentation. Individual reports are submitted for each location at the end of fieldwork and analysis.

 

For the surveys conducted in Virginia, GMI was able to identify and register three new archaeological sites, two lithic raw material procurement sites in Madison (44MA193), and Louisa (44LS225) counties, Virginia a and a multi-component prehistoric and nineteenth century site in Stafford County, Virginia (44ST821). These newly documented archaeological sites have resulted in the re-location of the proposed towers in order to avoid impact to potentially significant cultural resources.

GMI conducted test excavations at 17 archeological sites within the active training ranges of Avon Park Air Force Range. The testing methodology involved an initial phase of shovel testing to determine the areas with the greatest potential and the excavation of several 1-x-1- or 1-x-2-meter units within each site. Intensive geomorphologic coring and profile descriptions, and radiocarbon and OSL dating were used to determine the site formation and the modification factors affecting each site. The OSL dating was critical to the recognition of bioturbation as a major factor affecting the vertical distribution of artifacts within the sites with deep (>2 meters) sand deposits. Macrobotanical, pollen, and faunal analyses were conducted on samples collected from the wet midden sites, which displayed excellent preservation. The methodologies and results of these investigations will serve as the model for peninsular Florida investigations.