Colonialism, Past and Present, in New Mexico

San Jose de las Huertas was established as a land grant community by the Spanish crown in 1765 and occupied for about 60 years. Many of its residents returned to the area after a brief respite, to found the village of Placitas, which exists today. Archaeological excavation at Las Huertas, documentary research and oral history from descendants of the original settlers reveal the shifting impact of different colonialisms, each accompanied by an image of modernity. Spanish demands were attenuated by distance and waning power. American impositions are more problematic, involving a new political economy, conflicts over land and water, as Placitas converts to a bedroom suburb of Albuquerque.     

Energy and Environmental Politics in Post-Corporatist Mexico

No government that is serious about environmental protection will imitate the Mexican model. The undrinkable waters and defiled deserts of Mexico's northern border towns and the poisoned air of its capital city are infamous. But there are noticeable changes in Mexican politicians' and lawmakers' attitudes toward the country's environmental ills, in no small part because of changing public attitudes toward these problems. As Mexico's political system becomes more open and democratic, policy elites are increasingly attentive to environmental problems, as ordinary citizens, and especially urbanites, vent their frustration at the ballot box. Perhaps ironically, Mexico's hydrocarbon industries are potential leaders in the nascent environmental reform process. Inducements for better environmental behavior by the oil and natural gas industries are new, municipal and federal environmental regulations, stepped-up enforcement, and local and cross-border markets for Mexico's gas.     

Abandonment,Authority, and Religious Continuity in Post-Classical Greece

Scholars have frequently invoked the abandonment of Early Christian basilicas in the sixth and seventh centuries as key evidence for the end of antiquity in Greece. The standard narrative treats the archaeological evidence for abandonment as the physical manifestation of decline recorded in textual sources. The neat equivalency between archaeology and text ignores the role that abandonment plays in the narrative strategies of the textual sources. By reexamining the tie between text and archaeology, we can read the life cycle of the Early Christian basilica in Greece more critically and consequently expand our understanding of this dynamic period in Greek history.     

Game Resources, Social Interaction, and the Ecological Footprint in Southwest New Mexico

Humans have modified their environments for millennia, but the role of these impacts on economic and social strategies among communities can be difficult to assess. This is due in part to the difficulty of quantifying impacts, which hinders our evaluations of the effects of different resource acquisition strategies and impairs attempts to understand competing demands on resources and their effects on the evolution of social relations. In this paper we employ footprint analysis, a tool used in ecology, to assess the impact of prehistoric subsistence farming communities on the environment, specifically faunal resources. We use footprint analysis to quantify the impact of various strategies of game acquisition by Classic Mimbres period (AD 1000-1130) farmers in the North American Southwest. Assessments are then employed in identifying changes in social relations among communities that may have contributed to settlement changes in the region.     

论寨峁梁房址的建造、使用和废弃

2014至2015连续两年的考古工作,清理了晋陕高原上目前揭露最为完整的一处龙山时代石城聚落——榆林寨峁梁遗址。本文以寨峁梁遗址材料为基础,尝试复原龙山时代以窑洞为主体建筑的前后室房址的建造过程和使用情况,并着重探讨了寨峁梁前后室房址的废弃时间和废弃原因。通过与中国北方地区发现的史前窑洞的比较,作者认为,以寨峁梁为代表的前后室房址是窑洞式居址的复合结构和高级形态,半地穴覆顶的前室应为起居空间,掏挖于生土中的窑洞为卧室。根据灶址的使用和室内器物的相关情况推测,寨峁梁聚落当废弃于夏秋季节,其废弃原因可能与社会动荡引起的冲突事件相关,寨峁梁龙山先民系突发性的自行迁移。     

A Reinterpretation of the Occupational History of the Pendleton Ruin,New Mexico

Abstract

The Pendleton Ruin, an adobe pueblo of approximately 125 rooms in the “boot heel” of sw New Mexico, was excavated by Alfred V Kidder, C. Burton Cosgrove, and Harriet S. Cosgrove in 1933. It defined the Animas phase, dated between A.D. 1150 and 1450. In this paper, the occupational history of the Pendleton Ruin is reexamined, beginning with the excavators' assumption that the lack of trash accumulation indicated a brief occupation. Based on the published report, field notebooks, and collections, it is concluded that the site was occupied longer than thought. Evidence for at least one hiatus in occupation may explain how a long occupation is compatible with low artifact yields. Evidence also points to the construction of a platform mound along the northern side of a plaza. A reinterpretation of regional settlement and social organization, focused on the role and scale of settlement instability, is presented. Finally, the results present a case study of how reanalysis of excavated materials can be a useful archaeological practice.     

Water, technology, and the courtroom: negotiating reclamation policy in territorial New Mexico

Historical investigation of arid landscapes and communities in the American West has long focused on the pivotal influence of federal reclamation policy, typically characterizing its implementation as the application of scientific and technological methods to a variety of water resource management issues. This paper departs from traditional views of reclamation by highlighting the highly variable and contingent ways in which new science-based forms of water management were proposed and negotiated in specific local places with particular cultural, legal, and historical geographies. Drawing theoretically from literature on the ‘geography of science,’ the paper probes the ways in which authority for a scientific approach to water management was created, negotiated, and expressed in local and regional contexts in the Territory of New Mexico, where authoritative systems of practical resource use and administration had been in long use before the U.S. government initiated its federal water reclamation program in 1902. Specifically, the paper examines two disputes entered and argued in front of northern New Mexico’s Rio Arriba District Dourt between 1903 and 1905. By departing from the geographical and scalar perspectives typically applied to environmental histories of the West and its reclamation landscapes, this ‘microgeographical’ approach promises a fresh perspective that emphasizes the highly contingent ways in which science-based water policy was implemented in multiple and complex environments.     

Environmental Performance of the Assembly Plants Industry in the North of Mexico

The northern border of Mexico, a region with great tradition and rooting of the assembly plants industry, outstands by its specialization in the processing of electronic products and automobile parts. Also, this industry outstands by restructuring its techno‐productive capabilities derived from its integration with North America, which has aroused the interest about the resulting environmental problems. As depository of direct foreign investment, this region demands to design efficient mechanisms for an environmental management actively involving all the local actors. The deepness of liberalization of the Mexican economy has not been a condition for Mexico to specialize itself in “dirty” industries because since the North America Free Trade Agreement has taken effect, it is favoring less polluting industries as this is compliant of the environmental regulations, which are determined by the cooperation among companies and government through inspection and promotion of voluntary self‐management programs and through the environmental policy imposed by the corporation to its affiliates by means of quality and environmental international certifications (ISO 9001, 9002, 14001, and 14002). The objective of this work is to analyze the environmental performance of foreign companies operating under the assembly plants industry regime, considering the relationship between industrial upgrading and environmental performance.     

The Effect of NAFTA on Energy and Environmental Efficiency in Mexico

Prior to Mexico's entry to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), predictions of the consequent impact on the environment in that country ranged from the dire to very optimistic. This article investigates NAFTA's outcomes in terms of energy use and the emission of atmospheric pollutants. Specifically, has entry into NAFTA led to a convergence or divergence in indicators of emissions, environmental efficiency, and emissions‐specific technology in Mexico, the United States, and Canada? A battery of tests is applied to these indicators for energy use and carbon, sulfur, and NOx emissions in the three countries. The results show that the extreme predictions of the outcomes of NAFTA have not materialized. Rather, trends that were already present before the introduction of NAFTA continue and, in some cases, improve post‐NAFTA, but not yet in a dramatic way. There is strong evidence of convergence across the three countries toward a lower intensity of energy use and emissions per unit of GDP. Although intensity is rising initially for some variables in Mexico, it eventually begins to fall post‐NAFTA. Per capita emissions of sulfur and NOx also show convergence, but this is not the case for energy and carbon, and the latter variables also drift moderately upwards. The state of technology in energy efficiency and sulfur abatement is improving in all countries, although there is little, if any, sign of convergence and NAFTA has no effect on the rate of technology diffusion. However, total energy use and carbon emissions increase both pre‐ and post‐NAFTA and total NOx emissions increase in Mexico. Only total sulfur emissions are stable and falling in all three NAFTA partners.     

Evaluation of the protective shelter at Blackwater Draw Archaeological Site,New Mexico

Abstract

Blackwater Draw Archaeological Site is located in Roosevelt County, New Mexico, and is the type site for the Clovis culture which dates back 12,000 years. In 1995 the stakeholders for Blackwater Draw convened a meeting with an expert consultant to evaluate the efficacy of a protective shelter proposal. The purpose of the proposed shelter was to protect palaeo-Indian finds excavated in 1983–4 and displayed in situ. Recommendations were made and, several years later, shelter construction was completed. In 2000, the shelter as built was re-evaluated.     

Log Barns of Hispanic New Mexico

Barns for livestock, hay, or both animals and fodder constitute a significant element of northern New Mexico's Hispanic cultural landscape. The origin, antiquity, modifications in design through space and time, and related nomenclature of these barns suggest the region's complex intracultural history. Two types of barns, the tasolera and twin-crib structure, exemplify the Hispanic artisan's innovative nature. Diversity within the Hispanic vernacular architectural tradition, as is illustrated by barns, suggests several lessons for students of folk housing.     

Seismic Refraction at Ancestral Puebloan Sites on the Pajarito Plateau,New Mexico

Abstract

Geophysical techniques can be used for non-invasive surveys at archaeological sites. One under-utilized technique, seismic refraction, has many potential applications. It is an inexpensive, efficient way to characterize subsurface deposits, especially at sites with shallow accumulations over bedrock. Archaeologists and geophysicists participating in the Summer of Applied Geophysics Experience from Los Alamos National Laboratory and Bandelier National Monument on the Pajarito Plateau in northern New Mexico characterized Ancestral Puebloan sites (A.D. 1200–1450) using this technique. We provide an overview of how seismic refraction works and demonstrate the applicability of seismic refraction for identifying buried archaeological features such as communal structures and walls.     

墨西哥,仙人掌的王国

<正>仙人掌原产于美洲,从美国的北部到南美洲的南部,分布很广,种类也很多。墨西哥位于北美洲南部,绝大部分属热带高原、海洋水汽难以到达闭塞的内部,北部又在副热带高气压带控制范围,年降水量少,荒漠分布很广。严峻的环境似乎给人和植物的生存都带来巨大的挑战,干旱缺水永远都是不毛之地的代名词,可是恣意生长的仙人掌却装点了这片土地。     

Large game, agricultural land, and settlement pattern change in the eastern Mimbres area, southwest New Mexico

The 12th-century depopulation of large villages in the Mimbres region of the US Southwest has been attributed to a number of causes, including resource stress. This study combines archaeological evidence and models of environmental conditions in the eastern Mimbres area of southwest New Mexico to assess the magnitude and timing of food stress from a combination of a period of reduced precipitation and the effects of prolonged hunting and farming activities on the landscape. Results indicate that large game in the area was quite sensitive to hunting pressure, and was locally depleted long before settlement reorganization occurred. Access to arable land was somewhat reduced around the time of settlement reorganization, but productive land remained locally plentiful. Although the settlement reorganization did not improve access to large game or arable land, farmers’ perceptions of below-average conditions for agriculture relative to their expectations and past experience would have contributed to decisions to move.     

墨西哥,仙人掌的王国

<正>仙人掌原产于美洲,从美国的北部到南美洲的南部,分布很广,种类也很多。墨西哥位于北美洲南部,绝大部分属热带高原、海洋水汽难以到达闭塞的内部,北部又在副热带高气压带控制范围,年降水量少,荒漠分布很广。严峻的环境似乎给人和植物的生存都带来巨大的挑战,干旱缺水永远都是不毛之地的代名词,可是恣意生长的仙人掌却装点了这片土地。     

Introduction: In the Comfort of Perpetual Abandonment

Central to the notion of modernity has been a historical loss of meaning and a resulting state of melancholy. An abandoned classical landscape allows for repeated inspiration and the possibility of rebirth after the rupture. Archaeological field survey has shown that the Greek countryside has been stable in only one way, a perpetual cycle of abandonment and re-habitation from prehistory to the present. This rhythm of eternal return differs from the catastrophe of a single golden age. Rather than producing anxiety, the trope of endless abandonment annuls the drama of collapse and comforts the modern psyche. The Greek countryside, thus, provides unique fodder for modernity’s historical posturing.