Endurance in the Canyon: Assessing preservation at a multi-component site on the Southern High Plains,USA

Abstract

Preservation decisions often have to be made regarding the long-term status of deeply buried sites. However, the opportunity to evaluate these decisions practically, decades later, is rare. The Nash site, on the Southern High Plains of the USA, is one site where reinvestigation has permitted the assessment of a well-stratified site after an intervening period of thirty years during which it was impacted by dredging and impoundment. The current condition of the site has generated challenges in both recovery and conservation of material. Renewed fieldwork at the Nash site highlights the need to evaluate preservation options while critically considering the effects of geomorphic, taphonomic, and cultural processes.