Mockingbird Gap site

Mockingbird Gap Site
Location of Mockingbird Gap Site in New Mexico
33°30′N 106°30′W / 33.5°N 106.5°W / 33.5; -106.5
Typearcheological site
CulturesClovis
LocationJornada del Muerto, New Mexico
Site notes
Excavation dates1966-1968, 2005-2007, 2022-present
ArchaeologistsRobert H. Weber, George Agogino, Bruce Huckell, Vance Holliday, Briggs Buchanan
OwnerPublic
Public accessYes


The Mockingbird Gap site (LA 26748) is an archaeological site in the U.S. state of New Mexico about 50 miles southeast of the town of modern town of Socorro and about 30 kilometers east of the present course of the Rio Grande river. The Mockingbird Gap itself covers about 250 square miles in eastern Socorro and western Lincoln Counties. It lies along the Chupadera Draw of the Jornada del Muerto and overlooks the Trinity Atomic Bomb site. The Mockingbird Gap site represents a large Clovis culture occupation, possibly a camp used for large animal hunting (bison have been suggested).[1][2]

Archaeology

The archaeology of Mockingbird Gap was first noted by Robert H. Weber in the 1950s. He continued the work of noting archaeological remains in the Gap until 2008. He found at least 70 Clovis projectile points in the Mackingbird Gap outside the area of the site. The Mockingbird Gap site itself. about 0.5 square kilometers in extent, was first excavated from 1966 until 1968 by George Agogino of Eastern New Mexico University, working with Weber. An area of about 87 square meters was excavated revealing remains from Clovis, Archaic, late Prehistoric, and early Historic period Ancestral Pueblo periods. Occupation material extended about 1 meter deep.[3][4]

From 2005 to 2007 a [[University of New Mexico]] and University of Arizona team led by Bruce Huckell and Vance Holliday excavated at the site. Work including deep coring.[5][6][7][8] In 2022 work resumed at the site by a team led by Briggs Buchanan. Operations focused on surveys, documentation of finds, and geophysical sensing. During the initial complete surface survey on 5 diagnostic specimens were recovered indicating the site is geomorphically stable.[9][10]

Clovis period finds recovered so far include "more than 200 projectile points (mostly basal fragments), 100 gravers, 50 end scrapers, numerous unifacially retouched flakes, and abundant utilized flakes and debitag". About 27 projectile points are complete. The most common stone used for tools is jasper followed by chalcedony and obsidian.[9][11] In a core drilled in 2008 a calcium carbonate bead was found at a depth between 910 and 920 centimeters below the surface. It was manufactured using a rotary drill and dated to about 11,000 C14 years BP, the Clovis period though it was suggested that it might belong to the slightly later Folsom tradition.[12]

See also

References

  1. ^ [1]Bachman, George Odell, "Geology of the Mockingbird Gap quadrangle, Lincoln and Socorro Counties, New Mexico", No. 594-J, 1968
  2. ^ Bainbridge KT, "ALL IN OUR TIME”: Prelude to Trinity", Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. 1975;31(4), pp. 42-46, 1975
  3. ^ Weber, R. H., and G. A. Agogino, "Mockingbird Gap Paleoindian Site: Excavations in 1967", in Layers of Time: Papers in Honor of Robert H. Weber, edited by M. S. Duran and D. T. Kirkpatrick. Albuquerque: The Archaeological Society of New Mexico 23, pp.123–127, 1997
  4. ^ "Current Research", American Antiquity, vol. 35, no. 4, pp. 506–20, 1970
  5. ^ Huckell, B. B., V. T. Holliday, R. H. Weber, and J. H. Mayer, "Archaeological and Geological Test Investigations at the Mockingbird Gap Clovis Site, Central New Mexico", Current Research in the Pleistocene 23, pp. 115–116, 2006
  6. ^ Huckell, B. B., V. T. Holliday, and R. H. Weber, "Test Investigations at the Mockingbird Gap Clovis Site: Results of the 2006 Field Season", Current Research in the Pleistocene 24, pp. 102–104, 2007
  7. ^ Huckell, B. B., V. T. Holliday, M. Hamilton, C. Sinkovec, C. Merriman, M. S. Shackley, and R. H. Weber, "The Mockingbird Gap Clovis Site: 2007 Investigations", Current Research in the Pleistocene 25, pp. 95–97, 2008
  8. ^ [2]Huckell, Bruce, and Vance Holliday, "Recent Research at the Mockingbird Gap Clovis Site", Paleoindian Archaeology in New Mexico, pp. 7, 2013
  9. ^ a b Buchanan, Briggs, et al., "Renewed Investigations at the Mockingbird Gap Clovis Site: A Progress Report of a Multi-Year Research Program", PaleoAmerica 11.3-4, pp. 242-251, 2025
  10. ^ [3]Holliday, Vance T., et al., "Geoarchaeology of the Mockingbird Gap (Clovis) site, Jornada del Muerto, New Mexico", Geoarchaeology: An International Journal 24.3, pp. 348-370, 2009
  11. ^ [4]Hamilton, Marcus, and Briggs Buchanan, "Reconstructing Clovis landscape use at multiple spatial scales from the Mockingbird Gap site, New Mexico", New Mexico, August 21, 2020
  12. ^ Holliday, Vance T., and David Killick, "An Early Paleoindian Bead from the Mockingbird Gap Site, New Mexico", Current Anthropology, vol. 54, no. 1, 2013, pp. 85–95, 2013

Further reading

  • Bachman, G. O., "Pre-Pennsylvanian Paleozoic stratigraphy, Mockingbird Gap Quadrangle, New Mexico", US Geol. Survey 424, B119-B122, 1961
  • [5]Doty, Gene C, "Test wells drilled at Mockingbird Gap, Socorro County, New Mexico, June to October 1965", No. 68-87, 1968
  • Hamilton, Marcus J., et al., "Clovis paleoecology and lithic technology in the central Rio Grande rift region, New Mexico", American Antiquity 78.2, pp. 248-265, 2013
  • Miller, D. Shane, Vance T. Holliday, and Jordon Bright, "Clovis across the continent", Paleoamerican odyssey 2013, pp. 207-220, 2013
  • Palacios-Fest, Manuel R., and Vance T. Holliday, "Paleoecology of a ciénega at the Mockingbird Gap Site, Chupadera Draw, New Mexico", Quaternary Research 89.1, pp. 318-332, 2018
  • [6]Shackley, M. Steven, "Source Provenance of Obsidian Artifacts from Mockingbird Gap and Socorro County Clovis Sites, New Mexico", 2006
  • [7]Schroedl, Alan R., "The geographic origin of Clovis technology: Insights from Clovis biface caches", Plains Anthropologist 66.258, pp. 120-148, 2021
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