Central New Mexico Paleo-Indian Cultures

Abstract

In the last decade the middle Rio Grande area of New Mexico has produced considerable cultural evidence which indicates the presence here of the paleo-Indian and related cultures. Finds of the classic hunting varieties are rare in the Rio Grande valley itself, although a scattering of Sandia, Clovis Fluted, and Folsom points has appeared. Far more common are sites of Cochiselike character, usually evidenced by deeply buried fire hearths, milling stones, manos, and occasional projectile points. Several groups of these sites have been studied in recent years and some of the fire hearths have been dated by the radiocarbon method. A burial possibly connected with these early sites has also appeared.