Blackwater Draw Research Articles

Stratigraphy and Bonebed Taphonomy at Blackwater Draw Locality No. 1 during the Middle Holocene (Altithermal)

Salvage excavations at Blackwater Draw Locality No. I (LA 3224) during 1956 recovered a small assemblage of bison remains and a few lithic artifacts from Archaic-age levels at the site. The assemblage was originally reported to be the remains of an Archaic kill/processing event. Reanalysis of the faunal remains and consideration of the taphonomic factors affecting the structure of the assemblage casts the reportedly cultural origin of the bone bed into doubt. Bone density and weathering patterns, the geomorphic history of the strata in which the remains were found and radiocarbon assays suggest the remains were not found in primary context. The strata in which the bones were encased were continually reworked during the Early to Middle Holocene. Eolian deflation (the primary taphonomic agent affecting the assemblage) during the Middle Holocene on the southern Plains was oftentimes severe at the site level, and can be attributed to the overarching climatic regime of the Altithermala

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

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.

Book Reviews: Northwest Carving Traditions, The Lost Cities of the Mayas: The Life, Art, and Discoveries of Frederick Catherwood, Tutankhamun: The Eternal Splendor of the Boy Pharaoh, Clovis Revisited: New Perspectives on Paleoindian Adaptations from Black-water Draw, New Mexico, Native Visions: Evolution in Northwest Coast Art from the Eighteenth through the Twentieth Century, Handbook of the North American Indians, Volume

Book Reviews: Northwest Carving Traditions, The Lost Cities of the Mayas: The Life, Art, and Discoveries of Frederick Catherwood, Tutankhamun: The Eternal Splendor of the Boy Pharaoh, Clovis Revisited: New Perspectives on Paleoindian Adaptations from Black-water Draw, New Mexico, Native Visions: Evolution in Northwest Coast Art from the Eighteenth through the Twentieth Century, Handbook of the North American Indians, Volume

Clovis Blade Technology; Clovis Revisited: New Perspectives on Paleoindian Adaptations from Blackwater Draw, New Mexico; Folsom Lithic Technology: Explorations in Structure and Variation

Clovis Blade Technology. Michael B. Collins. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1999. 234 pp.Clovis Revisited: New Perspectives on Paleoindian Adaptations from Blackwater Draw, New Mexico. Anthony T. Boldurian and John L. Cotter. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Museum, 1999. 145 pp.Folsom Lithic Technology: Explorations in Structure and Variation. Daniel S. Amick. ed. Ann Arbor: International Monographs in Prehistory, 1999.213 pp.

Origin of late Quaternary dune fields on the Southern High Plains of Texas and New Mexico

Mostly stabilized late Holocene eolian sands on the Southern High Plains of the United States were studied to determine their origins and to assess whether present dune stability depends more strongly on sediment supply, sediment availability, or transport limitations. Geomorphic, sedimentological, and geochemical trends indicate that late Holocene dunes formed under westerly paleowinds, broadly similar to those of today. Mineralogical and geochemical data indicate that the most likely source for the sands is not the Pecos River valley, but the Pleistocene Blackwater Draw Formation, an older, extensive eolian deposit in the region. These observations suggest that new sand is supplied whenever vegetation cover is diminished to the extent that the Blackwater Draw Formation can be eroded, in agreement with modern observations of wind erosion in the region. We conclude, therefore, that Southern High Plains dunes are stabilized primarily due to a vegetation cover. The dunes are thus sediment-availability limited. This conclusion is consistent with the observation that, in the warmest, driest part of the region (where vegetation cover is minimal), dunes are currently active over a large area. Geochemical data indicate that Southern High Plains dunes are the most mineralogically mature (quartz rich) sands yet studied in the Great Plains, which suggests a long history of eolian activity, either in the dune fields or during deposition of the Blackwater Draw Formation.

Stratigraphy and geochronology of upper Quaternary eolian sand on the Southern High Plains of Texas and New Mexico, United States

Eolian sand in dune fields and sand sheets cover >10 000 km 2 (∼10%) of the Southern High Plains of northwestern Texas and eastern New Mexico. These deposits are concentrated in three west-east–trending belts of dunes (the Muleshoe, Lea-Yoakum, and Andrews dune fields, from north to south) that appear to be eastern extensions of the Mescalero-Monahans dune system in the Pecos River valley, and in the Seminole sand sheet, a discontinuous accumulation of sheet sands between the Lea-Yoakum and Monahans-Andrews dunes. The most common landforms are parabolic dunes associated with blowouts, coppice dunes, and sand sheets, all typical of sandy, vegetated, semiarid landscapes, barchan dunes, in keeping with a relatively limited sand supply and an underlying surface that is relatively hard (Blackwater Draw Formation, Pleistocene), and fence-row dunes, historic dunes formed along field boundaries. These eolian deposits accumulated episodically in the late Pleistocene and Holocene and provide clues to the history of regional drought and aridity. The earliest phase of sedimentation occurred when sheet sands were deposited between 11 000 and 8000 14 C yr B.P., probably in several phases, based on archaeological data, as a result of episodic drought beginning between 11 000 and 10 000 yr B.P. Eolian deposits dating between 8000 and 3000 yr B.P. are rare, although eolian sediment 8000–4500 14 C yr B.P. is ubiquitous in the draws that cross the region, and paleoenvironmental indicators show that the region was subjected to aridity throughout middle Holocene time. The middle Holocene deposits most likely were remobilized in late Holocene time. Most of the deposits and landforms of the dune fields and sand sheets are late Holocene, dating before 4000 14 C yr B.P. and mostly before 1500 14 C yr B.P. The Muleshoe and Lea-Yoakum dunes and the Seminole sand sheet underwent substantial eastward expansion in late Holocene time. Buried soils and radiocarbon ages show that the eolian sand accumulated in several stages, probably in response to cyclic drought. The Muleshoe dunes accumulated after ca. 1300 cal yr B.P. (ca. 1400 14 C yr B.P.), after ca. 750–670 cal yr B.P. (ca. 850–750 14 C yr B.P.), just after ca. 500 cal yr B.P. (ca. 450 14 C yr B.P.), and during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The Lea-Yoakum dunes were active after ca. 3400 cal yr B.P. (ca. 3200 14 C yr B.P.) and historically. The Seminole sand sheet was active ca. 430–330 cal yr B.P. (ca. 360 14 C yr B.P.) and in the twentieth century. The Andrews dunes were subjected to at least two phases of eolian sedimentation after ca. 2320 cal yr B.P. (ca. 2320 14 C yr B.P.). Comparisons with eolian chronologies from other regions on the Great Plains suggest that dune mobilization was a regional phenomenon after ca. 2300 cal yr B.P. (ca. 2300 14 C yr B.P.); after ca. 1500–1400 cal yr B.P. (ca. 1650–1550 14 C yr B.P.); after ca. 700 cal yr B.P. (ca. 800 14 C yr B.P.); between 500 and 300 cal yr B.P. (ca. 450–300 14 C yr B.P.); and in the nineteenth century. The climatic fluctuations responsible for mobilizing the dunes probably were relatively minor, yet the landscape impacts were substantial, resulting in widespread wind erosion and dune construction.

Clovis Revisited: New Perspectives on Paleoindian Adaptations from Blackwater Draw, New Mexico. Anthony T. Boldurian , John L. Cotter

Previous articleNext article No AccessBook ReviewsClovis Revisited: New Perspectives on Paleoindian Adaptations from Blackwater Draw, New Mexico. Anthony T. Boldurian , John L. Cotter Bruce B. HuckellBruce B. Huckell Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Journal of Anthropological Research Volume 56, Number 2Summer, 2000 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/jar.56.2.3631369 Views: 4Total views on this site Copyright 2000 The University of New MexicoPDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

A Clovis well at the type site 11,500 B.C.: The oldest prehistoric well in America

An enigmatic circular pit uncovered during archaeological excavations at the Clovis type site, Blackwater Draw, New Mexico, in 1964 has been reexposed and posited as a water well excavated by Clovis people around 11,500 B.C. The prehistoric well, the oldest in the New World, was probably a dry hole. Other Clovis wells may exist in the area. The excavation of wells near where there had been surface water shortly before adds to the evidence for drought during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Eolian sedimentation and soil development on a semiarid to subhumid grassland, Tertiary Ogallala and Quaternary Blackwater Draw formations, Texas and New Mexico High Plains

ABSTRACT Eolian sediments have accumulated as non-glacigenic loess and thin sand sheets on the Central and Southern High Plains grasslands of Texas and New Mexico since the late Miocene. Locally as much as 110 m of eolian sediments with numerous paleosols are preserved in the Quaternary Blackwater Draw Formation and the upper part of the Miocene-Pliocene Ogallala Formation. These sediments and paleosols, which cover more than 130,000 km2, are similar to recent surface sediments and soils and record a long period of episodic eolian transport and sedimentation, and pedogenesis on a stable low-relief grass-covered landscape. Eolian sections, which comprise the fine sand to coarse silt lithofacies of the Ogallala Formation, and the very fine to fine sand and sandy mud lithofacies of the Blackwater Draw Formation, generally lack primary sedimentary structures. Grain size of Ogallala sediments decreases from west to east, and grain size of Blackwater Draw sediments decreases from southwest to northeast. Soil horizonation is well developed in most sections, and buried calcic and argillic horizons are common. Calcic horizons are characterized by sharply increased CaCO3 content in the form of filaments, nodules, and petrocalcic horizons (calcretes). Argillic horizons are characterized by increased illuvial clay, pedogenic structure, and darker reddish hues. Rhizocretions are common locally. Open root tubules, which are typically less than 1 mm in diameter and characteristic of small plants like grasses, are present in all Ogallala and Blackwater Draw eolian sediments. Paleosols preserved in eolian sediments of the High Plains reflect periods of sedimentation followed by episodes of landscape stability and pedogenesis, and negligible sedimentation. Episodes of sedimentation and soil development likely resulted from cyclic decreases and increases in available moisture and vegetative cover. Eolian sediments were eroded and transported eastward during dry periods when vegetation was sparse in source areas, such as the western High Plains and the Pecos Valley. During humid periods more abundant vegetation probably protected source areas from deflation, and resulted in landscape stability across the High Plains.

A Clovis well at the type site 11,500 B.C.: The oldest prehistoric well in America

An enigmatic circular pit uncovered during archaeological excavations at the Clovis type site, Blackwater Draw, New Mexico, in 1964 has been reexposed and posited as a water well excavated by Clovis people around 11,500 B.C. The prehistoric well, the oldest in the New World, was probably a dry hole. Other Clovis wells may exist in the area. The excavation of wells near where there had been surface water shortly before adds to the evidence for drought during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Eolian Sedimentation and Soil Development on a Semiarid to Subhumid Grassland, Tertiary Ogallala and Quaternary Blackwater Draw Formations, Texas and New Mexico High Plains

Eolian Sedimentation and Soil Development on a Semiarid to Subhumid Grassland, Tertiary Ogallala and Quaternary Blackwater Draw Formations, Texas and New Mexico High Plains

Lithostratigraphy and geochronology of fills in small playa basins on the Southern High Plains, United States

Playa basins are small depressions (typically ≤1.5 km 2 ) on the Southern High Plains of northwestern Texas and eastern New Mexico. There are about 25 000 playas in the region; they lie on the Blackwater Draw Formation (Pleistocene), a widespread eolian deposit, and locally on the Ogallala Formation (Miocene‐ Pliocene). Understanding the lithostratigraphy and chronostratigraphy of the fill in the basins is important because it should (1) provide clues to the origin and evolution of playas, which have been long debated; (2) yield a paleoenvironmental record for the region; and (3) aid in understanding the history and future of the regional aquifer because playas are the principal source of recharge. Data from 19 playa basins, combined with published data from 4 other basins, show that the basin fill is composed of six distinctive facies: (1) lacustrine mud; (2) lacustrine carbonate; (3) lacustrine delta deposits; (4) eolian sand and silt; (5) eolian loam; and (6) accretionary eolian deposits (Blackwater Draw Formation). Mud deposited under ponded conditions is the most common facies and is the surficial deposit on the floors of most playas, often producing Vertisols. The carbonate was precipitated under lacustrine conditions and is another common facies and surface deposit. Delta deposits are common near the basin margins. Well-sorted layers of eolian sand and silt and poorly sorted eolian loam occur locally above, within, or below the lacustrine deposits. The modern basins in all study areas are locally or completely inset into the Blackwater Draw Formation, supporting the interpretation that the basins are at least in part erosional features. In larger basins with thicker fills, generally coincident with thicker Blackwater Draw Formation, the formation interfingers with the lacustrine fill. Dating is based on radiocarbon ages from the fill in 12 basins and from lunettes adjacent to 5 basins. All dated basins were present at the end of the Pleistocene and some were present in some form throughout the Pleistocene. Lacustrine mud and other clastic deposits accumulated in the late Quaternary and locally much earlier, showing that at least some basins contained water throughout the time of human occupation of the region. Dating of eolian sediments supports other data indicative of aridity and wind deflation in the early and late Holocene. The lacustrine carbonate is late Pleistocene or older and its paleoenvironmental significance is unknown. These lithostratigraphic and chronostratigraphic relationships show that some basins have a prolonged history as depressions, persisting in more or less the same location as the High Plains surface aggraded by eolian addition (Blackwater Draw Formation) throughout the Pleistocene. Sizes of the basins varied through time as they were encroached upon by the Blackwater Draw Formation, enlarged by fluvial, lake margin, and eolian erosion, were filled and reexposed, or were buried. Some basins are newly formed on the High Plains surface and have no apparent predecessors. The only evidence for subsidence beneath the basins is gently warped fill in the basins on the northern margin of the region, known to be affected by salt dissolution in Paleozoic bedrock. Pedogenic carbonates typically are absent from or beneath the basin fill, due to focused recharge through the basins. Playa basins probably have been a ubiquitous component of the High Plains landscape through much of the Quaternary.

Geochronology of paleoenvironmental change, clovis type site, Blackwater draw, New Mexico

AbstractGeoarchaeological investigations at the Clovis type site, Blackwater Locality No. 1, in 1983 and 1984 included core drilling, archaeological test excavations, stratigraphic profiling, sedimentary analyses, and radiocarbon dating. Six lines of core holes transverse to the outlet channel clearly defined the subsurface configuration and stratigraphy of the prehistoric spring run. Pieces of large animal bone from units B, C, D, and E that elsewhere in the site contain Paleoindian artifacts suggest occurrences of additional buried sites along the ancient spring run. Four Paleoindian projectile points recovered during archaeological testing confirm these prospects. The Clovis type site, located in an abandoned gravel pit, is in a natural depression initially occupied by a late Pleistocene lake. After breaching of the depression by overflow or sapping, it became a springhead and was enlarged by slumping and slopewash. Detailed stratigraphic profiling of the south wall of the abandoned gravel pit provided precise stratigraphic control for sediment sampling and radiocarbon dating, and revealed more complex microstratigraphy and facies relationships than heretofore known for the site. The interfingering of dune facies around the depression with lacustrine and spring‐laid facies within it aid paleoclimatic interpretation. Deflational contacts within the depression appear to correlate with adjacent wedges of dune sand reflecting relatively arid intervals. Between these arid episodes occur intervals of increased ground water level attended initially by deposition of spring‐laid sands of unit B during the late Pleistocene (13,000–11,500 yr B.P.). As the water table rose following a period of severe deflation, slumping and gravity flow deposited clayey sand, Unit C, on the floor of the blowout between 11,500 and 11,000 yr B.P. During this time Clovis people first appeared at the site. After another brief period of deflation, a lake rose causing sand of Unit D0 to be washed in from shore followed by deposition of diatomities, units D1 and D2. These were separated by a brief influx of eolian sand, unit D2z. Between 10,800 and 10,000 yr B.P. outflow from the lake was reduced by accumulation of eolian sand in the outlet while Folsom people and later Agate Basin people arrived to hunt bison during this time. Cody complex people appeared during and after a brief erosional episode that preceded deposition of eolian silt and sand of units E and F from 10,000 to 8000 yr B.P. Eolian deposition during post‐Folsom time converted the pond to a wet meadow and eventually, during Cody time, to a grassy swale. Some of these deposits were blown out during the Altithermal arid period (ca. 8000‐5000 yr B.P.), a time when prehistoric Archaic peoples excavated wells in the floor of the depression. Subsequent eolian activity has resulted in deflation and dune migration during the late Holocene. The best prospects for Paleoindian finds are along the buried outlet south of the south wall and in early Holocene dune sands on the uplands around the depression. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Playas and Lunettes on the Southern High Plains: Morphometric and Spatial Relationships

AbstractThe surface of the Southern High Plains is dotted with thousands of small (<5 km2), circular, seasonally dry depressions, or playas, some of which are accompanied by a crescentic dune ridge, or lunette. The plays are inset into the sheets of eolian sediment that blanket the region (Blackwater Draw Formation) and the lunettes rest on the eolian mantle. Approximately 25,000 small playas, 1,100 of which have a lunette, were counted from all 540 topographic quadrangles covering the region (verified using data from soil surveys). Statistical analyses of the physical and spatial relationships of playas and lunettes were undertaken to better understand the origins and development of playas, and their relationship to lunettes. Data were collected from a subset of 40 topographic maps, digitized on a GIS, and analyzed using a nonparametric statistical procedure. Variation in texture of the Blackwater Draw Formation exerts considerable control on the distribution and size of playas. Playas are most numerous in the coarsest (sandy), most easily deflated substrate, followed by the finest substrate which produce erodible, sand‐size aggregates. The deepest playas and those with largest area also are in the finest, easily erodible substrate. These data support the hypothesis of playa development by erosion rather than by dissolution and subsidence. Lunettes most often are associated with deeper and wider playas. Presence or absence of lunettes probably is related to the nature of the playa fill and is not a function of substrate texture. Lunettes form from deflation of calcareous playa fill which is more common in larger playas. Otherwise, the controls on the distribution of this fill are unknown.

Preforms in Folsom Lithic Technology: A View from blackwater draw, New Mexico

Conservation of lithic raw materials, multifunctional stone tools, tool curation, and technological efficiency are concepts used in contemporary examinations of Folsom. Along with traditional analyses, they focus on the organization of lithic technology in forming reconstructions of Folsom lifeways. This paper examines Judge‘s (1973) idea that production of preforms, not projectile points, was the intent of Folsom biface manufacture. Judge maintained that preforms were effective implements in Folsom subsistence before being converted into projectiles. This paper also explores the importance in Folsom technology of recycling old tools to meet new functions. Broken points and other products of staged biface reduction were sometimes reshaped into end scrapers. Recycling of preforms into projectiles fits the view of lithic technology as an efficient and conservative system for highly mobile Folsom groups. Data from Blackwater Draw are used to evaluate this process for Folsom groups which occupied interior areas of the Southern Plains.

Subsidence beneath a playa basin on the Southern High Plains, U.S.A.: Evidence from shallow seismic data

Shallow seismic data from Sevenmile Basin, a large ephemeral lake (playa) basin in the Texas Panhandle, reveal that subsidence has been an important agent in basin formation. Several hypotheses exist for the origin of thousands of playa basins on the Southern High Plains of Texas and New Mexico, including eolian deflation, evaporite or carbonate dissolution and subsidence, piping, and animal activity. Sevenmile Basin is 5.5 x 3.6 km across and 14 m deep and contains 20 m of lacustrine and eolian sediments that interfinger with the Quaternary Blackwater Draw Formation. Below these sediments is the upper Tertiary Ogallala Formation, which overlies Permian or Triassic bedrock. Seismic reflection and refraction data were collected from the unlithified and variably saturated clastic sequence beneath Sevenmile Basin to investigate the geological history and hydrogeological framework of playa basins, which recharge the regionally important Ogallala aquifer. Three-layer velocity models provide good solutions for reversed refraction data. Near-surface p-wave velocities (layer 1) range from 349 to 505 m/s, layer 2 velocities range from 806 to 851 m/s, and layer 3 velocities range from 2,037 to 2,161 m/s. Shallow test holes and drillers' logs suggest that layer 1 is composed of playa and upper Blackwater Draw Formation deposits, layer 2 consists of lower Blackwater Draw Formation and upper Ogallala Formation deposits, and layer 3 represents a competent and partly saturated zone near the top of the Ogallala aquifer. Reflection sections show a middle Ogallala reflector, a reflector at the top of Permian or Triassic bedrock, and internal bedrock reflectors that indicate a structural low beneath Sevenmile Basin. Increasing relief with age, from 14 m at the surface to 70 m on the middle Ogallala reflector to 110 m at the base of the Ogallala, is interpreted as evidence of subsidence of underlying Permian evaporite-bearing strata before or during Ogallala deposition. Ogallala and Blackwater Draw Formation thicknesses greater than bedrock Ogallala deposition and may continue to the present. Virtually all playa basins on the Southern High Plains are underlain by Permian evaporite-bearing strata; some basins have been affected by dissolution-induced subsidence. Shallow seismic methods are an ideal approach to determine the relative importance of subsidence in basin formation.

Folsom Mobility and Organization of Lithic Technology: A View from Blackwater Draw, New Mexico

In a 1988 article, Kelly identified the variable role of bifaces in the organization of hunter-gatherer lithic technology as cores, long use-life tools, and products of the shaping process. He also...

Blood Residue Analysis of the Lithic Assemblage From the Mitchell Locality, Blackwater Draw New Mexico

(1990). Blood Residue Analysis of the Lithic Assemblage From the Mitchell Locality, Blackwater Draw New Mexico. Plains Anthropologist: Vol. 35, No. 130, pp. 105-115.

Soils and landscape evolution of eolian plains: the Southern High Plains of Texas and New Mexico

Sheets of eolian sediment cover many areas of the earth's surface, sand seas, dune fields, and loess sheets being the best known examples of such features. Less well known are deposits of sandy, eolian sediment forming extensive plains. An excellent example of such a region is the semi-arid Southern High Plains (northwest Texas and eastern New Mexico). The level landscape of the area was created by deposition of multiple, extensive (≈ 80,000 km 2 ) sheets of eolian sediment (Blackwater Draw Formation) over the past 1.4+ Ma. This deposit grades from sandy (southwest) to silty and clayey (northeast) and is up to 27 m thick. Surface soils (at least 30,000 and possibly 120,000 years old) are well developed (5YR hues, agrillic horizons, 1–2m thick with prismatic structure, Stage II–III calcic horizons) and are generally Paleustolls and Paleustalfs, with some Paleargids and Haplargids. Morphologic variation is due mainly to textural variation of the eolian parent material, although locally thickness of the parent material and wind erosion and cumulization are important factors, and locally slight variation in effective precipitation may be significant. The Blackwater Draw Formation contains as many as six well-developed buried soils, each formed in individual layers of eolian sediment, similar to or more strongly expressed (2.5YR hues, higher illuvial clay content) than the regional surface soils. The presence of the buried soils indicates that sedimentation was episodic and separated by long periods of relative landscape stability. Eolian processes also appear to have been important during the periods of stability and pedoenesis by providing clayey, calcareous dust that was added to the soil, promoting formation of the argillic and calcic horizons. The sedimentologic and pedologic uniformity of the deposit suggests that the regional environment has not varied significantly during the Quaternary except for periods of increased sedimentation or wind deflation. Underlying the Blackwater Draw Formation is an Upper Tertiary deposit (up to 36 m thick) of eolian sand, silt, and clay (Ogallala Formation). This deposit contains buried soils very similar to those in the Blackwater Draw Formation, suggesting that the geomorphic processes that created the Quaternary landscape of the Southern High Plains began to operate in the late Tertiary, perhaps as much as 11 million years ago.

Lithic Technology at the Mitchell Locality of Blackwater Draw:

Lithic Technology at the Mitchell Locality of Blackwater Draw: