Archaeology Through Google Glass

Archaeology Through Google Glass

Melanie E Magdalena describes an archaeology site visit in New Mexico in fascinating detail. For an in-depth look at what it’s like to visit an excavation site, click through the photos and videos (filmed through #googleglass ).

Originally shared by Melanie E Magdalena

Pics from my trip yesterday to Blackwater Draw! 

Located on the Llano Estacado, between Portales and Clovis in Eastern New Mexico, is the site Blackwater Draw Locality No. 1. The site was a spring-fed lake/marsh where many Paleoindian cultures appear to have hunted.

The tools found are not from nearby. The material of choice, chert, comes from Texas; other materials are slightly closer but still are not from the flat plain. Many bone beds including mammoth and ancient bison are preserved in lake sediments buried by eolian deposits.

This site was the first discovered with Clovis points and introduced the definitive fact that mammoth were hunted by the Clovis culture group. Also, the site reinforced that Folsom is associated with ancient bison after the Folsom discovery (Wild Horse Arroyo, Folsom, NM) in 1926.

The local site museum has ongoing excavations and studies on materials collected in the past and present. At the moment, a large excavation is underway and a structure has been built around it. The excavation shows animal remains in situ and serves as a museum exhibit for cultural material, animal remains, and stratigraphy for the site.

Unfortunately, mining has dug out most of the site. The invasive and destructive process has exposed many mammoth and bison bones, along with older fossilized materials enhancing zooarchaeology, zoology, and paleontology research.

Today, yes, the site looks like a big hole in the ground. The contacts in the stratigraphy help the visitor to see where the water level was at. The remains of mammoths have been uncovered near the enclosed excavation and along the old waterfall from an ancient arroyo. 

At the end of our trip, we got to do some atlatl-ing outside! I hope you enjoy these photos and I highly recommend visiting this site. It has an incredible history and is indeed a critical research place for understanding the First Americans.