Book Description

Two prehistoric campsites on the west side of El Paso, Texas were excavated in order to mitigate the adverse effects caused by the construction of the Keystone Dam Highway Diversion Channel. Keystone Sites 36 and 37 (41EP496 and 41EP492) are small lithic and ceramic scatters located at the eastern margin of the Rio Grande Valley, adjacent to Interstate Highway 10. Both sites functioned as short-term camps for the procurement and processing of leaf succulents, as indicated by the presence of large fire-cracked rock roasting facilities. The most significant results of the study concern chronology and the roles played by the sites in relation to prehistoric adaptive strategies. A new method of obsidian hydration was used to obtain a large number of direct chronometric dates. These were used to evaluate the C14 dates and it was concluded that some radiocarbon chronologies in the E1 Paso area are hampered by the effects of the old wood problem. The obsidian results also indicate a date of A.D. 1100-1400 for Site 37 which had originally been assigned to the late Archaic. Analyses of variability and distribution in the sits' contents reveal that they may be the result of two different mobility patterns. Site 36 is interpreted as a short-term logistic camp and Site 37 as a short-term base camp. The late date for Site 37 argues for the existence of a generalized, highly mobile adaptive strategy at roughly the same time as more sedentary Pueblo-based strategies.