Investigations at Site 32 (41EP325), Keystone Dam Project. A Multicomponent Archeological Site in Western El Paso County, Texas

Mitigation of the adverse effects of construction activities on Site 32 (EPCM:31:106:2:32, 41EP325) was carried out during May and June of 1982. The site is located in the impoundment area behind Keystone Dam, a part of the El Paso Flood Control Project, Northwest Area. The project was funded by the...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Fields,R C, Girard,J S
Format: Report
Language:English
Subjects:
AMERICAN INDIANS
ARCHEOLOGY
El Pasco Country(Texas)
Humanities and History
SAMPLING
SITES
TEXAS
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Summary:Mitigation of the adverse effects of construction activities on Site 32 (EPCM:31:106:2:32, 41EP325) was carried out during May and June of 1982. The site is located in the impoundment area behind Keystone Dam, a part of the El Paso Flood Control Project, Northwest Area. The project was funded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Albuquerque District. Site 32 appears to have been occupied predominantly during the Archaic period with a brief early Formative period component also represented. Radiocarbon samples obtained from three fire-cracked rock hearths yielded uncorrected age assays of 3650 yrs. B.P. + or - 85, 2465 yrs. B.P. + or - 60, and 1375 yrs. B.P. + or - 70. Features encountered at the site consist of fire-cracked rock hearths, dark-stained soil lenses probably representing disturbed hearths, and a pit of unknown function. The most common tool forms are simple flakes and unthinned cores with edge modification. Also recovered are a small number of shaped unifaces and bifaces, ground stone tools, hammer-stones and ceramics. Pollen and macrobotanical remains were poorly preserved in the sandy site deposits. The artifact and feature data suggest that Site 32 was occupied intermittently as a multipurpose campsite, possibly on a short-term basis, throughout its occupation. A narrowing in the rnage of activities carried out at the site from the mid to late Archaic is evident and appears to have involved a reduction in the importance of leaf-succulent processing, seed processing and possibly hunting.