Clovis Comet Debate - The Archaeological Conservancy

The remains of Quarai’s once grand Mission La Nuestra Señora de La Purisima Concepción de Cuarac.
cultural landscape inventory (CLI), a database that provides
information on the locations, historic development, characteristics,
and associated features of cultural landscapes, and
such inventories of parks became federally mandated.
“The CLI program as we know it today was first started
in 1996 and has grown and evolved since then,” explains Carrie
Mardorf, the NPS Intermountain regional CLI coordinator.
“It has spurred a broader nationwide trend where other
organizations are realizing the benefits of cultural landscapes
and have started initiatives to inventory such places.”
This rock art panel is found at Abó.
MRWM’s work at the Salinas Pueblo Missions has consisted
of documenting cultural landscape features, associating
them with the relevant prehistoric and historic periods
through archival research, and describing their significance.
The firm produces reports that include graphic depictions
and descriptions of the land and its man-made features and
changing uses through time, extensive lists of plants grown
during the various time periods, chronologies of historic
photographs, and many other details not typically included
in archaeological reports. MRWM has completed similar
studies at El Morro and Petroglyph National Monuments, and
inventories at the Old Santa Fe Trail National Park Service
headquarters, and the Santa Fe Plaza, for which they won a
Historic Preservation Award last year.
“While the information contained in the CLI is not new
and unknown to us, and Baker Morrow’s interpretation of
features are sometimes controversial and unsupported by
current archeological and historical evidence, it gives us
some perspective on how to manage the landscape as a
whole, not just individual features,” says Glenn Fulfer, Salinas
National Monument’s superintendent since 1994.
Morrow’s group first looks for changes in the form of the
landscape that might, for example, represent historic agricultural
fields. Next, they look for contrasts in soil colors and
textures, noting that, generally speaking, darker soils have
been enriched in some way. Then they search for associated
features, such as stone check dams that may have channeled
water to the fields. Finally, they look for associated artifacts,
22 fall • 2010
liz lopez