PREFACE

eing targeted in the area, and any seasonal variation in subsistence activities during each of the refinedtemporal periods.With respect to settlement/mobility strategies, question at the site/component scale would be adequatelyaddressed when generalizations could be warranted about the variability in the kinds of sites associatedwith each refined temporal period. The first level of generalization under this problem domain is thedefinition and refinement of site types, which are intended to reflect patterns of variability in the range ofactivities conducted at the site, the size and composition of the resident group, and the duration of theoccupation. The site typology proposed in this research design represents a very preliminary step towardsthis objective, and it is expected that excavation data from the first sample of sites will exhibitconsiderable variability along these three behavioral dimensions within any one site type. As the site typedefinitions are refined, that variability should diminish until all sites in each site type evidence a uniformcore pattern of behavioral attributes. Once this point is reached, the questions at the area/generalizationscale can be addressed. As those questions relate directly to discerning spatial patterns in the distributionsof site types during each refined temporal period, they would be adequately addressed once the patterningis recognized and verified.Once questions at the area/generalization scale are adequately addressed for a particular problem domain,research can potentially consider questions posed at the regional/integrative scale. Because the researchdesign is integrated, however, some of those questions are addressable only after all questions at thearea/generalization scale are answered. Many others require comparable data from multiple RSUs.Consequently, investigations may have to be refocused periodically on different areas or particularproblem domains before significant progress can be made toward answering the major regional researchissues.RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PLANIdeally, implementation of the research design would be an orderly staged process in which the researcheffort was spread more or less equally among all parts of the region. Sample surveys within each RSUwould be completed before excavations were initiated, and priority would be given to filling major datagaps such as the identification of sites dating to the early and middle Archaic and Protohistoric periods.Preliminary work to refine the temporal periods and site types would also be completed beforeexcavations to allow the formulation of more precise sampling matrices for the RSUs. Concurrently, adiet breadth model for the region and preliminary predictive models of site locations for the RSUs wouldbe developed. As needed, test excavation programs would also be completed before the initial samples ofsites were selected for excavation, and large-scale mapping of geomorphological deposits would proceed.Excavation of a representative sample of sites in each RSU would then begin, initiating an iterative cycleof model development, testing, and refinement.If past events are any indication, then nothing like this orderly process is likely to occur. Archaeologicalresearch in southeastern New Mexico is driven largely by energy development in the southern part of theregion, and by sporadic transportation, water, and municipal development project elsewhere in the region.Most cultural resource management projects are surveys and opportunities for excavations outside of theoil and gas fields are limited. Bowing to this reality, we propose that the RSUs be used as provisionalmanagement units and, in the case of the Mescalero Plain, that it be divided into northern and southernmanagement units. This will allow the initial phases of the research design to be fully implemented inunits where there is rapid development (i.e., the southeastern New Mexico oil and gas fields), whileresearch in the rest of the RSUs progresses as opportunities for research arise.5-5