PREFACE

Charcoal/ash stains and middens also pose an interpretive problem. As coded in NMCRIS, charcoal/ashstains may be the remnants of small thermal features, burned structures, refuse deposits or occupationsurfaces. Similarly, the term “midden” is applied not only to secondary refuse but to almost any culturaldeposit where artifacts are associated with ash or charcoal stained sediments. Although these featureswere not used in developing the site typology, their presence is an important indicator that a site mightyield datable materials and/or subsistence remains. Consequently, in selecting sites for excavation withinany temporal period/site type category, preference should be given to sites with midden deposits and/orcharcoal/ash stains.In contrast, there is ample indirect evidence suggesting that ring middens and burned rock middens areassociated with the processing of mescal and other succulents. Bedrock mortars also appear to bespecialized processing facilities, although there is no definitive evidence indicating what they were usedto process. The few bedrock metates, coded as grinding slicks, also fall into this general category.Following Kemrer and Kearns (1984), hearths and fire-cracked rock concentrations are tentativelyinterpreted as “domestic features;” that is, as features associated with food preparation and consumptionat residential camps. Roasting pits and undefined thermal features are also included in this categorybecause we could identify no criteria that consistently distinguish these four feature types.A third general category consists of natural features. Included in this group are rockshelters and caves,which were used by prehistoric groups as shelters, caches, and burial chambers. Lithic quarries (i.e.,lithic procurement and workshop areas) also fall into this category.Features that could be the remnants of structures constitute a fourth general category. The four featuretypes in this grouping are rock alignments, walls, depressions, and mounds.The final classification system for the simple features and artifact scatters with features (sitetype2)retained two of these general categories, domestic features and possible structures. Following Katz andKatz (1985), the specialized processing facilities were split into two types, one consisting of ringmidden/mescal pits and burned rock middens; and the second, of bedrock mortars and grinding slicks.Rockshelters, caves, and quarries were also kept as separate categories, the quarries because they arefunctionally distinct, and the rockshelters and caves because their cultural deposits differ from thosenormally found at open sites.The results of the classification are shown in Table 3.5. As expected, most of the components (63%)were classified as domestic features. Ring middens (14%) and miscellaneous features (10%) are the nextmost common types. The proportions of component types for the Archaic and Ceramic periods arebroadly similar to those of the total assemblage. For the Protohistoric period, the proportion of possiblestructures (28%) is higher and the proportion of domestic scatters (36%) lower than for the totalassemblage. Given the small sample size, however, the differences may not be meaningful. Theproportions of rockshelters and caves are also somewhat higher for the Paleoindian period than for theoverall assemblage.Eleven feature types are associated with the miscellaneous features component type category (Table 3.6)that are either rare occurrences or have no clear behavioral correlates. Most (69%) are charcoal/ashstains, but there are also moderate numbers of isolated midden deposits (9%), petroglyph/pictographs(8%), burials (4%), and cairns (3%). The rare occurrences include some components with significantresearch potential, such as Paleoindian bone beds and Archaic wells, but no patterning can be inferredfrom so few cases.3-11