Air Photographic Mapping of San Marcos Pueblo

Abstract

San Marcos Pueblo, dating between A.C. 1340 and 1700, is a large,Glaze Period town of the Anasazi-Pueblo cultural tradition. An aerial map of this protohistoric site was made from CIR (color infrared) photography provided by the Stennis Space Center, NASA. Ground confirmation of the aerial map has been affected through archaeological studies beginning in 1915 and continuing, intermittently, until 1993. The verified map is presented as a modern settle1nent statement as well as a vehicle for plotting differential spatial distributions of artifacts useful in evaluating the role of tasks and activities. Among these intramural activities are apartment living, religious life, craft production, water hauling, and other work tasks. Outside of the town were 1nining and "walk-out" gardening locales.The town of San Marcos played a significant role as a member of the "Eastern Frontier" of pueblos manning the border between the American Southwest and the High Plains. Interaction with Plains buffalo hunters was based on shifting political alliances reflecting a changing mixture of strategies ranging from hostile raids to peaceful trade fairs. Intensive farming and interregional trade are identified as critical variables in the evolution of social complexity and the rise of towns from a village farming base.