"The two reports published here contain elements which contribute substantially to this broader spectrum of Southwestern cultural change. While primarily descriptive in nature, these two site reports, one from the western Kayenta area and one from the margin of the Mesa Verde area and the eastern Kayenta, suggest that the changes which occurred in the more centralized portions of these regions were directly related to what happened on the margins. That, while the site densities and population aggregates may not have been as high, the same factors affected these marginal areas. That conclusion could be expected, but what may not be expected is the differential response which appears to have occurred. After reading these two reports, it appears that it may be possible to discern elements of change in these fringe areas that, once defined, will provide new insight into what happened and why and in what are presently the better known areas of the Southwest. These two papers are important, in sum, not only because they are reports of work in poorly known areas, but because they do provide analyses of fringe areas, they help us to understand the Southwest generally"--From preliminary introduction.

This account of the archaeology of a cave in southern New Mexico makes a dramatic contribution to the ongoing debate over how long human beings have lived in the Americas. The findings presented here show that human settlement may go back as far as 75,000 years before the present, whereas the long-accepted Clovis dates showed humans only about 12,000 years ago. MacNeish and his colleagues subjected the cave, its environs, and its contents to rigorous interdisciplinary investigation. The first section of this volume comprises their reports on the changing environment of the area. The second section concentrates on the excavation of the cave's layers, presenting the results of radiocarbon dating and describing the evidence of human occupation, including friction skin prints and human hair. The third section discusses the cultural implications of the materials recovered and suggests how the ancient peoples may have exploited the changing environment and developed different ways of life throughout the Americas before the time of Clovis man. No serious discussion of early inhabitants in the New World can disregard the findings presented in this monumental work of scholarship.

This study focuses on the cultural-historical environment of the 88,900-acre (35,560-ha) Valles Caldera National Preserve (VCNP) over the past four centuries of Spanish, Mexican, and U.S. governance. It includes a review and synthesis of available published and unpublished historical, ethnohistorical, and ethnographic literature about the human occupation of the area now contained within the VCNP. Documents include historical maps, texts, letters, diaries, business records, photographs, land and mineral patents, and court testimony.