POLLEN ANALYSIS OF SOUTH PUEBLO AT PECOS NATIONAL MONUMENT, NEW MEXICO

Pecos and the ruins of Pecos have been known to explorers, adventurers, and travelers for over 400 years and the site has been the scene of intermittent archaeological investigations since 1880 when Adolf Bandelier measured and described the ruins. The first scientific excavations were undertaken by A. V. Kidder (1924) on the North Pueblo in 1915 and since that time Pecos has been subjected to numerous excavations, reexcavations, and stabilization efforts.
Although Pecos has been the subject of various historical and archaeological investigations and experimentation, this is the first study of pollen from the site. The sixteen samples submitted from excavations at the South Pueblo provide a base from which information may be gathered regarding past climate and ethnobotany. It is not expected that these samples will provide a definitive study of all aspects of climate and ethnobotany for Pecos, but rather that they will provide information for a preliminary study on which to base further analysis.