POLLEN AND MACROFLORAL ANALYSIS AT SITES ALONG NAVAJO ROUTE 9(5-1), MCKINLEY COUNTY, NEW MEXICO

Soil samples from Sites NM-Q-13-50 (LA 32992), NM-Q-13-53, NM-Q-13-54 (LA 89900), and NM-Q-13-55 were floated to recover charred macrofloral remains, while samples from features at NM-Q-12-71 were analyzed for both pollen and macrofloral remains. These sites were identified in portions of the right-of-way along Navajo Route 9(5-1) in the Chuska Valley of northwest New Mexico, and represent a Chacoan outlier community and a road leading to that community. The five sites are believed to date to the Formative period of occupation in the area (including Anasazi Pueblo I to Pueblo ll-lll), with a possible Archaic component also present at Site NM-Q-13-50. At this stage of testing, the objective is to determine whether pollen and macrofloral remains can be recovered from individual sites. Pollen and macrofloral analyses will be used to help determine the potential for recovering cultural material at these sites that can be used to address the general research topics of environmental reconstruction, subsistence, and mobility-sedentism and land use.