The DIVAD Archeological Project

This report summarizes the results of the Division Air Defense (DIVAD) archaeological project. The project was initiated in response to a proposal to construct and use airstrip facilities on McGregor Guided Missile Range on Fort Bliss, a military installation in far western Texas and southern New Mexico. The project was designed to mitigate the adverse effect of the airstrip's construction upon prehistoric cultural remains. It was conducted by the Fort Bliss Environmental Management Office from August of 1979 to January of 1980. Fieldwork consisted of a survey of approximately 35 km sq. Sixty-nine prehistoric sites were recorded.

The survey, limited surface collection on some sites, and test excavations on a few, were completed in December of 1979, and preliminary analysis was begun. However, funding limitations prevented the analytical stage of the project from being completed. The results of the project were not synthesized. In January of 1984, the author began analysis of the 1979 data. Additional fieldwork was conducted. This fieldwork involved revisiting many of the original 69 sites and collecting quantitative data from a single site. While some of these data have appeared elsewhere (Mauldin 1984; West 1982), this report represents the first detailed summary of the DIVAD archaeological project. The project was synthesized in accordance with the Fort Bliss Historic Preservation Plan (1982).

Originally the information in this record was migrated into tDAR from the National Archaeological Database Reports Module (NADB-R) and updated. In 2014, as part of its effort to improve tDAR content, the Center for Digital Antiquity uploaded a copy of the document and further improved the record metadata.