A Further Evaluation of the San Jon Site, New Mexico

Abstract

The San Jon site (LA 6437) is a well-known, but only briefly documented, multicomponent archaeological locality situated on the northern rim of the Southern High Plains in Quay County, New Mexico. The site is in a small (360m wide), dry lake basin or “playa.”Archaeological materials buried by basin jill are now being exposed along deep arroyo tributaries of a canyon that cut into the High Plains escarpment. Excavations in 1941 provided evidence that Paleoindian and Late Archaic hunters may have used the site to procure and process bison. A ceramic habitation also was documented. Fieldwork in 1993, 1994, and 1995, and reanalysis of the extant San Jon collection yielded additional data on the cultural chronology of the site and the complexity of the site’s formational history. Two unfluted, lanceolate points were found in 1941, one of which is the type “San Jon”point recovered in association with an extinct species of bison (MNI = 5). The other Late Paleoindian point was found in association with modern bison in a redeposited context. Both artifacts are now considered to be Firstview points. The “San Jon” level is dated to ≥8400 yrs BP. In 1993, a latest Paleoindian or Early Archaic foature, very rare for the region, was found in situ directly above the “san Jon” bonebed and yielded the base of a lanceolate point, two small side-notched points, considerable lithic debitage, and bone. The foature dates between 8400 and 7600 yrs BP. The Late Archaic bonebed (MNI = 7) dates to <3600 yrs BP. San Jon is one of the fow sites in the region with a documented record of multiple in situ occupations spanning the Paleoindian, Archaic, and Late Prehistoric Traditions.

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