Intensive Survey Of The Proposed Aragorn Solar Farm On University Lands, Culbertson County, Texas

IP Aragorn LLC plans to develop a solar farm on a 1,765-acre tract on University Lands (UL) in Culberson County, Texas. In March and April 2018, Turpin and Sons Inc. (TAS) assessed the potential for significant cultural resources under the authority of Texas Antiquities Permit 8374 issued to UL, Aragorn and TAS with Jeff Turpin acting as Principal Investigator. The project area is a barren extent of interfluvial gypsum plain between the Rustler Hills on the east and the Delaware Mountains on the west. One previously recorded site, 41CU558, barely extends to the access road on the northeastern end of the tract, with the majority of the cultural remains outside the boundary. Although the Texas Historical Commission had at one time declared the site eligible for the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), neither the first recording nor two subsequent revisits found anything of significance on the site. One newly recorded site, 41CU862, is a scatter of fire-cracked rock and lithic debris that is equally insignificant with no potential for buried or intact deposits. Neither 41CU862 nor the portion of 41CU558 in the Aragorn tract meet eligibility criteria for listing on the NRHP or merit designation as a State Antiquities Landmark (SAL). No further work nor avoidance measures are recommended in the Aragorn tract

The Red Linear Style Pictographs of the Lower Pecos River Region, Texas

Red Linear rock art is one of three prehistoric styles defined in the Lower Pecos River Region of southwest Texas. This miniature, monochrome style, characterized by diminutive stick figures engaged in coherent group activities, has been identified at eight sites. Intangible aspects of culture reflected in the pictographs include ranking in social status, ritual and economic practices, warfare and hunting strategies, sex-specific division of society, sympathetic magic, and a selective perception of the environment. A description of the salient attributes, an estimate of Late Archaic age, and an interpretation of its possible function as ritual art are presented as a framework for future reference. The hypothesis that this style is intrusive is based on its divergence from classic Pecos River style art, the dominant regional form. The vulnerability of this miniature form to total destruction presents an impelling need for the recording of additional examples

LA NUCLEACIÓN CÍCLICA Y EL ESPACIO SAGRADO: LA EVIDENCIA DEL ARTE RUPESTRE

Dos enclaves de arte rupestre en las áridas tierras del norte de México y del suroeste de los Estados Unidos son utilizados para probar una fase de un modelo que describe la transición de las sociedades simples a las complejas. El modelo de Schaedel propone una secuencia que pasa de un disperso sistema de cacería y recolección a la nucleación cíclica,1 y de allí al cuasi-sedentarismo que puede o no conducir a la vida sedentaria de la aldea. En el corazón de este modelo está el altar o espacio sagrado, alrededor del cual gira el patrón de asentamiento. Dos sociedades prehistóricas proporcionan apoyo para el paso intermedio de este modelo, al mostrar que la congregación coincidía con la elaboración de arte ritual que santificaba ciertos rasgos naturales del paisaje. Miles de petroglifos rodean distintas formaciones geológicas en la orilla oriental de la Sierra Madre Oriental en el norte de México y demarcan las zonas de diversos recursos naturales accesibles, capaces de sostener la congregación de mayores poblaciones. Las pictografías monumentales y elaboradas, producidas mediante un esfuerzo comunal, fueron pintadas en refugios pedregosos densamente ocupados a lo largo de la frontera entre México y los Estados Unidos, como parte de un sistema simbólico generado para compensar la mayor densidad demográfica. Ambas áreas muestran la relación entre la nucleación cíclica y el espacio sagrado, de acuerdo con la predicción del modelo de Schaedel