NRHP Eligibility Evaluation of Five Sites Within Oscura Range, White Sands Missile Range, Lincoln County, NM
Creators: name: DeVos, Jim
Publisher: name: (:unav)
Year: 2017
Subjects: subject: Southwest New Mexico
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/geographic-keyword/6959/southwest-new-mexico
subject: White Sands Missile Range
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/geographic-keyword/81008/white-sands-missile-range
subject: Alamogordo, New Mexico
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/geographic-keyword/85954/alamogordo-new-mexico
subject: Otero (County)
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/geographic-keyword/7145/otero-county
subject: New Mexico (State / Territory)
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/geographic-keyword/299/new-mexico-state-territory
subject: Formative Period
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/temporal-keyword/5645/formative-period
subject: Historic
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/temporal-keyword/5728/historic
subject: Protohistoric
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/temporal-keyword/147/protohistoric
subject: Early Archaic
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/temporal-keyword/5396/early-archaic
subject: Middle Archaic
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/temporal-keyword/3094/middle-archaic
subject: Mesilla Phase
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/temporal-keyword/5864/mesilla-phase
subject: LA111316
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-name/134128/la111316
subject: LA111314
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-name/134126/la111314
subject: LA86477
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-name/134131/la86477
subject: LA88023
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-name/134340/la88023
subject: LA86479
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-name/134133/la86479
subject: Radiocarbon
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/other-keyword/94524/radiocarbon

description: Between May 5 and May 8 of 2017, Versar, Inc., conducted a National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) evaluation of five sites within U.S. Air Force Oscura Bombing and Gunnery Range on White Sands Missile Range (WSMR), Lincoln County, New Mexico. This project was conducted under the F2F Environ. Contract No. W912PP-14-C-0009 held by Baer Engineering and Environmental Services, Inc. All of the sites are within, or adjacent to, the Oscura Bombing Range, and, thus, there is the potential for adverse impacts to them from base activities. These evaluations were conducted to assist in compliance with Section 110 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (as amended through 1992), the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation regulation (36 CFR Part 800). To successfully evaluate NRHP eligibility, the location of each site was investigated, and all cultural manifestations present were documented. Twenty-one shovel test pits and four 1-x-1-m test units were excavated across the five sites to examine contextual integrity and determine if buried cultural deposits were present. Sites that retained geomorphic integrity and demonstrated the potential to provide significant information regarding regional research issues were recommended eligible for inclusion in the NRHP; sites that do not were recommended ineligible.
Of the five sites evaluated during this investigation, two prehistoric sites are recommended eligible for inclusion in the NRHP and three are recommended ineligible. LA 86477, represents Unknown Prehistoric, Early Archaic, and Protohistoric/Historic period occupations, while LA 88023 also exhibits multiple components, including Paleoindian, Archaic, and Formative activities. Investigations at LA 111314, yielded a calibrated radiocarbon age that dated between A.D. 597 and 670. This age range corresponds to the Mesilla phase of the Formative period (A.D. 200/400 to 1000). However, the occupational surface was deflated and the assemblage did not produce any corresponding diagnostic artifacts. The other two ineligible sites, LA 86479 and LA 111316, contain Early to Middle Archaic components and Unknown Prehistoric components, respectively.