Recent and On-Going JRI Research Programs
The Guevavi Mission
Rio Tularosa Prehistory & History
Plains and Southwest
The Guevavi Mission
Dr. Deni Seymour
The Guevavi mission was a major focus of Spanish conversion efforts among the indigenous Sobaipuri-O’odham peoplein Arizona. Project Director and JRI Research Associate Deni Seymour believes to have identified the 1751 Jesuit mission among six adobe structures that surround the recognized NPS mission. One of the goals of the project is to date adobe wall samples using the luminescence technique. This will inform which of the adobe structures date to (a) the Kino period (1691-1711), (b) 1751, and (c) which are Franciscan or later mining/ranching features.
For years, historians have suggested that the standing ruins (now on National Park Service land) are the remains of the mission originally built in 1751. The artifacts found with this new building are consistent with this alternate structure being from the Jesuit period. Guevavi was a head mission at this time, with the better known missions of Tumacacori and San Xavier within its jurisdiction. More…
Rio Tularosa Prehistory & History
David H. Greenwald
The Rio Tularosa Program is designed to examine the development of community groups from the tenth century (early prehistoric sedentism) to the early twentieth century. Native American groups settled within Tularosa Canyon, utilizing the variety of resources present, to establish the first permanent or near-permanent villages and dispersed communities. With humble beginnings as loosely organized pit house settlements, the Jornada Mogollon social organization evolved into more concentrated settlements, incorporating the use of contiguous, masonry architecture. Room blocks were limited in size, often represented by houses numbering from four to perhaps ten rooms. Recent observations within Tularosa Canyon have identified two large, circular depressions with encircling berms. Although the function of these features has not been confirmed, they resemble structures documented elsewhere as great kivas. The occurrence of similar features has not been reported in the Tularosa Basin previously. More…
Plains and Southwest
Dr. Jeffery R. Hanson
The Los Ojitos Project is a team effort between Kelly Jenks of New Mexico State University and Jeffery Hanson of the Jornada Research Institute. The Los Ojitos Site (LA98907) is an abandoned Late Territorial-Early US period HIspanic Village. Founded around the late 1860s, it lasted until ca. 1940.
Architectural features include stone residential structures, stone pen enclosures, rock wall features, an acequia system, petroglyghs, cemetery, and as yet undefined out building remains. These photos are from a 2014 field school. Bottom left, an historic petroglyph; at right, a student recording a residential structure. The purpose of the project is to understand aspects of daily life, subsistence, economic patterns and demographic change. The next phase of the project will be to collect oral histories.
Petroglyph National Monument
Dr. Jeffery R. Hanson
JRI Research Associate Jeffery Hanson has finished his project at Petroglyph National Monument (PNM). The purpose of the study was to analyze the distribution of the flute player motif in a landscape setting. The flute player, also known as kokopelli,has a wide distribution at petroglyph and pictograph sites in the American Southwest. The motif has been interpreted as a symbol of water and fertility, and is often associated with 
water/fertility symbols such as serpents, spirals and frogs. The study took a landscape approach to the flute player. The theory was that the motif would be more likely to be found in topographic settings where water might have been available, either seasonally or after heavy rains. We would expect then to find flute players and other fertility symbols on workable rock faces near drainages, seeps, or springs. The escarpment on the west side of Albuquerque provides an excellent landscape setting to test this idea. The cliff faces from north to south are cut by numerous large and small arroyos that would have acted as runoff drainages during times of heavy precipitation, such as during the monsoon season. These drainages could have produced temporary pools or alluvial runoff that would enhance hunting or collection of wild plants. Placement of the flute players and associated motifs would demonstrate a connection to these localities as places of water, life and fertility. During times of drought, these places might have attracted ritual use as points of communication between shamans and the spirits governing rainfall. In addition these places may have served an ethno-topographic function as a 
preferred drainage as a water source. Initial observation at the Piedras Marcadas section of PNM has found flute players located in boulder configurations at four drainages. Surveys along the escarpment of Piedras Marcadas Canyon, Boca Negra Canyon, and Rinconada Canyon are being undertaken to document the location of flute players, such as those in thees photos.
Results
The survey resulted in the identification of 229 petroglyphs. Of these, 37 (16%) were fluteplayers, 73 (32%) were birds, 58 (25%) were snakes or serpents, 22 (10%) were spirals, and 20 (9%) were turtles or frogs (Figure 17). In addition, 19 boulder metates were identified. With respect to the distribution of these motifs near or along drainages in all cases, with the exception of spirals, expectations were met, albeit some more likely than others. Figure 17compares the overall distribution of motifs with those identified along arroyos. As can be seen, more than any other motif, fluteplayers were concentrated along arroyos, with 33 of 37 (89%) of those identified located along arroyos. Although the other motifs had tendencies in this direction, their association with arroyos was less likely (over 50%), spirals, however, were the least likely to meet predicted expectations. It has to be stressed that the sample here cannot be said to be representative of the broader petroglyph population throughout the canyons, it is clear that within this sample fluteplayers are closely tied to areas where seasonal water could have been available, due to mesa runoff, moisture retention by boulders and flow along arroyos, to nourish wild plants, attract game, and potentially be diverted for agricultural fields. The number of water control features that have been recorded within these canyons supports this interpretation.
Hot Spots
Within each canyon are areas where higher concentrations of petroglyphs 
occur. These are referred to as “hot spots,” that is, places that appear to reflect higher levels of ritual energy. These photos illustrate hotspots from Piedras Marcadas Canyon.
The report. has been submitted to the National Park Service and accepted. A version of this report will be published in an upcoming volume of The Jornada Research Institute’s publication series.
