From: NMAC-L [mailto:NMAC-L@...]On Behalf Of HSR Inc.
Sent: Monday, October 07, 2002 11:00 AM
To: NMAC-L@...
Subject: Rock cupules
Site LA 136,240, located on White Sands Missile Range, is a prehistoric site affiliated with the Late Archaic and the Jornada Mogollon (Early Pithouse period) occupation of the area. The site measures approximately 450 by 350 m, encompassing about 161,000 sq m.
Site LA 136,240 lies on a gentle slope situated on an old, broad, alluvial fan. The fan originates in the San Andres Mountains, approximately 1 mi to the north. The site is at an elevation of 4,450 ft within the desert scrubland vegetation community. The dominant vegetation is soaptree yucca, mesquite, prickly pear cactus, Mormon tea, broom snakeweed and barrel cactus. The primary soil type is a gravelly, sandy loam classified as the Sonoita-Pinaleno-Aladdin association.
Six features were observed within the site. Four are clusters of bedrock mortar holes, one is a rock cairn situated within the boundary of the site but not affiliated with the prehistoric use of this locus, and one (Feature 5) is a modified boulder situated adjacent to two bedrock mortar holes
Feature 5, located along the east side of a major wash in the eastern portion of the site, consists of a pair of bedrock mortar holes and a 2-m-high, 4-m-long, modified boulder lying on the bedrock outcrop just south of the two mortar holes. The boulder has been modified by pecking/grinding approximately 100 small depressions, referred to as cupules, on all visible faces (including vertical faces). These holes measure 5 to 10 cm in diameter and are relatively shallow, with an average depth of 2 cm.