08/09/2026
This is a great tour y'all. If you're in the area next weekend you should sign up and go.
~ Revisiting Wild Horse Arroyo ~
Located 10 miles west of the village of Folsom in the northeastern corner of New Mexico is one of the best-known archaeological localities in North America. This Paleo-Indian archaeological site is known today as the Folsom “Type “ Site. leading the excavation in 1926 and 27 the Denver Museum of Natural History discovered 17 unique stone projectile points among the remains of the 32 bison antiques in which they were used to dispatch.
In the field of archeology when a site is referred to as a “type site” it means that the site is the location where artifacts characteristic of a particular culture or cultural stage have first been found in situ. In situ meaning that the artifact has not been moved from its original place of deposition. In other words, it is stationary, meaning "still." An artifact being in situ is critical to the interpretation of that artifact, however the in situ find site may still not reveal its provenance. the name of the town or location nearest to the site is often applied to that culture such was the case at Folsom.
The site is on the National Register of Historic Places, as well as a National Historic Landmark, and New Mexico State Monument, it’s findings ended the long-standing and bitter controversy over human antiquity in North America.
Yet, because of the narrow goals of the original excavations, the field and analytical methods in place at the time, and the few publications that emerged from that early work, Folsom, at least in scientific terms, is also one of the least known archaeological localities in North America.
In an effort to enhance our understanding of the site, under the auspices of the Quest Archaeological Research Program at SMU, an interdisciplinary field project was initiated at Folsom in 1997, which continued over the next two field seasons and was followed by analyses of museum collections from the site.
The preliminary results ofthat research show that all excavations to date have been in the kill area, which took place in a small and relatively shallow tributary to the Pleistocene paleo- valley ofWild Horse Arroyo as well as in the paleovalley itself. Preliminary butchering of.....32 Bison antiquus took place near where the animals were dropped. The kill area is dominated by low-utility bone elements and broken projectile points; high- utility bones and tools for processing meat and hides are rare or absent, and either occur in another, as yet undiscovered area of the site, or altogether off-site. Faunal remains are generally in excellent condition. Those in the tributary are mostly in primary context, and underwent rapid burial beneath fine grained (dominantly aeolian) sediments, which in turn were subsequently armored by a shingle shale; those in the paleovalley experienced postdepositional transport and redeposition. The small lithic assemblage is dominated by projectile points and comprised ofmaterial mostly from two sources in the Texas panhandle, several hundred kilometers southeast of the site. It also includes stone obtained from sources at comparable distances north andnorthwestofthe site. A series ofradiocarbon ages is availablefor the stratigraphic units, nearly all from charcoal of non-cultural origins; radiocarbon dates on bison bone put the age ofthe kill at 10,500 B.P.
An in-depth look at Dr Melter’s 1997-98 excavation of the Folsom Type Site can be found here. https://www.smu.edu/~/media/Site/Dedman/Departments/Anthropology/MeltzerPDFs/Meltzer%20Todd%20and%20Holliday%202002%20AM%20ANTIQ%20The%20Folsom%20type%20site.ashx
David J. Meltzer, Lawrence C. Todd, and Vance T. Holiday’s report “THE FOLSOM (PALEOINDIAN) TYPE SITE: PAST INVESTIGATIONS, CURRENT STUDIES” goes over the historical background, our current understanding of the site's geomorphic and strati- graphic context, its age and paleoenvironmental context, the structure and taphonomy of the bonebed, and the site's archaeological contents.
