Assessing Contemporary Human Activity

Ralph J. Hartley and Anne M. Wolley Vawser

ABSTRACT
The rate at which individual sites are vulnerable to “looting,” or non-research oriented digging for the procurement of artifacts, often for market, varies. Although sites with architectural remains are most commonly looted, other factors integral to this phenomenon are not clear. Understanding the connections between site characteristics and their probable vulnerability to looting and other modern impact is vital to effective cultural resource management.

The McPhee Reservoir area of southwestern Colorado is a case in point. More than 1600 archaeological sites were recorded along an approximately 15km length of the Dolores River valley in preparation for the river’s impoundment as McPhee Reservoir and associated projects, 101 of which were subsurface tested. This area, currently listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Anasazi Archaeological District, is managed by the San Juan National Forest.

Change to the landscape surrounding the reservoir has been extensive since the late 1970s. The increase in human activities in this area has potentially increased the probability of site degradation, but the extent of this phenomenon at specific sites is not yet known. The purpose of this study is to: (I) assess whether associations exist between a set of characteristics of a prehistoric site observable on the ground surface and evidence of modern human activities at that place; (II) ascertain how evidence of subsurface “looting” varies with characteristics of the site that reflect varied prehistoric activity; and (III) assess the vulnerability of sites to contemporary human activities during exposure after periods of inundation.