An Archaeological Investigation of The San Marcos Pueblo, New Mexico, Usa

As part of the Summer of Applied Geophysical Experience (SAGE), a field-based educational program in applied geophysical methods, several geophysical surveys were performed at the San Marcos Pueblo for archaeological purposes. The San Marcos Pueblo was a large and significant Tano pueblo in the Galisteo Basin south of Santa Fe, NM. It is a sixty-acre preserve, currently owned by the Archaeological Conservancy, containing the remains of thirty-eight room blocks, up to 5,000 rooms, two springs, and the foundations of a seventeenth-century Franciscan Mission complex. Over two days in June 2004 SAGE students acquired ground penetrating radar (GPR), loop-loop electromagnetic (EM), magnetic, and shallow refraction seismic data to investigate the buried secrets. The seismic GPR, EM and magnetic data proved to be complementary in delineating room block walls and a possible kiva, a chamber used by men for ceremonies and council meetings. The seismic data were definitive in terms of the dimensions of the kiva.