UNM Anthropology Enters New Task Agreement with Chaco Culture National Historical Park

Departmental News

Posted:  Dec 09, 2024 - 01:00pm

UNM’s Department of Anthropology has recently entered into a new task agreement with Chaco Culture National Historical Park. The $70,000 agreement is funded by the National Park Service’s Cooperative Research and Training Programs. The larger purpose of this federal program is to establish and maintain cooperative study units in partnership with federal, state, and local governments, tribes, nonprofit organizations, and institutions of higher education to facilitate multi-disciplinary science and integrated information products related to the resources of the National Park System.

The task agreement with UNM will include archaeological survey and site recording along two major drainage corridors in the bottom of Chaco Canyon. The cultural resources along these drainages are experiencing severe erosion, and this inventory will aid the Park in managing these threatened sites. The fieldwork will be completed by students as part of UNM’s 2025 UNM Anthropology Summer Southwestern Archaeological Field School. Additional work related to completing site forms, mapping, and report writing will be conducted by graduate and undergraduate students during the following two academic years, providing valuable paid training opportunities.

Dr. Hannah Mattson, a Southwest archaeologist and Chaco specialist, is the Principal Investigator of the project and the instructor of the field school. UNM has held field schools in Chaco Canyon since 1929. This task agreement represents the continuation of an important and historic relationship between the university and Chaco Culture National Historical Park.