Jemez Cave

Information

This cave site is located on the west bank of the Rio San Diego de Jemez near a natural "soda" dam on the river. Excavations at the site in the 1930s (Alexander and Reiter 1935) recovered many well-preserved maize cobs, some of which were directly dated using conventional radiocarbon dating in the late 1950s (Crane and Griffen 1958). Richard Ford revisited the site in the early 1970s and dated an additional maize cob (Ford 1975). Vierra and Ford (2006:499) provide a recent summary of the research on maize at the site and include photographs of the excavations and a cob from the site (Figures 35-3 and 6).

ID Other ID Type Subtype Uncal BP (years) ± 1 σ (years) Median cal BP (years) Lower cal BP (years) Upper cal BP (years) δ13C Contaminated?
225 Beta-183771 MacroSample unknown 2990 40 3181 3335 3008 No
226 Beta-183772 MacroSample unknown 2980 40 3166 3324 3005 No
39 M-xxx MacroSample cob 2410 360 2484 3374 1626 No
121 M-466 MacroSample cob 2440 250 2508 3142 1896 No

Attached Files

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References Cited

Adams, K. R.
        1994      A Regional Synthesis of Zea mays in the Prehistoric American Southwest. In Corn and Culture in the Prehistoric New World, edited by S. Johannessen and C. A. Hastorf, pp. 273-302. Westview Press, Boulder.

Alexander, H. G. and P. Reiter
    1935    Report on the excavation of Jemez Cave, New Mexico. Monograph No. 4. University of New Mexico and School of American Research, Santa Fe.

Crane, H. R. and J. B. Griffin
    1958    University of Michigan radiocarbon dates, part 3. Science 128:1117-1122.

Ford, R. I.
    1975    Re-excavation of Jemez Cave. Awanyu 3:13-27.

Vierra, B. J. and R. I. Ford
    2006    Early maize agriculture in the northern Rio Grande Valley, New Mexico. In Histories of Maize: Multidisciplinary Approaches to the Prehistory, Biogeography, Domestication, and Evolution of Maize, edited by J. E. Staller, R. H. Tykot and B. F. Benz, pp. 497-510. Elsevier/Academic Press, Amsterdam.