Darrell Creel – författare

In the 1980s, Texas A&M University's NAN Ranch Project included surveys and excavations in Gavilan Canyon, a major tributary of the Mimbres River. Uniquely, these excavations documented water control systems and their uses. Collected and now made available for the first time, Archaeological Investigations in Gavilan Canyon shares results from the excavations that were conducted primarily at Pueblo Vinegaroon, a Classic Period Mimbres pueblo of about twenty rooms, and at nearby Cholla Village.During the NAN Ranch Project, researchers conducted extensive surveys of the canyon from its confluence with the Mimbres River and documented numerous sites dating to as early as Early Archaic through Classic Mimbres. The results also document pithouse sites as well as numerous small masonry pueblos. Analysis shows that the ebb and flow of late prehistoric occupation in Gavilan Canyon largely matches the occurrence of wet periods and prolonged droughts.The book reveals that the changes in occupation in Gavilan Canyon help explain changes seen in the Mimbres River Valley, including the extensively excavated NAN Ranch and Swarts sites.