North American Database of Archaeological Geophysics
North American Database of Archaeological Geophysics
Abstract/Summary:
Project Name: San Marcos Pueblo Historic Mission (LA98), NM;
Reference: http://www.archaeophysics.com/san_marcos/index.html (used with permission).
The site of San Marcos Pueblo (LA98) is located on a 60 acre Conservancy preserve adjacent to New Mexico State Highway 14 in the Galisteo Basin south of Santa Fe. It is among the largest ancestral Puebloan ruins in the American Southwest. The property contains the remains of numerous Pueblo structures, estimated to have between 3,000 and 5,000 rooms, and a seventeenth century Franciscan mission complex.
During August of 1998, geophysical investigations were conducted at the Spanish Mission component of San Marcos including magnetic and resistivity surveys of the ruins of the church and convent. Subsurface architectural features were revealed in both data sets. Rather than being redundant, the two data sets complement one another. Because these two methods measure different physical properties, each method is able to define features that are not apparent in the other.