La Junta Research Questions

The following research topics are relevant to the study of artifacts and samples recovered from the BBRSP River Corridor Testing Project and other related projects such as the test excavations at Cuevas Amarillas.

Economy

1. In her study of site assemblages between Jornada and La Junta villages sites, Kenmotsu (2018 and 2022) observed that La Junta sites consistently contained smaller and less varied assemblages and in part suggested that this indicated a pronounced difference in economies. What evidence for economic production is present at La Junta sites in the project area? Is there evidence of economic change or continuity across the La Junta-Concepcion transition?

2. How did subsistence strategies change in response to the increased abundance of bison beginning in the late thirteenth century? What evidence of bison hunting/trade is present?

3. What role did large scale thermal appliances (e.g. ring middens) play in La Junta society? Is their large scale more indicative of subsistence or feasting?

4. Was there a single cultural adaptation based partly on agriculture and partly on the exploitation of wild resources, or was the region concurrently occupied by populations of farmers and hunter-gatherers?

5. What seasonal variation was there in the procurement of food resources? Was there a protracted period of low resource availability along the Rio Grande corridor?

6. When did La Juntans gain access to cultigens? To what degree were they actually adopted? How much subsistence variability was there among these communities and how did that change over time?

7. What plant and animal food resources were collected, processed, and/or consumed at La Junta sites?

Material Culture

1. How prevalent is the Toyah Technocomplex within the lithic assemblages recovered from buried La Junta occupations?

2. How do artifact assemblages from village sites compare to contemporary encampment sites outside of the river corridor?

3. What prompted the shift from importing pottery to constructing it locally?

4. Why are such limited numbers of decorated ceramic wares present in La Junta phase occupations?

5. What functional role did pottery serve in La Junta Culture? Were vessels being used to cook or consume specific goods?

6. Are the types of groundstone artifacts present indicators of subsistence activities?

7. What are the predominant lithic materials present at La Junta sites? Does this change over space or time?

Chronology

1. Why did villages in the La Junta region persist through Spanish contact when nearby agricultural settlements in the Jornada and Casas Grandes spheres were largely depopulated circa AD 1450? (MSmith-prospectus)

2. J Charles Kelley postulated that the La Junta villages were depopulated for a short time between the La Junta and Concepcion phases; what evidence exists for and against this postulated hiatus?

3. How did the settlement patterns of La Junta vary across the Late Prehistoric to Protohistoric periods?

Architecture

1. How does the organization and construction of La Junta architecture change from the La Junta to Conchos phases? Is the observed variation in architectural styles a function of time, culture, or adaptation to landscape?

2. How does the surficial architecture at La Junta sites compare to that of nearby Cielo sites?

Rock Art

1. How does the spatial distribution of Big Bend Bold rock art sites relate to the distribution of La Junta sites.

Social Connections

1. What are the relative influences of cultures in adjacent areas of the Southwest, Southern Plains, and Eastern Trans-Pecos? How do those patterns change over time?

2. What are the practical boundaries of the La Junta culture area?

Geomorphology

1. Can potential depositional settings resulting from flood eddy systems be modeled based on physiology and river hydrology?