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1 <br />1 <br />1 <br />t <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />1 <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />1 <br /> <br />'• <br />7 <br />would be necessary. A grid system baseline was established which will continue to be used in <br />further investigations attd mapping. <br />Archival Research and Informant Interviews <br />Archival research at this point consists only of examination of the chain of title at the Las <br />Animas County Courthouse in Trinidad, the results of which are presented below. A brief interview <br />with Robert Parsons was conducted in the fall of 1996 (McKibbin et al. 1997:48) conceming the <br />overall history of the Lorencito Canyon Mine Project area. Mr. Parsons and his family were the <br />owners prior to 1994. Information was also received from the present ranch owners (McKibbin et <br />al. 1997:103-104) conceming various aspects of the history of the larger Hill Ranch. <br />Test Excavation Results <br />Nine test pits and 76 probes were excavated at SLA7186 over the course of testing in <br />November 1996 and May 1997. The probes included six Giddings probes, 13 hand-held auger <br />probes, and 57 shovel probes. A tabular summary of the results of probing is presented in tables in <br />Appendix A and the distribution of positive and negative probes is shown in Figures 2 and 3. Of the <br />total 76 probes, 50, or nearly 66%, were positive for historic materials and 27, or over 35%, were <br />positive for aboriginal artifacts. Eighteen probes produced both historic and aboriginal cultural <br />materials. Probes producing historic materials are found throughout the probe array, with the <br />exception of the southern-most probes. Aside from these, there are oily two other places on the site <br />that have three probes in a row that did not produce historic materials. The surface scatter of historic <br />artifacts is ubiquitous across this area, and decreases to the south and southwest, outside the probed <br />area of the site. Probes that produced aboriginal materials are common in the northern and eastern <br />part of the probe array, but absent from the southent-most and southwestern-most probes. Tltis, too, <br />mimics the surface distribution of aboriginal artifacts, which was confined [o areas on the northern <br />and eastem edge of the terrace on which the site is located, and a small remnant of terrace on the <br />eastem side of the road, which was not tested. <br />The results of probing clearly indicate the presence of both historic and aboriginal artifacts <br />innear-surface and subsurface contexts, though generally fairly shallow (< 30 curbs). Probing also <br />failed to demonstrate any clear stratigraphic separation between the occurrence of Historic and <br />aboriginal artifacts. The results of probing guided the placement of nine test pits, each of which is <br />discussed below. <br />Test Pit ] (200N 205E) <br />Test Pit 1 was placed near Giddings auger probe 4. This probe produced a more sizable <br />collection of historic artifacts than most, and also included one piece of chipped stone debitage. <br />Some suspicion existed that the probe might have penetrated a historic feature or debris scatter. One <br />of the glass fragments from this probe may have been worked. <br />1 <br />