A History of Mobility in New Mexico

A History of Mobility in New Mexico uses the often-enigmatic chipped stone assemblages of the Taos Plateau to chart patterns of historical mobility in northern New Mexico. Drawing on evidence of spatial patterning and geochemical analyses of stone tools across archaeological landscapes, the book examines the distinctive mobile modalities of different human communities, documenting evolving logics of mobility-residential, logistical, pastoral, and settler colonial. In particular, it focuses on the diversity of ways that Indigenous peoples have used and moved across the Plateau landscape from deep time into the present. The analysis of Indigenous movement patterns is grounded in critical Indigenous philosophy, which applies core principles within Indigenous thought to the archaeological record in order to challenge conventional understandings of occupation, use, and abandonment. Providing an Indigenizing approach to archaeological research and new evidence for the long-term use of specific landscape features, A History of Mobility in New Mexico presents an innovative approach to human-environment interaction for readers and scholars of North American history.

Lindsay M. Montgomery is an assistant professor in the School of Anthropology at the University of Arizona, USA. She is co-author of Objects of Survivance (2019), and has published in the Journal of Social Archeology, International Journal of Heritage Studies, American Indian Quarterly, and Advances in Archaeological Practice. Her research focuses on the ethnohistory of Indigenous people in the North American West, with particular emphasis on documenting interethnic interaction, settler colonialism, and cultural resiliency.

1. Place on the Move Part I: Indigenizing the Archaeology of Mobility 2. Indigenous History 3. Notes on Indigenous Style 4. The Messy Work of Mobile Archaeology Part II: Persistent Places on the Taos Plateau 5. Playa Landscapes 6. Cerro de la Olla 7. Cerro del Yuta 8. Persistent Places