Significance Standards for Prehistoric Archeological Sites at Fort Bliss. ADesign for Further Research and the Management of Cultural Resources

摘要

This document is a design for future archeological research at Fort Bliss. Itreviews previous archeological work in the region, assesses the current body of relevant knowledge, and suggests specific avenues for further inquiry. The scientific research design is intended to be a component in the Cultural Resources Management Plan (CRMP) for Fort Bliss. In conjunction, the research design and the CRMP will facilitate determinations of eligibility for the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) for those prehistoric archeological resources managed by the Fort. The theoretical perspective of the research design is explicitly materialistic with a rational-functional approach to explaining human behavior. The research framework also adopts a systems theory approach in which human societies are considered to be intricate systems of variables with ever-changing relationships. Applying a cultural ecological framework, the research design attempts to identify the adaptive strategies by which societies survive within the constraints set by their environments. Within this approach, the research presumes economic optimization, such that human societies tend to identify and select those sets of behaviors with the maximum net utility. The research design first develops a series of natural and cultural contexts for future research by examining the natural environment of the Fort Bliss region, the range of cultural adaptations to such environments, and the extant body of relevant archeological information.