La Junta de los Rios

This exhibit is the work of many. William A. (Andy) Cloud, Steve Black and Jennifer Piehl are the primary authors. Additional writing was contributed by Carly Whelan and David Hill. TBH Co-Editor Steve Black created the exhibit with the help of TBH web developer Heather Smith, who crafted many of the exhibit graphics.

The La Junta exhibit was underwritten by grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Texas Preservation Trust Fund (Texas Historical Commission), the Mitchell Family Foundation, and the Summerlee Foundation. E. Thomas Miller provided additional support.

TBH partner organization, the Center for Big Bend Studies (CBBS) of Sul Ross State University supported the exhibit in many ways as part of the ongoing Trans-Pecos Archaeological Project. Authors Cloud and Piehl are on the CBBS staff. Many of the images are from the CBBS Archives. The Center also gave permission to provide linked PDF files of numerous articles relating to La Junta that have been published in The Journal of Big Bend Studies. Ellen Kelley provided essential help going through the papers and photographs of J. Charles Kelley. Dawnella Petrey scanned many CBBS images relating to La Junta.

Enrique Madrid of Redford provided advice and editorial suggestions, and guided Black on a great tour of La Junta. Special logistical thanks to Meredith Dreiss of Marfa.

This exhibit would not be possible without the work of the late J. Charles Kelley. His words, ideas, images, and findings are featured throughout the exhibit. Most of the articles he wrote about La Junta can be downloaded below.

Andy Cloud, a native Texan and Senior Project Archaeologist for the Center for Big Bend Studies at Sul Ross State University, received both his B.A. (Archeological Studies—1978) and M.A. (Anthropology with a focus in Archeology—1987) degrees from the University of Texas at Austin. With hands-on experience in Texas archaeology since 1979, he has worked in most areas of the state during stints at the Texas Historical Commission, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Big Bend National Park, the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory, and several private archeological firms.

Since 1986, when Cloud’s work began as an archeologist at Big Bend National Park, he has focused his efforts on the archeology of the Big Bend region, authoring or co-authoring over 30 research or cultural resource management reports. His research has recently concentrated on the rich archaeological past of La Junta de los Ríos.

Jennifer Piehl received her Ph.D. in anthropology from Tulane University in 2006.  She works in the Maya area and in West Texas, combining archaeological and biological anthropology in the investigation of mortuary practices, paleopathology, identity, and ritual.  Dr. Piehl is the Assistant Director of the El Perú-Waka’ Archaeological Project in Peten, Guatemala and Bioarchaeologist for the Belize Valley Archaeological Reconnaissance investigations at the site of Baking Pot.  She has conducted a regional analysis of mortuary practices and prehistoric health in the eastern Trans-Pecos region of West Texas for the Center for Big Bend Studies, Sul Ross State University.

Links:

La Junta Indians
Informative Wikipedia entry on the native peoples of La Junta de los Rios.

La Junta de los Rios
Informative Handbook of Texas Online entry on history of La Junta de los Rios with many links to related subjects.

Print Sources:

All sources with the Adobe Acrobat symbol——can be downloaded as PDF files.

Applegate, Howard G.
1992    The Demography of La Junta de los Rios del Norte y Conchos. The Journal of Big Bend Studies 4:43-73. 

Applegate, Howard G. and C. Wayne Hanselka
1974     La Junta de los Rios Del Norte y Conchos. Southwestern Studies Monograph No. 41. Texas Western Press, The University of Texas at El Paso.

Cloud, William A.
2001    Archeological Testing at Sites 41PS800 and 41PS801, Presidio County, Texas. Reports in Contract Archeology 2, Center for Big Bend Studies, Sul Ross State University, Alpine, and Archeological Studies Program Report 29, Texas Department of Transportation, Environmental Affairs Division, Austin.

2004    The Arroyo de la Presa Site: A Stratified Late Prehistoric Campsite Along the Rio Grande, Presidio County, Trans-Pecos Texas. Reports in Contract Archeology 9, Center for Big Bend Studies, Sul Ross State University, Alpine, and Archeological Studies Program Report 56, Texas Department of Transportation, Environmental Affairs Division, Austin.

Cloud, William A., and Jennifer C. Piehl
2007    Revisiting La Junta de los Ríos: New Data from Archaeological and Human Osteological Investigations. Paper presented at the 72nd annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Austin, Texas.

Cloud, William A., Robert J. Mallouf, Patricia A. Mercado-Allinger, Cathryn A. Hoyt, Nancy A. Kenmotsu, Joseph M. Sanchez, and Enrique R. Madrid
1994    Archeological Testing at the Polvo Site, Presidio County, Texas. Office of the State Archeologist Report 39. Texas Historical Commission and U.S. Department of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service, Austin.

Di Peso, Charles C.
1974    Casas Grandes: A Fallen Trading Center of the Gran Chichimeca, Vols. 1–3. The Amerind Foundation, Inc., Dragoon and Northland Press, Flagstaff, Arizona.

Ferg, Alan
2004    An Introduction to Chiricahua and Mescalero Apache Pottery, The Arizona Archaeologist 35, Arizona Archaeological Society.

Gardinier, Russell
1989 The Physical Geography of a Significant Border Region, La Junta de los Rios. The Journal of Big Bend Studies 1:25-50.

Griffen, William B.
1969    Culture change and shifting populations in central northern Mexico. University of Arizona, Anthropological papers, no. 13, University of Arizona Press, Tucson.

1979    Indian assimilation in the Franciscan area of Nueva Vizcaya. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.

1988    Utmost Good Faith, Patterns of Apache-Mexican Hostilities in Northern Chihuahua Border Warfare, 1821–1848. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.

Hammond, George P., and Agapito Rey (translators and editors)
1929    Expedition into New Mexico Made by Antonio de Espejo in 1582–1583, as Revealed in the Journal of Diego Pérez de Luxán, a Member of the Party. Quivira Society Publications 1. Quivira Society, Los Angeles.

Hickerson, Nancy
1994    The Jumanos: Hunters and Traders of the South Plains. University of Texas Press, Austin.

Holliday, Vance T., and James E. Ivey
1974    Presidio-Ojinaga International Flood Control and Channel Relocations Project, Presidio County Texas: An Evaluative Survey of the Archeological and Historical Resources. Texas Archeological Survey, Research Report 48. University of Texas at Austin.

Ivey, James E.
1990    Presidios of the Big Bend Area. Translated by Carlos Chavez. Southwest Cultural Resources Center Professional Paper No. 31. Division of History, Southwest Cultural Resources Center, National Park Service, Santa Fe.

John, Elizabeth A. H.
1991 Spanish-Indian Relations in the Big Bend Region during the Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries. The Journal of Big Bend Studies 3:71-80.

Jones, Oakah L.
1988    Nueva Vizcaya: Heartland of the Spanish Frontier. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.

1991 Settlements and Settlers at La Junta de los Rios, 1759-1822. The Journal of Big Bend Studies 3:43-70.

Kelley, J. Charles
1938   The La Junta Expedition – W.P.A. Project 10249 – Millington Site, Standard Technique of Excavation and Recording.  Unpublished manuscript on file, CBBS Archives, Sul Ross University.

1939    Archaeological Notes on the Excavation of a Pithouse near Presidio, Texas. El Palacio 44(10):221–234.

1940    Recent Field Work in Texas, Big Bend, Presidio. Council of Texas Archaeologists, Texas Archaeological News 2:1-4.

1947    Jumano and Patarabueye: Relations at La Junta de los Rios. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. (See Kelley 1986 for published version).

1949    Archaeological Notes on Two Excavated House Structures in Western Texas. Bulletin of the Texas Archeological and Paleontological Society 20:89–114.

1950    The La Junta Archives. New Mexico Historical Review 25:162-163.

1951  A Bravo Valley Aspect Component of the Lower Río Conchos Valley, Chihuahua,
Mexico. American Antiquity, 17(2):114-119.

1952a  Factors Involved in the Abandonment of Certain Peripheral Southwestern Settlements. American Anthropologist 54(3):356–387.

1952b  The Historic Indian Pueblos of La Junta de los Rios, Part 1. New Mexico Historical Review 27(4):257–295.

1953    The Historic Indian Pueblos of La Junta de los Rios, Part 2. New Mexico Historical Review 28(1):21–51.

1957    The Livermore Focus: A Clarification. El Palacio 64(1–2):44–52.

1985    Review of the Architectural Sequence at La Junta de los Rios. In Proceedings of the Third Jornada Mogollon Conference, edited by M. S. Foster and T. C. O’Laughlin. The Artifact 23(1 & 2):149–159. 

1986    Jumano and Patarabueye, Relations at La Junta de los Rios. Anthropological Papers No. 77. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
           
1990    The Río Conchos Drainage: History, Archaeology, Significance. Journal of Big Bend Studies 2:29–41.

1992    Introduction in Expedition to La Junta de los Ríos, 1747–1748: Captain Commander Joseph de Ydoiaga’s Report to the Viceroy of New Spain, translated by Enrique Rede Madrid, pp. xi–xv. Office of the State Archeologist Special Report 33. Texas Historical Commission, Austin.

2004    Preliminary Ceramic Type Descriptions from the La Junta Archeological District. Appendix IV, in The Arroyo de la Presa Site: A Stratified Late Prehistoric Campsite Along the Rio Grande, Presidio County, Trans-Pecos Texas by William A. Cloud, pp. 211–214. Reports in Contract Archeology 9, Center for Big Bend Studies, Sul Ross State University, Alpine, and Archeological Studies Program Report 56, Texas Department of Transportation, Environmental Affairs Division, Austin.

Kelley, J. Charles, T. N. Campbell, and Donald J. Lehmer
1940    The Association of Archaeological Materials with Geological Deposits in the Big Bend Region of Texas. Sul Ross State Teachers College Bulletin 21(3). Alpine, Texas.

Kelley, J. Charles and Ellen A. Kelley
1990 Presidio, Texas (Presidio County) Water Improvement Project, An Archaeological and Archival Survey and Appraisal. Blue Mountain Consultants, Fort Davis, Texas. 
      Part I: Archaeological Survey and Appraisal
      Part II: Archival Survey and Overview
      Part III: Illustrations [selection of published and unpublished La Junta-related drawings and photographs]

Kenmotsu, Nancy A.
1994    Helping Each Other Out: A Study of the Mutualistic Relations of Small Scale Foragers and Cultivators in La Junta de los Rios Region, Texas and Mexico. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Texas at Austin.

2001    Seeking Friends, Avoiding Enemies: The Jumano Response to Spanish Colonization, A.D. 1580–1750. Bulletin of the Texas Archeological Society 72:23–43.

2005    Insights from INAA about possible In-Migration of Groups to La Junta de los Rios, Texas. Paper presented at the 70th Annual Meeting, Society for American Archaeology, Salt Lake City.

Krieger, Alex
2002     We Came Naked and Barefoot: The Journey of Cabeza de Vaca across North America, edited by Margery Krieger. University of Texas Press, Austin.

Lehmer, Donald J.
1939    Modern Jacales of Presidio. El Palacio 46(8):183-86.

1948    The Jornada Branch of the Mogollon. Social Science Bulletin 17. University of Arizona 19(2):9–99. Tucson.

Madrid, Enrique R. (translator)
1992    Expedition to La Junta de los Ríos, 1747–1748: Captain Commander Joseph de Ydioaga’s Report to the Viceroy of New Spain. Office of the State Archeologist Special Report 33. Texas Historical Commission, Austin.

Madrid, Enrique R.
1996    Native American and Mestizo Farming at La Junta de los Ríos. Journal of Big Bend Studies 8:15–31.

1993   Architectural Details of San Antonio de Los Puliques Mission, El Polvo Site (41PS21), Redford, Texas. The Cache 1:19–24

2003    The Lost Mission of El Polvo: Searching for the History of a State Archeological Landmark. Journal of Big Bend Studies 15:55–68.

2005    The History and Future of Adobe at La Junta de los Rios: Social Dimensions of Adobe Making. Journal of Big Bend Studies 17:37–48.

Mallouf, Robert J.
1985    A Synthesis of Eastern Trans-Pecos Prehistory. Unpublished Master’s thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of Texas at Austin.

1990    A Commentary on the Prehistory of Far Northeastern Chihuahua, the La Junta District, and the Cielo Complex. Translation of La Prehistoria del noreste de Chihuahua: Complejo Cielo y Distrito La Junta, in Historia General de Chihuahua I: Geología Geografía y Arqueología, edited by Arturo Marquez-Alameda. Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez y Gobierno del Estado de Chihuahua, Juárez.

1999    Comments on the Prehistory of Far Northeastern Chihuahua, the La Junta District, and the Cielo Complex. Journal of Big Bend Studies 11:49–92.

2005    Late Archaic Foragers of Eastern Trans-Pecos Texas and the Big Bend. In The Late Archaic Across the Borderlands: From Foraging to Farming, edited by Bradley J. Vierra, pp. 219–246. University of Texas Press, Austin.

Morgenthaler, G. Jefferson
2004    The River has Never Divided Us: A Border History of La Junta de Los Rios. University of Texas Press, Austin.

2007    La Junta de los Rios: The Life, Death, and Resurrection of an Ancient Desert Community in the Big Bend Region of Texas. Mockingbird Books, Boerne, Texas.

Riley, Carroll L.
1935    Chapter 10: La Junta Province. The Frontier People: The Greater Southwest in the Protohistoric Period. . University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.

Sayles, E. B.
1935    An Archeological Survey of Texas. Medallion Papers 17. Gila Pueblo, Globe, Arizona.

1936    An Archeological Survey of Chihuahua, Mexico. Medallion Papers 22. Gila Pueblo, Globe, Arizona.

Schaafsma, Curtis F. and Carroll L. Riley, eds.
1999    The Casas Grandes World. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.

Shackelford, William J.
1951    Excavations at the Polvo Site in Western Texas. Unpublished Master’s thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of Texas, Austin.

1955    Excavations at the Polvo Site in Western Texas. American Antiquity 20(3):256–262.