The Office of Contract Archeology is currently performing a 200-mile survey of the US-Mexico International border and several access roads leading towards the border in New Mexico's Boot Heel area (this is the extreme southwestern corner of New Mexico). The survey is intended to discover and assess the significance of all cultural resources that may be impacted during the proposed construction of a border fence along the international boundary. The project is undertaken at the request of Gulf South Research Corporation of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The first field session resulted in the discovery of twenty-six archeological sites dating to the Archaic, Formative and Historical periods. Because of the remoteness of the survey area, our crews have been camping right on the US side of the international border. Chris Turnbow is in charge of the field crew which consists of Alex Kurota, Brian Cribbin, and Greg Mastropietro. The GSRC archeologists participating on the project include John Lindemuth, Carl Welch and Bretton Somers.
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