The Burial Artifacts of Two Disturbed Graves in Roy, New Mexico

Where: Kit Carson Electric Boardroom, 118 Cruz Alta Rd, Taos

Speaker:  Victoria Riley Evans 

Topic:  Burial Artifacts

The Burial Artifacts of Two Disturbed Graves in Roy, New Mexico

In July of 2013 a Roy, New Mexico landowner accidentally uncovered two coffins while digging a septic tank for his newly built house. Archaeologists from the New Mexico Highlands University department of Social and Behavioral Sciences were called in to recover the remains and do a preliminary search for descendants. Two sets of remains were recovered, that of an adult Caucasian male roughly between 45 and 50 years of age, and that of a subadult Caucasian male roughly around 16 years of age. Grave goods included elaborate coffin hardware, coffin wood, buttons, some cloth from disintegrating clothing, a pair of disintegrating shoes, the back of a pocket watch, a pencil, coffin cloth and burlap, and broken glass. I will discuss the burial goods as a temporal diagnostic, and as an account about the mortuary practices of the area and time period. 

Speaker - Victoria Riley Evans

Victoria Riley Evans received her BA in anthropology at Prescott College, Arizona, and her MA in Southwest Studies at New Mexico Highlands University. The daughter of a well-known southwestern anthropologist and Ethnohistorian, Victoria has been exposed to the field of anthropology her entire life. She worked for many years as an archaeologist in southern Arizona, specializing in Hohokam burials and pottery analysis. Victoria has participated in the excavation of several historic burials and is co-authoring a book about the late nineteenth-century skeletal remains of a trader found along the Santa Fe Trail. She is also the published author of an upcoming article in the southwestern journal Kiva on interpreting Hohokam design on pottery. Victoria is currently the anthropology laboratory manager at New Mexico Highlands University and adjunct instructor for anthropology classes. She is also aiding in the creation of an Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) laboratory through the chemistry department at NMHU.