It may have just been some dirt to the naked eye, but it was a gold mine to a trained archeologist, and time was running out.
The ruins of an adobe home thought to be over a hundred years old were the focus of a three-month archeological dig in Albuquerque's North Valley, and it will conclude today.
Professor David Phillips, curator of archaeology at the Maxwell Museum, led the dig.
"We are trying to put together pieces of a puzzle," Phillips said. "We are trying to figure out what exactly was going on here."
The ruins were found on the property of An Chang, the owner of Albuquerque's Osuna Nursery. When Chang announced his intention to sell the land, Phillips knew it was now or never.
"We wanted to save this information before it got destroyed forever," Phillips said.
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When Chang learned about the adobe home, he said he was surprised by the discovery and agreed to hold off on the sale until the end of the summer.
"It is a very interesting thing," Chang said. "I thought things needed to be preserved, and they should be saved."
Phillips referred to a map of the site drawn by fellow archeologist Mike Marshall in 1985. Throughout the summer, the crew was able to locate walls and other parts of the original structure of the home.
"It may not be exciting visually, but if you know what to look for, you can definitely see the walls and floors," Phillips said.
He said he has reason to believe the original residents either abandoned the property or died. With no one around to maintain the structure, the adobe naturally deteriorated as a result of the weather.
He also said the owners were a "well-to-do" Hispanic family based on the size of the house and the type of architecture used in building.
Phillips said the crew has recovered close to 5,000 artifacts from the site that will be studied and donated to the Maxwell Museum on campus. The artifacts include pieces of old glass, china, bottles, bones and eggshells.
He said the bones might be clues to what types of things the family ate and possibly might tell if they were involved in ranching or other types of commerce.
Collette Maes, an archeology student at UNM, volunteered at the dig throughout the summer.
"I believe in preserving our past and learning from it," Maes said. "Plus, I love it."
Maes, who also volunteers at UNM's Maxwell Museum, said she has an interest in Southwest archeology and saw the summer as a learning experience for future work.
Phillips, who has studied archeology for 34 years, said he is impressed with the progress of the project and although there wasn't a lot of time, the crew met its preservation goal.
Ultimately, Phillips said he would like to try to find public records about those who owned the home, and possibly photographs to fit everything together.
"Everyone knows that a particular (historical event) happened and when it happened, but can they tell you how those people lived?" Phillips said. "This is just one effort to add a detail to the history of New Mexico."
