ABSTRACT
Rising over 10,000 feet from the surrounding plateau, Cerro del Yuta is an imposing figure on the northern Rio Grande landscape. Piñon, ponderosa, and aspen trees dot the slopes of the mountain, gradually transitioning to White pine and Douglas fir as you move into higher elevations. The west side of the mountain directly overlooks the craggy depths of the Rio Grande Gorge and the east side offers sweeping views of the Sangre de Cristo mountain range.
Cerro del Yuta is a multivocal cultural landscape, containing archaeological evidence of several distinct social systems and material traditions from roughly 3500 bce into the 20th century. The mountain's occupants were engaged in various levels of movement, including residential and logistical mobility as well as seasonal transhumance. Despite these differences in mobility patterns, surface collections documented along the western slope of Cerro del Yuta as well as at the base of the mountain share several salient similarities, which suggest that both areas were primarily being used as tool production and refurbishment locales. Similarities as well as differences in across the material traditions documented at Cerro del Yuta indicate that this mountainscape was a persistent place largely due to its unique geology and geographical location within the northern Rio Grande.
