Marxist Dendroarchaeology: Examining Labor’s Effects on Landscapes and Living Conditions in Cebolla Canyon, New Mexico

Abstract

The effects of unregulated (laissez-faire) capitalism on working class people and on landscapes are often only beneficial in the short-term. This research examines labor’s effects on landscapes and on the living conditions of homesteaders and timber workers using a multidisciplinary approach including dendroarchaeology, historical records, and artifact analysis from four mid-20th century archaeological sites in the Cebolla Canyon area of west-central New Mexico. Results are examined using theoretical perspectives from Marxism and labor archaeology and from landscape archaeology. The insights from this combination of approaches help us to better understand labor conditions, including identifying periods of heavy logging in the area, examining how logging sites were structured and grew over time, and assessing the living conditions of workers and their families. They also reveal long term landscape and ecological effects of logging under these labor conditions.