Smoke Signals On Seminole Canyon: A Prehistoric Communication System?

AbstractA series of small hearths which lie along the barren rim of Seminole Canyon, a deeply entrenched tributary of the Rio Grande near the mouth of the Pecos River, may be remnants of a rapid fire and smoke signaling system used in ritual or times of social stress. In the absence of datable artifacts, the features are estimated to be a product of late to proto-historic times, the period of greatest social mobility in the Lower Pecos River Region. If this hypothesis can be substantiated by the recording of other similar systems along any of the many canyons of the region, some inferences on socially cohesive groups and territorial ranges can be derived