Borderland identities and national formation of the American West: An archaeological study in the Arkansas River Valley, Colorado

International borders influence the cultural geography of their surrounding regions, particularly with regard to the founding, development, and growth of settlements near the border line. The Arkansas River, running through present-day Colorado, served as the first international boundary between the United States and Mexico. American victory in the Mexican War (1846–1848) moved the border line south to the Rio Grande. The Arkansas River Valley Project is an historical archaeological examination of the relationships between nation-states and local populations within the transitioning borderland context of the Arkansas River Valley during Colorado\u27s American Territorial Period (1861–1875). The project involves an in-depth analysis of the first two major settlements established south of the Arkansas River, Boggsville and Las Animas City. Each settlement was founded during the 1860s along the Mountain Branch of the Santa Fe Trail and dissolved upon the introduction of the railroad into the Arkansas River Valley in 1874. The residents of each site included Anglo-American and Hispanic individuals linked together and tied into the regional and national economic systems of 19th century North America. Despite the proximity and contemporaneous occupation of Boggsville and Las Animas City, the differing mechanisms and motivations through which these communities were founded resulted in dissimilar settlement patterns and population demographics at each site. Archival sources and existing archaeological collections were consulted, and new test excavations at Boggsville and Las Animas City were conducted, to study the relationships between settlement practices and the expression of ethnic identity at each site. Comparing the social contexts of interaction between the Hispanic and Anglo-American ethnic groups at each site, and the economic integration of each settlement into the American system, this dissertation investigates national formation processes of the mid-19th century as they relate to the ethnic makeup of the borderland communities that created an American West. The archaeological record at Boggsville and Las Animas City indicates that socioeconomic status was more influential than ethnicity within the population of the Arkansas River Valley throughout the American Territorial Period