No abstract

Since the mid-1990s, heightened U.S. border security in unauthorized crossing areas near urban ports of entry has shifted undocumented migration toward remote regions such as the Sonoran Desert of Arizona, where security is more penetrable but crossing conditions are more difficult. Subsequently, a complex smuggling industry has developed in Northern Mexico that profits from helping migrants cross the desert on foot to enter the United States undetected. Desert crossing is now a well-established social process whereby items such as dark clothes and water bottles have been adopted as tools used for subterfuge and survival by migrants. This article highlights ethnographic data on the experiences of migrants and archaeological data collected along the migrant trails that cross the Arizona desert to illustrate the routinized techniques and tools associated with the violent process of border crossing, as well as the dialectical and often oppressive relationship that exists between migrants and objects.[material culture, undocumented migration, border crossing, U.S.-Mexico, archaeology of the contemporary] RESUMEN Desde los 1990s, el augmento de seguridad fronteriza de EE.UU. enáreas cerca de puertos oficiales de entrada ha desplazado la migración indocumentada a regiones remotas como el desierto de Sonora en Arizona donde la seguridad es más penetrable, pero las condiciones para cruzas son más dificiles. Posteriormente, una industria para ayudar los migrantes a cruzar la frontera illegalmente ha desarrollado en el Norte de México. Hoy cruzando el desierto es un proceso social bien establecido. Los migrantes utilizan herramientas como ropa negra y bottelas de agua para eluden la Patrulla Fronteriza y sobrevivir el desierto. Este artículo presenta datos etnográficos de las experiencias de migrantes y datos arqueológicos hubo collectado en los caminos de migrantes en el desierto.Ha demonstrado que las técnicas y instrumentos associado con el proceso violento de cruce son normalizados, tambien la relación entre los migrantes y sus objetos son dialéctica y a veces opresivo.

Since 1998, over 5500 people have died while attempting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border without authorization. These deaths have primarily occurred in the Arizona desert. Despite the high volume of deaths, little experimental work has been conducted on Sonoran Desert taphonomy. In this study, pig carcasses were used as proxies for human remains and placed in different depositional contexts (i.e., direct sunlight and shade) that replicate typical sites of migrant death. Decomposition was documented through daily site visits, motion-sensitive cameras and GIS mapping, while skeletal preservation was investigated through the collection of the remains and subsequent faunal analysis. Our results suggest that vultures and domestic dogs are underappreciated members of the Sonoran scavenging guild and may disperse skeletal remains and migrant possessions over 25 m from the site of death. The impact of scavengers and the desert environment on the decomposition process has significant implications for estimating death rates and identifying human remains along the Arizona/Mexico border.