Plains of San Augustin

The old lake the panel describes left its shorelines on the basin's edges, and one of them made an archaeological site. Bat Cave, at the plains' southwestern margin, was cut by the lake's waves and sits just above the third of its six fossil beach lines. In 1948 a Harvard expedition led by Herbert Dick dug maize there that was first hailed as among the oldest in the Southwest. Later reappraisals were more cautious: the earliest corn cannot be shown to predate roughly the first millennium BC, though the cave's long record still stands.

What the plaque says

Official Scenic Historic Marker Plains of San Agustin Northeast part of Plains of San Agustín, occupied some thousands of years ago by large intermontane lake, is downdropped graben bordered by uplifted volcanic masses. San Mateo and Luera Mountains and Pelona Mountain are southeast and Horse Mountain and Datil Mountains are northwest. Elevation 7,030 feet.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Very Large Array — 1.8 mi
  Twenty-seven radio dishes, each 82 feet across and 230 tons, spread in a Y across an Ice Age lakebed on the Plains of San Agustin and moved on rails to change how sharply they see.

More markers nearby

• Ada McPherson Morley (1852-1917) — 20 mi
• Magdalena — 21 mi
• Riley — 22 mi
• Kelly — 22 mi