PART l

Introduction toArcheology, Prehistory,and Historic Sites

My sense is that the future is this wonderfully unfolding pageant,informed completely by our own awareness of the past.You can't pos-sibly know where you're going if you don't know where you've been.

—Ken Burns, ProducerPBS Series, The Civil War

HowArcheologistsWork

An Introduction to

BASIC METHODSof ARCHEOLOGY

for Studentsand Teachers

BOOKLET A

Adapted fromThe Indian Years

Archeology DivisionTEXAS HISTORICAL COMMISSIONAustin 1998

Preface

This section, or "booklet," on how archeologists work is intended as an introduction tothe basic methods of archeology for teachers and students (primarily grades 4 through7).Teachers may photocopy without permission any or all of this section for classroomuse only. Other use of this material requires permission from:Archeology Division,Texas Historical Commission, P.O. Box 12276, Austin,TX 78711-2276.

Each booklet in Part I is assigned a letter (Booklets A, B, and C) that appears on its titlepage.The pages of each booklet are then numbered individually, as A-1,A-2, etc.Thisshould help in keeping the booklets in order if they are removed from the unit for pho-tocopying.

Because of the nature of archeology, some of the technical and cultural terms used maybe new to young readers. An attempt has been made to identify all of the troublesometerms and "highlight" them in boldface. Definitions of terms that appear in boldface inthe text are given in the Glossary at the end of Part I.

Although intended primarily for young readers, The Indian Years (from which this text isadapted) has been widely used as a basic introduction to the subject for both olderstudents and adults.Teachers may therefore choose to use this material either as back-ground material for classroom discussion or as text to be assigned for reading.

This section should serve as adequate methodological background information forclassroom activities in Part II of this unit.Those who want more information should seethe list of resources in Part III.

Permission: This section, "How Archeologists Work," is adapted from The Indian Years, copyright 1983 Texas

Historical Commission.

A-2

What Is Archeology?There are many different ways to study people.The science of studying the cultural behavior andevolution of people is called anthropology.Thespecial branch of anthropology that is concernedwith the study of people in the past is calledarcheology.

Archeologists study past lifeways by exca-vating in the places where people once lived.Excavation is a very careful, measured, scientificdigging process. Many different kinds of informa-tion can be gained through scientific excavation.By studying this information, the archeologist canre-create parts of the history of long-ago people.

Archeologists are detectives, scientists, andreporters.They search for clues through excava-tion.They study these clues scientifically in thelaboratory.Then they report their findings so wecan know how early people once lived. Arche-ologists study cultures that existed in prehis-tory—that is, in the time before written history.Archeologists also study historic cultures.

How Archeological StudyBegins

Archeologists begin their study of the pastby finding a site.A site is any place where peopleonce lived and left behind artifacts or othermaterial remains.These remains—such astools, bone, or rocks used around a campfire—are clues that will help solve the mysteries of thepast.

In very early sites the remains left by theculture may not be well preserved. Often stone

tools are all that remain in prehistoric sites.Perishable artifacts made of wood or plantfibers are seldom recovered from ancient sitesbecause the materials have long since rottedaway.

A site may be as big as a village where hun-dreds of people once lived for generations. Or, asite may be as small as a camp where a fewhunters stopped for a short time.

The information about a newly discoveredarcheological site is recorded on a site form.Most archeologists in Texas use a standard formthat is called the State of Texas Archeological SiteData Form.The form asks many questions aboutthe site, including these:

• Who owns the site?

• Exactly where is the site located?

• How big is the site?

• What is the environment like in the site area?

• Based on visible evidence, what period does it appear to date from?

• Who recorded the site, and when?

• Has a site number been assigned?

The form also requires that the archeologistinclude a sketch map of the site, and a copy of atopographic map showing exactly where thesite is located.

A copy of the site form, along with anyother site notes and photographs, is then sent toan archeological repository for permanentcuration.

Understandingthe Past

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How Sites Are NumberedIn most Texas repositories, site forms and

other archeological records are filed by county,and by site number within the county.

In the United States a special system isused for numbering archeological sites.The num-ber tells the state, county, and the order in whichthe site was recorded.

Each state has its own number—the num-ber for Texas is 41. Each county in Texas has aspecial abbreviation that is used in site numbers.The last part of the site number tells how manysites were recorded in the county before thissite. A Texas site number looks like this:

41 BX 52

This number means:Texas (41), Bexar County(BX), the 52nd site recorded for Bexar County.

Site numbers make it easy to keep recordsof sites. Many sites are also given names. Some

have interesting names like Bonfire Shelter, Devil'sCave, or Black Hopper Site. Naming a site can bemore fun than giving it a number, but the numberis more important to the scientist.

Archeological ExcavationOnce a site has been located, it can be

studied in a way that will tell us about the peoplewho used it.The most complete way to study aburied site is through scientific excavation. Firstthe location of the site is carefully studied andphotographed by the archeologist.Then survey-or's instruments are used to make an accuratemap of the site. In the next step, the archeologistuses wooden stakes and string to divide the siteinto measured units.This forms a grid, whichhelps the archeologist keep accurate records ofexactly where things are found. Only then is thearcheologist ready to excavate.

The archeologist uses wooden stakes and string to divide the site into measured units.This forms a grid, whichhelps the archeologist keep accurate records of exactly where things are found.

A

1 1

2 2

B

A B

In this drawing a gridis shown over the postmolds of a Caddoanhouse.

The units of the gridare called Units 1A,2A, 1B, and 2B.

A-4

Brickstructure

Modern Surface

Historic PeriodAfter A.D. 1500

Late Prehistoric PeriodAbout A.D. 500—1500

Archaic PeriodAbout 6000 B.C.—A.D. 500

Paleoindian PeriodAbout 10,000—6,000 B.C.

ButtonHorseshoe

Brokenwindowglass

5Coin

Potterysherd

Deer bone

Hearth

Arrowpoint

Humanburial

HearthDart point

Rock usedas tool

Rock art

Rock art

Buffalo bone

Lance pointMammothboneTrash pit

Atlatl (throwing stick)weight

Examples of artifacts associated with the four archeological time periods in Texas.

The science of geology teaches thatthe surface of the Earth is constantlybeing changed by two major process-es: deposition and erosion. Since theend of the last Ice Age (about 12,000years ago), the land surface of mostplaces in North America have beenchanged by the deposition of soil.

Soils have been deposited bybeing blown in the wind and by beingcarried by flooding rivers. Since theland surface has been building upbecause of these soil deposits, theolder an archeological site is, the deep-er it will be. If the same place has beenused by people during different timeperiods, the site may be deposited instrata (or layers). In a stratified site, theolder the stratum, the deeper it will be.

There are a few archeologicalsites in Texas where people have leftcultural remains from Paleoindiantimes through the Historic period. Inthe imaginary archeological site shownhere, the layers of soil contain remains

from all of the major prehistoric periodsand historic times as well. A site likethis can help us understand the differ-ences between cultures in differenttime periods.

As you look at the layers in theimaginary archeological site, remem-ber that some things used by earlypeople were also used by later people.The same kinds of cultural materialsmay be found in strata from differentperiods. For example, burned rockfrom a hearth, which is shown here inthe Archaic, could also be foundamong Late Prehistoric and HistoricIndian cultural remains—or even at amodern picnic site. That is why it is soimportant to study artifacts in associa-tion.

Trained professionals carefullydocument even tiny pieces of materialas they are found in a site. Each siteand its remains leads to new conclu-sions, or supports previous conclu-sions, about the history of Texas.

AN IMAGINARYARCHEOLOGICAL SITE

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The archeologist digs in a grid unit, incarefully measured levels downward.

The archeologist is not just looking for arti-facts but is studying changes in the soil and otherclues in the site. Artifacts alone cannot tell usabout the lifeways of past cultures. For an artifactto be part of the story of the past, we have toknow exactly where it was found and what otherthings were found with it.

Ashes in the soil show where a fire onceburned. A place where many flint flakes arefound can tell where tools were made.The de-cayed remains of a post may show where a houseonce stood. If the site was occupied by differentpeople over time, these occupations may beshown in different levels of the site.

Archeologists take special samples of soilto study.The soil contains pollen from plants, bitsof charcoal, and other material.These are cluesthat help to date and identify the people wholived at the site.

Artifacts are mapped as they appear inplace in each level.The dirt that is removed fromeach level of each unit in the grid is siftedthrough a wire screen. If the dirt is hard andclumpy, running water may be used to helpin screening. Small objects (such as flakesof flint or beads) are trapped on thescreen as the dirt falls through.The arche-ologist makes complete and careful noteson each level throughout the excavation.

Stone tools and other artifactsoften are found where they were leftlong ago—but they may now be coveredby several feet of dirt. Artifacts are un-covered by careful digging with a troweland brush. A broken projectile point ora fragment of a pot is just as importantas a whole artifact. Much can be learned fromartifact fragments if they are excavated properly.

An artifact that is discovered in place in theground is carefully mapped, recorded, and placedin a labeled bag. (The term in situ means findingan artifact in place.) The label on the bag showsthe site number, when and where the object wasfound, and who found it.The small objects found

on the screen also are bagged and labeledaccording to the unit and level from which theycame.

When archeologists find an artifact, theyask questions:

• How did this get here?

• When was it made?

• What was it made from?

• How was it made?

• How was it used?

• What objects were found with it?

• Which cultural group made it?

• Why was it discarded?

Archeologists are specially trained to search forthe answers to these questions.

Writing the Report

When the excavation is finished, the arti-facts, special samples, and records are taken to alaboratory.The artifacts are washed and cata-

logued. Each object is given a special numberthat tells exactly where it was found.Thenthe archeologist studies the artifacts andother clues to find out what they can tellus about the way a group of people livedhundreds, or even thousands, of years ago.The archeologist asks other scientists tohelp in the search to understand the peo-ple of long ago. Geologists, who studythe history of the earth itself, havehelped to study the Bering Strait landbridge and other geological changes thataffected prehistoric people. Paleontol-ogists, who study fossils, have helped tostudy the extinct animals that were killed

by early hunters. Botanists, who study plants,have helped to identify the plants that peoplegathered.

Besides studying the material remains fromthe site, the archeologist must compare theremains to those from other, related sites.Research, analysis, and writing may take a fewmonths to several years.The time it takes

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This is a catalogueddart point. Above theline is the site num-ber. The number 3-16 below stands forLot 3 (in Unit 1A),specimen 16.

depends on how much of the site was excavatedand how much information was found in the site.

Finally, the report is completed and pub-lished.The archeologist must then arrange forpermanent curation of the artifacts so thatother scientists will be able to use them.Theseother scientists may want to test the conclusionsof the archeologist's report or use the artifactsfor comparative analysis.

The Results . . .Much of the work of archeology is routine

but the results are fascinating. And the resultsare not merely descriptions of artifacts but ofhow people lived long ago.When we can at lastvisualize a small group of Paleoindian hunters dri-ving a herd of giant bison over a cliff for the kill,or the women of Archaic times patiently grindingseeds into meal for food, or a Late PrehistoricCaddoan family constructing and thatching theirbeehive-shaped house—that is archeology.

Please join us in protecting and preservingthe archeological sites that contain the clues tothose vanished, long-ago lifeways.

How Archeological Sites AreDestroyed

Archeological sites are non-renewable.We cannot rebuild or replace them. Once a siteis destroyed, the information that it contained isgone forever.We cannot put back into sites theseeds or pollen of long-ago plant foods or thebones of extinct animals. In Texas thousands ofsites are damaged or destroyed each year.

When a site is scientifically excavated, it ispermanently recorded and explained for all of us,even when the site is no longer there.The arche-ologist is preserving the history of people wholeft no written record.

Archeologists do not want to excavate allarcheological sites in Texas.They try to save asmany as possible for future generations to studyand learn from. However, not all sites can be pre-

served.What causes archeological sites to bedestroyed?

The Forces of Nature

Sometimes natural forces destroy sites.Flooding can wash away a site near a river'sbanks.The wearing away of soil on a hillside canscatter the remains of a site. A rock slide in acanyon might destroy a rockshelter whereArchaic hunters once camped. Chemicals andwater in the soil can cause objects to disinte-grate. Many of the objects used by prehistoricpeople were not made of long-lasting pottery orstone. Archeologists call artifacts made of bone,wood, animal skins, or plant fibers perishable arti-facts because they are so often destroyed by nat-ural forces.

Sites cannot always be protected fromdestruction by natural causes. Archeologists tryto identify important sites that are in danger.These sites are excavated if possible, since theycannot be preserved.

Human Activities

Many sites are damaged or destroyed bypeople simply because they do not know any bet-ter or do not care. Curious people may dig upartifacts from a site and carry them away to showto their friends. Farmers plowing fields or con-tractors digging foundations for new buildingsmay destroy sites accidentally. And, unfortunately,some people are just plain pothunters or com-mercial relic collectors.They destroy sites by dig-ging for artifacts to sell or trade This will bestopped only when everyone refuses to buy ortrade artifacts.

Archeologists are trying to teach peoplehow to protect archeological sites. Many peopleare concerned about preserving their heritage.As individuals, they can report to the state arche-ologist if they find an archeological site.They alsocan join archeological societies or historical orga-nizations so they can work with others.There are

A-7

APPLYINGYOUR KNOWLEDGE

How does a site end up underground?

How might a site be discovered?

What is the best thing to do if you find a site?Why?

What are some other natural causes thatmight damage archeological sites?

Name some other activities of people thatmight damage archeological sites?

Name some ordinary things that you useevery day. These objects are artifacts of thepresent.

• Which of these common objects would be perishable artifacts?

• Which ones would survive in an archeological site?

• Name some other things that would slowly disappear if buried in an archeological site.

A single artifact can be a critical piece of thepuzzle of the past. What happens if someonepicks up that puzzle piece and removes it?

Why are assigned numbers useful in keepingrecords? What are some other things besidesarcheological sites that are numbered sorecords can be kept? A driver's license num-ber is one example.

Why is it important for us to learn about pastcultures?

groups all across Texas that work to save archeo-logical sites from destruction.

The population of Texas is increasing greatlyevery year. Cities are growing—new houses andfactories are being built in what were once openfields or wooded areas. Man-made lakes are cre-ated to provide water and recreation for thegrowing population. Highways are built to accom-modate more cars and trucks. Coal is mined and

oil wells are drilled to produce fuel for our grow-ing energy needs. Each of these activities causeschanges in the land. And anything that causeschanges in the land can destroy archeologicalsites. Because not all sites can be protected, wemust try even harder to preserve important sitesthat can be saved.

Clues to the PastThe artifacts and other remains in an archeological site are

like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Stone chips and arrow-points near a hearth can show us where prehistoric peo-ple once made their tools. BUT both of those pieces ofthe puzzle must be there, and they must be placed in the

rest of the puzzle. Is this a puzzle that shows a village oran overnight campsite? Were the tool makers hunters orfarmers? Each time a piece of the puzzle is removed, our pic-ture of the past remains incomplete forever.

A-8

TheIndianYears

An Introduction to

TEXAS PREHISTORYand ARCHEOLOGY

for Studentsand Teachers

BOOKLET B

Adapted fromThe Indian Years

Archeology DivisonTEXAS HISTORICAL COMMISSIONAustin 1998

Preface

This section, or "booklet," entitled "The Indian Years" is intended as an introduction toprehistory and the Native American cultures of Texas for teachers and students (pri-marily grades 4 through 7).Teachers may photocopy without permission any or all ofthis section for classroom use only. Other use of this material requires permissionfrom: Archeology Division,Texas Historical Commission, P.O. Box 12276, Austin,TX78711-2276.

Because of the nature of archeology, some of the technical and cultural termsused may be new to young readers. An attempt has been made to identify all of thetroublesome terms and "highlight" them in boldface. Definitions of terms that appearin boldface in the text are given in the Glossary at the end of Part I.

Although this material is intended primarily for young readers, the basic conceptshave been widely used to introduce prehistory to both older students and adults.Teachers may thus consider using this material either as text to be assigned for readingor as background for classroom presentations for older students.

This material should serve as background information for all of the classroomactivities relating to prehistory in Part II of this unit for teachers.Those who wantmore information should see the list of basic books in Part IIl.

Permission: This section, "The Indian Years," is adapted from The Indian Years, copyright 1983 TexasHistorical Commission, and from The Years of Exploration, copyright 1984 Texas HistoricalCommission.

How North AmericaWas Settled

During the last great Ice Age, much of theearth's water was frozen in huge masses of icecalled glaciers. As the sea water froze, the waterlevel of the seas lowered. About 40,000 yearsago, a wide strip of land between Asia and NorthAmerica appeared above sea level.This land con-nection between Siberia (in Asia) and Alaska (inNorth America) is called the Bering Strait landbridge.

On the land bridge both animals and peo-ple could cross from one continent to another.

The land bridge was so big—more than 600 milesacross at its widest point—that it looked no dif-ferent from the lands that it joined.The landbridge was so large that scientists have given it aname of its own, "Beringia." About 13,000 yearsago, the glaciers began to melt, and the sea levelrose, once again covering Beringia with sea water.

While the "bridge" existed, big-hornedbison, shaggy mammoths, sabertooth tigers, andother animals crossed into North America.Archeologists believe that prehistoric people inAsia followed the herds of animals across thebridge.These long-ago hunters are called Paleo-indians.

Paleoindian Pioneers (10,000–6,000 B.C.)

BERINGIA

Land areaexposed duringIce Age

B-3

Early Paleoindian tools made ofstone can still be found in some

places where Paleoindians hunted orcamped. In Alaska and Canada, Paleo-indian sites have been found along thefoothills of the mountains. Scientists whohave studied the locations of these sitesbelieve that early people followed a pathalong these mountains and then acrossthe continent.

Artifacts or other cultural remainsare found in the places where early peo-ple once lived or worked. A place thatcontains these remains is called anarcheological site. All that we knowabout prehistoric Texas has been learnedfrom the scientific study of archeologicalsites.

The First Americans

Paleoindians were not seeking a newland when they crossed the bridge.They werefollowing the animals because hunting was thebest way to get food.The summer was so shortand the climate so cold that people could notdepend on a year-round supply of food fromplants.

When Paleoindians arrived in NorthAmerica, they found a good supply of food in aland where no people had lived before. Becausethere was plenty of food, their population grew.As the population in an area grew, the supply offood would become too small to feed all of thepeople. Small bands of people were forced tomove into new areas to find better huntinggrounds.

Small groups of Paleoindians moved southat different times.They kept close to the animaltrails, which were along paths that were free ofice.These trails led to water, protected river val-leys, and mountain passes.

Not all bands followed the same paths asthey moved south. Some people branched off andfollowed river valleys to the east. Some followed

mountain passes through the Rocky Mountains tothe west. Still others continued to move southuntil they reached South America—more than10,000 miles from the land bridge. And somepeople stopped in the place we now call Texas.

Archeologists are scientists wholearn about the past by studying theremains that people have left behind.Most of these scientists believe that

the first prehistoric people arrived in North America about 13,000 years ago, justbefore the land bridge disappeared under the ocean.

Some archeologists think that people may have entered North America evenearlier. And some archeologists believe that not all people who came to the NewWorld thousands of years ago came across the land bridge. These scientists thinkthat a few people may even have arrived by boat. However, most archeologistsbelieve that the earliest arrivals crossed the land bridge and then spread out acrossthe New World.

Studies by other scientists also support the belief that our earliest settlersarrived from Siberia. For example, the study of genetics shows that AmericanIndians are related to Asian people.

B-4

FIND ing Archeological Sites

Archeological Ideasabout the Land Bridge

The First Texans

People first came to Texas about 12,000years ago.These Paleoindian pioneers bandedtogether in small groups andmoved from place to placein search of food. Peoplewho move from place toplace in search of foodare

sometimes callednomads. Each groupmay have movedaround in the same largearea year after year.

With the changing of the seasonsthey found different foods in differentplaces.They depended mostly on big game ani-mals for food, but they also hunted small animals,such as rabbits, birds, and turtles.They also atewild plants such as berries and nuts.Whenthey chose a campsite, they also had to beable to find water and materials for mak-ing tools and building shelters.

Archeologists know that ancientpeoples lived in groups, or bands, butthey do not know what these groupswere called. Since there is no recordof the names, archeologists give a pre-historic culture a modern name. Oftenthe name comes from a place nearwhere the first site of a culture wasfound.

The oldest Paleoindian hunting culturefound in Texas is called the Clovis culture.Thename came from the town of Clovis, in NewMexico, where the first site of this culture wasdiscovered. Clovis people ate plant foods, buthunting was very important to them. One oftheir most important tools was the projectilepoint.The most distinctive of these is a spearpoint that is called the Clovis point.

Spear points used by Clovis people havebeen found at sites where they killed a species of

elephant called Elephas columbi, which is nowextinct.

The Miami site, the first Clovis site to bediscovered in Texas, is located near the town ofMiami, in the Panhandle.There, archeologistsfound Clovis points with the remains of at leastfive mammoths.

WoollyMammoth

GiantBison

AmericanMastodon

B-5

The sharp, pointed stone hunting weapons made by American Indians areoften called arrowheads or arrowpoints. Archeologists call this group of weaponsprojectile points. Projectile points can be compared to bullets: not all bullets aremade for rifles, and not all projectile points are for arrows. Most of the points madeby Paleoindians and Archaic people were used as dart or spear points. Arrowpointscome late in the history of American Indian hunting weapons.

Projectile points cannot be made from just any rock. A hard stone that can beworked, or flaked, is needed to make a good point. A soft stone, like chalk, thatcrumbles easily would not make a very good point. Most projectile points in Texaswere made of chert. This stone is found in many colors, from gray to pink and evenpurple. Projectile points can be beautiful as well as deadly weapons.

Archeologists know that Indians traveled to places where good stone could befound and then carried pieces to their camps to be made into weapons or tools.Stone-source sites—the places where good flint could be found—are also calledquarry sites.

One stone-source site in Texas is so famous that it is a national monument. Forthousands of years people acquired Alibates agate from a place near the town ofFritch in the Texas Panhandle. That site is now Alibates National Monument.

What are

Projectile Points?CLOVIS

FOLSOM

PLAINVIEW

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Dating Paleoindian Sites

Many of the animals that Paleoindianshunted are now extinct. Knowing whenthe mammoth, camel, and large bisonbecame extinct helps the archeologistto learn the dates of Paleoindian sites.

At the Plainview Paleoindian site,near Plainview, Texas, archeologistsfound 18 Plainview points and theremains of at least 100 large bison.

The places where archeologistshave found many animal bones andstone weapons are called kill sites.Finding the bones of extinct bison ormammoths and ancient weapons inassociation tells scientists that a killsite dates from Paleoindian times.

Early Paleoindians hunted in organizedbands. A group of hunters could attack a herd ofanimals and drive them into a canyon whereother hunters waited.The waiting hunters wouldhave their weapons ready for the kill.

Bands of hunters would also drive herds oflarge, fearsome bison over bluffs and then finishoff any of the animals that were not killed in thefall.This kind of hunting is called the jumpmethod. Sometimes hundreds of bison werekilled at one time.

After the Clovis Culture, the next group ofprehistoric big-game hunters is called theFolsom culture.The people of this culture madea spear point that is called the Folsom point.TheFolsom people lived on the plains and in theforests of Texas.They were especially good athunting a big bison called Bison antiquus.Thisbig animal is now extinct.

After the Folsom culture came anotherhunting group we call Plainview.The Plainviewpeople made tools of a different style from thosemade by the Clovis and Folsom people.The style

of their tools had changed, but the Plainview peo-ple still wandered after the animals they huntedjust as their ancestors had done.

Spear points were not the only stone toolsmade by Paleoindians.They also made and usedknives, scrapers, gravers, drills, awls, and othertools. Gravers were used to cut holes in hides orengrave slots in bones or antlers.

One of the most interesting tools of theearly hunters is the atlatl, or spear thrower.Theatlatl helped hunters to throw their spears hard-er and farther.The atlatl worked in much thesame way that a sling shot is used to throw arock.

In addition to stone tools, the materialculture of the Paleoindians also included the useof fire, clothing, and shelters. However, many ofthe major sites that have been studied are killsites, and much of what is known aboutPaleoindians is related to hunting methods, pro-jectile point styles, and butchering tools and tech-niques.

Paleoindian sites are very importantbecause archeologists still need to find and studycampsites that can tell us more about how thepeople lived. Studies at the Lubbock Lake sitenear Lubbock, for example, show that thePaleoindians relied on many different resourcesprovided by the natural environment.

Nevertheless, as the climate became dryerand big-game animals became extinct, Paleoin-dians had to adapt their lifeways to changing con-ditions.These gradual cultural changes led to anew period of prehistory—the Archaic.

B-7

Drills like this one were made byPaleoindians and were used todrill holes in bone, wood, or othermaterials. This drill was made byre-shaping a Dalton projectilepoint. Dalton points were one ofseveral types of dart or spearpoints made late in the Paleo-ndian period. (The drawing isabout 2/3 actual size.)

Archeologists have recorded the use of the atlatl in Australia and Africa, as wellas in America. The atlatl, or spear thrower, made hunting with spears more effectivethan using a spear alone. Using the atlatl, a hunter could throw his spear or dart hardenough to kill big game from a short distance. Prehistoric hunters in North Americamust have found that killing a large bison from a distance was a lot easier—andsafer—than having to creep up on the animal and stab it with a hand-held spear.

Archeologists do not know whether the American Indians invented the atlatlthemselves or brought it from Asia. We believe that the spear thrower was used onthe North American continent more than 10,000 years ago. Hunters continued to useatlatls in later Archaic times. After the discovery of the bow and arrow, most groupspreferred the new weapon. However, Spanish explorers saw the atlatl still beingused in the mid-1500s.

Usually the stone dart tips and the weights used on atlatls are all that remainto show that this weapon was used by ancient hunters. Material that is soft, like thewood in the handle of a spear or an atlatl, usually rots unless it is in a very dry, pro-tected site.

What is

an Atlatl?

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APPLYINGYOUR KNOWLEDGE

Are there still glaciers today? If so, where arethey located?

Some of the animals that traveled from Asiato America across the land bridge arenow extinct.

• Name some animals that live today thatare in danger of becoming extinct?

• Which almost-extinct animals are stillhunted for food or fur by people today?

How does climate still affect the foods thatare available to people?

Name some fruits, vegetables, and nuts thatare "in season" during different times ofthe year. (One good example is thepumpkin, which is in season just in timefor Halloween.)

Why is Thanksgiving a fall holiday instead ofa spring or summer holiday?

During which season of the year would youhave better luck hunting animals thangathering wild plant foods?

How does transportation affect the foods thatare available to people? If you had towalk from one camp to another, howwould it affect your decisions to store orcarry large supplies of food?

What wild animals are still hunted for food inTexas?

"What is missing?" is an important questionfor archeologists.

• What is missing when a stone spearpoint is found?

• What things that we use today would notlast long if they were left in the ground formany years?

• How would the survival of things weleave behind us affect the way futurearcheologists interpret our culture?

B-9

What's for dinner?Through thousands of years, from now-extinct mammoths to bison,Paleoindians hunted big game. But large roast beast was not theonly meat being cooked over their dinner fires.

Clues to the many kinds of animals that Paleoindiansate have been found at the Lubbock Lake site, near thecity of Lubbock. In one area at the site, archeologistsfound the bones of at least six bison, severalmuskrats and ducks, a pronghorn antelope,and a deer.

The ways in which the bones werebroken and cut marks on the boneshowed that the animals had beenbutchered. And two Plainview points and otherstone tools also were found there.

In other areas at the site archeologists havefound the bones of snow goose, jackrabbit, cottontail, severalkinds of ducks, grouse, and other small animals.

About 8,000 years ago (6,000 B.C.) thebasic lifeways of people who lived in Texas beganto change. Archeologists call this new period theArchaic period.This period is often divided intothe Early, Middle, and Late Archaic. During thisperiod the population continued to grow, andthere were more people than there had beenduring the Paleoindian period.They began tomake and use many different kinds of tools.

There were many reasons for the changesfrom Paleoindian to Archaic lifeways, and most ofthe changes came about slowly. For example,changes in the climate caused differences in theanimals and plants that were available for food.Changes in the plants and animals that were

hunted or gathered caused people to developnew kinds and styles of tools.

In Paleoindian times as the population grew,bands could just move to a new territory. As thepopulation became even larger, people becamemore territorial.That is, the nomadic groupsmoved about from season to season in the sameterritory.The territories of Archaic groups wereprobably smaller than the large areas in whichtheir Paleoindian ancestors had roamed.

Archaic people still organized themselves inbands as their Paleoindian ancestors had done.Each band had a "home range" that covered afairly large territory along a river or within reachof some other water sources.

Archaic Hunters and Gatherers(6,000 B.C.–A.D. 500)

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Within this range, the band moved from place toplace following the food supply as it changedfrom season to season. Some of the places wherethey camped were used again and again over theyears, as long as the food supply and watersources were good near the camp.

The projectile points that Archaic peoplemade for hunting are different from the earlyPaleoindian points. Instead of making only a fewtypes, as earlier people had done,Archaic flintworkers made many different styles.

Archaic people made many tools besidesprojectile points, and they developed many skills.Making baskets and mats of plant fibers was animportant skill.They made net carrying framesand baskets of plant fibers and used them for car-rying the foods they gathered.The remains ofbaskets and other goods made of fibers are rarein most archeological sites, but they have beenfound in the dry caves of southwestern Texas.

The Archaic DietDuring Archaic times, people depended less

on large animals and more on plants and smallergame animals for a food supply.The large game

animals that Paleoindians had hunted were nowextinct. A smaller kind of bison and rabbits, deer,and antelope were important foods for Archaicpeople. Even nutritious insects, such as grasshop-pers, were part of the Archaic diet.

Plant foods were an important part of peo-ple's diet in Archaic times. Mesquite beans,pecans, walnuts, grass seeds, wild fruits (such aspersimmons), the fruit of prickly pear, desertplants like sotol and agave, and many otherkinds of nuts, seeds, and roots were eaten.Archaic people made tools of stone to grindseeds, nuts, and roots into an edible form.

Stone grinding tools called the mano andmetate are found at almost all Archaic sites.Seeds and nuts were ground by rubbing a hand-held stone ( a mano) over a metate (on theground). Prehistoric people also used large wood-en or stone pestles to pound foods in mortars(or holes) in slabs of exposed bedrock.

Grinding could be very important inpreparing foods. For example, acorns that areground into meal and soaked in hot water can beeaten almost at once. If whole acorns are soakedin cold water, they must be soaked for months toremove the acid that makes them taste bitter.

Castroville, Pedernales, and Montell are only three of many different styles of dart or spear points made by Archaic people.The narrowerpart below the notches at the base is the stem.

Castroville Pedernales Montell

Stem

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Cooking the Archaic WayPrehistoric Texans often baked plant roots

in pit ovens. A pit was dug in the ground, and alarge fire was built in the pit to form a layer ofhot coals. Rocks were laid over the coals, andthen the rocks were covered over and the foodwas added.Then the food was covered over andanother fire was built. After about 48 hours, thepit was opened and the plants were ready to beeaten or ground into meal.

As the same pits were reused, the stoneslabs lining the pits would break up because ofthe repeated use and intense heat. Before thecooking pit was used again, the rocks that had

broken would be thrown out and replaced. Asthe pit was used over and over, a mound ofburned and broken rock would pile up nearby.

Archeologists call these mounds of accu-mulated stones burned-rock middens.Burned-rock middens are a common type ofArchaic site in central Texas, and they are foundalso in other parts of the state

Archaic SheltersArchaic hunters and gatherers often

camped in caves and rockshelters.They alsobuilt shelters at some camp sites. Archeologistshave studied the materials that would have

This is a profile, or cross section, of an earth oven.

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Edge of pit

Food

Fire

Layer of rocks

Layer of vegetalmaterial and alayer of sand

Layer of sandand a layer of

vegetal material

Layer of charcoalfrom the first layer of

burned wood

Making and using an earth oven: (1) dig a pit; (2) line the pit with wood; (3) light a fire to burn the wood and heat thepit walls; (4) line the pit by adding stones over the ashes and charcoal; (5) cover the hot stones with sand and a layerof vegetal material (such as grass and leaves); (6) place layers of the food to be cooked on top of the vegetal materi-al; (7) layer vegetal material over the food and cover it with sand; (8) build a fire on top to heat the layers in the ovenand cook the food. When pits like this one were opened, the stones that had been used were discarded around the pit.Archeologists call these areas of discarded stone, ash, and other remains from baking ovens "burned rock middens."

Archaic Rock Art Archaic paintings and designs etched into stone have been found on boulders and onthe walls of caves and rockshelters in Texas. Shaman figures in ceremonial masks androbes are common in pictograph sites in far western Texas. A shaman was a religiousleader, or medicine man. Archaic people, in addition to painting shamans, included manyother human and animal figures in their rock paintings and etchings. Hunting scenesoften include the horned animals, such as bighorn sheep, deer, and antelope. Abstractdesigns, such as wavy and zigzag lines or geometrical shapes, also are common.

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been available to Archaic builders. Archeolo-gists have also studied the kinds of sheltersbuilt by people of recent times who lived byhunting and gathering.

Based on this research, archeologistsbelieve that Archaic people built a frameworkof poles and stretched animal hides over it orthatched it with grasses and tree branches. Noshelters made by Archaic people have survived.Only clues buried in the earth remain at theircamp sites.

What Archaic PeopleWore

Clothing and footwear of prehistorictimes were made of materials such as animalskins and plant fibers. Simply woven textiles offur and plant fibers were made and used muchas we use cloth today. Clothing and coverswere also made from animals skins. Peoplewore sandals that they made of plant fibers. Inwinter, they may have wrapped animal hidesaround their feet and legs.

No remains of clothing have been found insites that are earlier than the Archaic period.Only in protected sites (such as dry caves androckshelters) are the remains of clothing and san-dals found. Many items made of plant fibers andwood have been found in Archaic sites in dryrockshelters and caves in southwestern Texas.Afew items have even been found in well-protectedrockshelters in central Texas.

Because most clothing was made of perish-able materials, we know little about the styles ofprehistoric clothing. It is known that prehistoricpeople in Texas depended mostly on worked ani-mal skins for clothing. Bone needles and awlsused in sewing the skins have been found.Processing skins was an important task through-out the prehistoric period. Stone scraping toolsthat were used in preparing the hides are com-mon in prehistoric sites.

The clothes that people wore in thewarmer months may have been very simple. Forexample, men probably wore breechcloths, or

loincloths. When the weather was cold, peoplemay have added robes or "blankets" of bisonhides or other furs over their usual clothing.

Most of the ideas we have about what pre-historic people in Texas wore are based on thetypes of tools that have been found (scrapers,awls, and needles) and on the remains found indry, protected sites. Beads and pendants of stone,bone, and shell also have been found in archeo-logical sites.These tell us that personal orna-ments were important to prehistoric people, justas they are to people today.

APPLYINGYOUR KNOWLEDGE

How many kinds of seeds do you eat? Make a list.

How large is your "home range" (the area that you move around in, in your every-day life)?

• What places—house, grocery store, andothers—are included in your homerange?

• Would your home range be smaller if youcould not ride in cars or buses?

What are some modern methods of process-ing food to preserve it for eating later? Dried fruit is one example.

A source of water is very important to people and animals.

• Do most people in the world today haveto live close to a natural water source?Why or why not?

What resources do you think Archaic people would need in a camping area?

• Would they have different needs for anovernight camp and a camp where theystayed for several months?

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Beginning at about A.D. 500, new tools andnew ways of producing food changed the lifewaysof people in Texas. Some groups began to growtheir own food (or to practice agriculture),make pottery, use the bow and arrow, and live asettled way of life.They began to live in villagesinstead of seasonal campsites.

These changes did not happen all at once.Some Late Prehistoric groups continued thewandering lifeways of their Archaic ancestors.

These nomads still lived in small bands anddepended on hunting and gathering for theirfood.

East TexasIn northeast Texas lived gardeners in vil-

lages.Women and men worked together to pro-duce vegetables and grains.They also gatherednuts and berries, hunted small animals, and fished.

Late Prehistoric Peoples (A.D. 500–1500)

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Most of these people lived in large, permanentvillages. Although they were farmers, hunting wasstill important to them. Sometimes groups ofhunters traveled as far as the Panhandle or cen-tral Texas to hunt bison.

Because the people could grow and storefood, the farmer villages became larger and life-ways became more complex. People in the vil-lages were now able to specialize.That is, whilesome worked to get food, others could becomehunters, artists, potters, or priests.

They built large earthen mounds that theyused for special purposes.The George C. Davissite, in Cherokee County, is one of the bestknown mound sites in Texas.The ancestors of

Caddo Indians lived there for over four hundredyears (from the late ninth century A.D. to theearly fourteenth century). One of the moundsthere, measured by archeologists, was about 5meters (16 feet) high, 83 meters (270 feet) long,and 50 meters (165 feet) wide.

A mound was built as the base for a templeor for the house of an important person. Somemounds were also used as burial places for spe-cial priests or great leaders. Beautiful pots andornaments were placed in these special burials,while common people were buried more simply.Mounds were also places where religious andpolitical activities took place, so these sites arecalled ceremonial or social centers.

HighPlains Lower

Plains

PANHANDLE

Trans-PecosCentralTexas

EastTexas

SouthTexas

GulfCoast

Map of LATE PREHISTORIC

CULTURAL REGIONS

This map shows the general regionsin which different cultural groups livedduring the Late Prehistoric period inTexas.

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Early Farmers

People who lived in the New Worldwere skillful farmers, and they firstdomesticated many of the plant foodswe enjoy today. Corn, green beans,pinto beans, potatoes, tomatoes, chilepeppers, squash, pumpkins, choco-late, avocados, pecans, peanuts, andmany other foods were raised or gath-ered in the wild. Prehistoric peoplealso used domesticated plants besidesfoods, such as tobacco and cotton.Animals—most commonly dogs, butsometimes turkeys—also weredomesticated.

A thousand years ago—long beforeColumbus "discovered" America—theancestors of Caddo Indians in eastTexas were living in settled agriculturalvillages. The clues survive in garden-ing tools and the remains of corn,squash, and beans. Archeologistshave found this kind of evidence inmany Late Prehistoric sites in Texas.

Trans-Pecos Texas

The Trans-Pecos is the region of Texas westof the Pecos River. Some of the people who livedin this part of western Texas in Late Prehistorictimes were still nomadic, hunting and gatheringwild plants for their food.These nomads oftencamped in caves and rockshelters, just as theArchaic peoples before them. Some of the moststriking Indian art in North America is found inthese caves and rockshelters that people used ascamp sites over thousands of years.

In far western Texas some Late PrehistoricIndians settled down to a sedentary, agriculturalway of life.The area in which they lived extendedfrom about where El Paso is today to the south-east along the Rio Grande, toward the Big Bend

area.These settled people lived very much as theeast Texas farmers lived.They stayed in one place,built permanent villages, cultivated plants, andmade pottery. However, the houses they lived inwere very different from those of their farawayeast Texas neighbors.

The western farmers built houses closetogether in one-story, above-ground pueblosmade from adobe (mud brick).The houses ofwestern Texas Indians were similar to the pueblosin what is now New Mexico.The farmers of westTexas also were similar in other ways to theirneighbors in New Mexico. For example, some ofthe pottery made in west Texas is like potterymade in New Mexico.

The Panhandleand the Plains

In the Texas Panhandle other groups ofLate Prehistoric Indians depended on agriculturefor part of their food supply.These people settledin an area along the Canadian River and built per-manent buildings. Some of their villages were builton the tops of mesas and hills that could be easilydefended from their enemies.Their houses, builtof stone slabs, were placed side by side with thewalls touching, like pueblos. Although the peoplegrew crops, bison hunting was still very importantto them. One of their typical tools is a hoe madeof the shoulder-blade bone of a bison.

These Panhandle villagers traded withgroups in other parts of Texas.They also tradedover long distances with other groups living inthe southern Great Plains region.Their mainitems of trade were probably bison meat andhides. Some of the items that they got in trade—such as turquoise and pottery from NewMexico—have been found in sites where their vil-lages were located. By A.D. 1450 the villagers haddisappeared. Drought may have caused the vil-lagers to give up farming and become nomadichunters. Or, they may simply have moved away.

Toward the end of the Late Prehistoricperiod, nomadic bison hunters came to the Texas

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Dogs were domesticated animals. Some nomadic tribes among the Plains Indians used dogs to help themmove their possessions. The travois, which was pulled by dogs, consisted of two poles serving as shafts anda platform or net, hung between the poles, on which the load was placed.

Late Prehistoric ArtifactsLate Prehistoric remains such as arrow-

points, pieces of pottery, and the ruins of ancientstructures help the archeologist understand LatePrehistoric cultures.

Fresno, Scallorn, and Perdiz are only threeof many arrowpoints made by Late Prehistoricpeople in Texas.

Many sizes and types of potteryvessels were made by Late Prehistoricpeople. Some were very simple cookingpots, but many were decorated with engraveddesigns, like the bottle in the picture.

Ornaments, baskets, sandals, woven mats,and other objects also were made by the Indiansof Texas in the Late Prehistoric period.

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Fresno

PotteryBottle

Scallorn

Basketry

Perdiz

Panhandle and Plains region. Some of thesehunters were ancestors of the Apaches, one ofthe best-known historic Indian groups in Texas.These nomadic peoples are sometimes calledpre-horse Plains Indians.

Central and South Texas

In central and south Texas there were nosettled farmers. Indians lived by hunting and gath-ering, and they probably stayed in seasonal camps.Wild plant foods such as the prickly pear fruit,acorns, mesquite beans, and pecans were collect-ed when they were in season. In the wintertime,the people hunted buffalo and other animals. LatePrehistoric people in this region lived very muchas their Archaic ancestors had lived. However,they used the bow and arrow, and most groupsmade simple ceramic pots.

The Texas Gulf Coast

Along the Texas coastal region, Indians gath-ered wild vegetables, such as mesquite beans andprickly pear fruit.They hunted deer and smalleranimals and ate fish, clams, and oysters.Theymade dugout canoes to use in gathering seafoodfrom the coastal waters. Some of these LatePrehistoric people had territories that includedboth coastal and inland areas.They wanderedfrom place to place in small groups, gatheringwild foods and hunting.

The lifeways of Indians along the Texas Gulfcoast also were much the same as they had beenin Archaic times. However, some of the coastalIndians made pottery, and they all used the bowand arrow.

Archeological sites called shell middensare a common type of site left by coastal Indians.The middens are like a landfill made up of theremains of oyster and clam shells mixed withother trash and discarded items.The size of someshell middens tells archeologists that prehistoricpeople often returned to the same coastal sitesyear after year.When there were lots of shellfish,

the people must have enjoyed large feasts atsome of the sites.

APPLYINGYOUR KNOWLEDGE

Some people became specialists in LatePrehistoric times.

• Right now you are probably a student— aspecialist in learning.

• Can you name some modern specialists?

Name some modern ceremonial, civic, orsocial centers.

• What evidence might be found in thesecenters that would help future archeolo-gists identify them?

Corn is one of the most important food grainsin the world today, and it was first domesti-cated by prehistoric people in the New World.

• Find out more about New World foodsthat are still important today.

Trade was common in prehistoric times, eventhough walking was the most commonmeans of traveling. (Some groups did usecanoes along the coastlines or riverways.)Some trade items from places as far away asthe Pacific coast have been found in Texassites.

• How do you think shells were traded? Doyou think one trader walked all the wayfrom California to Texas carrying shells?Or, do you think the shells were tradedeastward from group to group until at lastthey were traded to a Texas group?

• What do you think people learned aboutdifferent lifeways through their trade con-tacts?

• What are some ideas they might havetraded in this manner?

B-19

Native Americans had lived in Texas forthousands of years before the arrival of Europeanexplorers. However, some groups, such as theComanches and Apaches—the tribes we usu-ally think of as Texas Indians—were newcomers.The Apaches came to Texas from the north verylate in Prehistoric times, and the Comanchesarrived even later, in the Historic period.

The Historic period in Texas began with thearrival of the Spanish.The first Spaniard known to

visit Texas was Cabeza de Vaca, who was ship-wrecked on the coast in A.D. 1528.The accountof his journey across Texas marks the beginningof the Historic period. Other explorers andpriests soon followed, and their journals, letters,and reports describe the first meetings of NativeAmericans and European newcomers.

In the very early Historic period, whenEuropean explorers first came to Texas, Indianswere living as they had lived in Late Prehistoric

Historic Indians (AFTER A.D. 1500)

B-20

General Location of the Major Indian Groupsof the Early Historic Period

Tonkawas

Caddoans

Atakapans

KarankawasCoahuiltecans

Rio Grandefarmers

Jumanos

Apaches

B-21

times. In some areas, traditional ways of gettingand processing food through hunting, gathering,and agriculture continued into the early Historicperiod. For example, drying meat was an impor-tant food-processing tradition. Dried meat (jerky)was easier to carry about and lasted longer thanfresh meat. Pemican was made by mixingtogether ground-up dried meat and plant foodssuch as berries. Pemican was a convenient "trailmix" for nomadic tribes.

The clothing and appearance of earlyHistoric Indians—before they were changed byEuropean influence—varied as much as the life-ways of the people did. People of the nomadictribes, such as the Atakapans, Karankawas,Coahuiltecans, and Jumanos, dressed verysimply.The men wore breechclouts, and the

women wore simple skirts of animal skin. Buffalorobes or coverings of other animal skins wereused over their usual clothing to provide warmthin winter.

The clothing of the sedentary, agriculturalpeople was much more elaborate.The Caddo,who lived in villages in east Texas, made clothingof expertly tanned deerskins. Some of their cloth-ing was painted and ornamented with fringe andseeds.They probably wore their decoratedclothes for ceremonies or other special occa-sions.Women sometimes wore skirts of clothwoven from plant fibers or made from bark. Inaddition to skirts and breechclouts, the Caddomade moccasins, leggings, and shirts of deerskin.They also used buffalo robes for extra warmth inwinter.

B-22

This map shows the route of Cabeza de Vaca as it has been traced by historians and archeologists (the dotted lineshows where the experts disagree on the exact route). Knowing where the early explorers traveled is important becausetheir accounts of their journeys contain information about the Indians they met and the environment as it was beforeEuropean settlement. The study of Historic Native Americans from these written accounts is called ethnohistory.

Contact and ChangeIn early Historic times, which arche-

ologists call the Contact period, manyof the Indians of Texas were still livingin ways that had developed in the LatePrehistoric period. For example, theCaddo Indians of northeast Texas con-tinued to grow crops and make potteryand many kinds of stone, bone, andwood tools. Apaches in the Panhandlehunted bison just as Plains Indian cul-tures had done in Late Prehistorictimes.

European influence soon changedtraditional lifeways throughout NorthAmerica. The Indians quickly learnedto use new skills and materials thatwere introduced by the Spanish.Learning to ride horses and use gunswere major changes, but they were notthe only changes in traditional Indianlifeways. For example, the Indianssoon learned to make tools from met-als such as iron, which was brought byEuropeans. Arrowpoints made ofmetal—and even arrowpoints made ofglass—have been found in manyHistoric Indian sites.

The Historic period brought many changesto the Indian cultures—changes that destroyedsome groups and changed the lives of all. Lifewaysthat had taken thousands of years to developwere changed abruptly all across North Americawith the coming of the Europeans. Horses, guns,competition for land, and diseases altered foreverthe lives of Native Americans.

Horses were brought to Texas by theSpanish. Indians acquired the animals either bycatching wild horses (mustangs) that had escapedfrom the Spanish, or by raiding the herds atSpanish settlements. Indian hunters quicklybecame expert horsemen, hunting buffalo on

horseback, keeping up with the herds and killingthem more easily.

In the early 1700s the Comanches sweptinto Texas on horseback, forcing many TexasIndians from their traditional territories. Gunsbrought by the French and Spanish also changedthe patterns of Indian life.

As the frontier pushed ever westward, theeastern farming Indians were forced west byEuropean settlers who wanted the farm land.Western Indians were forced to give up some oftheir land to make room.The Indians found thatthe new lands were not easy to farm. Huntersalso had to learn new skills in order to hunt dif-ferent kinds of animals.

New diseases were brought by Europeansinto Texas. Smallpox and cholera killed entiretribes of Indians. Competition for new territoriescaused warfare among the tribes. And the Indiansbecame more hostile as settlers pushed west-ward, claimed land, and built forts to protect set-tlements and wagon trails.

By the 1870s, European and Anglo-American buffalo hunters had exterminated thebison in Texas.They killed the animals just fortheir hides and left the meat to rot on the plains.The destruction of this important food sourcemade the traditional lifestyle of the Plains Indiansimpossible.

Warfare, diseases, and the push to the westquickly reduced the number of native Texans toless than half of what it had been before theEuropeans came.Today only three tribal groupslive within the boundaries of the state.

The Alabama and Coushatta Indianswere closely associated before they came toTexas in the early nineteenth century. In 1854, theState of Texas gave 1,280 acres to these people,and that land was the beginning of theAlabama-Coushatta Reservation in east Texasthat exists today. Although the Alabama-Coushatta have adopted many of the ways of themodern society that surrounds them, they stillretain their language and many of their traditions.Their reservation, near Livingston in Polk County,is open to visitors.

B-23

The Tigua Indians came to west Texas in1680 from New Mexico.They were granted 36square miles of land by the Spanish, but throughthe years their rights to this land were disputedand lost. In 1967, the State of Texas recognizedthem as a Texas Indian tribe.There were thenabout 90 families living in a section of the townof Ysleta.Ysleta is now part of El Paso, and theYsleta pueblo and mission church are open tovisitors. Near El Paso is Hueco Tanks, a rockart site connected with both historic and prehis-toric groups.The rock art is protected in a statepark.

The Texas Band of Kickapoo Indians is asub-group of the Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma.Many years ago, this group was forced to migratefrom its ancestral lands to an area that is now inTexas and Mexico. Recently they have been livingon the border in Eagle Pass, but their status asUnited States or Mexican Indians was not clear. In 1983 the Texas Band was recognized by the fed-eral government.This means that members of theband can now get services that the U.S. govern-ment provides to other Indians. One hundredacres of land in Maverick County has been setaside for the small band of Texas Kickapoos.Theirright to cross the U.S.-Mexico border is part ofthe new federal law, which is called the TexasBand of Kickapoos Act.

None of the Texas Indian cultures thatwere present at the beginning of the Historicperiod now lives within the borders of Texas. By1880 they had been forced out of the state ordestroyed. A handful of Lipan Apaches live inNew Mexico, a few Tonkawas in Oklahoma, andthe Wichitas, Caddos, and Comanches arejoined together on reservations in Oklahoma.TheKarankawas, Coahuiltecans,Atakapans, Jumanos,and others have all disappeared—vanished for-ever.

The experience of all the Indians of NorthAmerica was much the same as it was in Texas.How did they feel about the changes that came inthe historic period? A Sioux Indian of the north-ern plains expressed it this way:

They made us many promises,more than I can remember,but they never kept but one;they promised to take our land and theytook it.

APPLYINGYOUR KNOWLEDGE

Some Historic Indians adopted clothing stylesfrom Europeans.

• What other things, besides guns andhorses, may Indians have adopted fromEuropeans?

Many place names in Texas (such as thenames of rivers) were adopted from Indianwords.

• Name at least threeTexas place-namesthat came from Indian words.

Who is "us" in the Sioux poem? Write yourown poem telling how you feel about theIndians of Texas.

There are only three tribal groups in Texas,but many Native Americans live in the state,and in the United States there are almost 2.5million Native Americans.

• Name any famous, 20th-century NativeAmericans that you know about.

• Do you need to learn more about theNative Americans of yesterday andtoday? Books about Texas Indians,including books for young readers, arelisted in the resources section, in Part IIIof this unit.

B-24

HistoricTexas

An Introduction to

HISTORICARCHEOLOGY

for Studentsand Teachers

BOOKLET C

Archeology DivisonTEXAS HISTORICAL COMMISSIONAustin 1998

Preface

This section, or "booklet," on Texas from the period of exploration through the 19thcentury is intended as an introduction to historic archeological sites in Texas for teachersand students.The reading level of this section is more appropriate for middle-school stu-dents and above.Teachers may photocopy without permission any or all of this sectionfor classroom use only. Other use of this material requires permission from: ArcheologyDivision,Texas Historical Commission, P.O. Box 12276, Austin,TX 78711-2276.

Teachers may choose to use this material either as background information for class-room discussion or as text to be assigned for reading.

This section should serve as general background information for the classroom activitiesrelating to historic sites in Part II of this unit for teachers.Those who want more infor-mation should see the list of books and other resources in Part III.

"Historic preservation on the threshold of the 21st century is about much more thanbricks and mortar. It is about saving, creating and enhancing community."

—Richard MoePresident, National Trust for Historic

Preservation, 1997

Permission: Office of the State Archeologist archeological reports; You Are the Guardian of the Past (1995edition); CRM News & Views newsletter (various issues, 1997) and The Medallion newsletter(various issues, 1997).

IntroductionThe Historic period begins with the coming

of the Spanish in the 16th century A.D. Like pre-historic sites, historic sites often require archeo-logical investigation before they reveal their cen-turies-old secrets. Combining archeological andhistorical study methods can add to what wealready know about many historic places—evensites as well known as the Alamo.

What are some examples of important his-toric archeological sites in Texas? There are somany that we can only mention a few types thathave been studied by archeologists.

Exploration andColonization (1659–1836)

Texas was part of the northern frontier ofSpanish settlements in the New World.These set-

tlements included villages, presidios (forts), andmissions. Spain's main reason for establishing itsfirst settlements in Texas was to keep the Frenchfrom gaining control of more territory.

Missions were established to Christianizethe Indians, and the presidios were set in place toprotect the missions and other settlements.TheSpanish hoped that the Christianized Indianswould adopt European farming methods and thatthe missions could become towns.

Spanish settlement relied mostly on farmingmethods and familiar foods from Europe. Becauseof this, the settlements usually were located inareas where these farming traditions were possi-ble. For example, missions were usually locatednear rivers that could be used for irrigation.Besides farming, the missions were successful inraising cattle, especially in the San Antonio area.

Among the best-known Spanish sites in Texasare the San Antonio missions—now included in anational historic park. Archeological investigation

Archeological Sitesand Historic Times in Texas

C-3

has played a role in restoring these and manyother 18th-century structures. Archeologistshave also studied the system of acequias (irriga-tion canals) and ranches associated with the mis-sions.

Spanish shipwreck sites have been found onthe Texas coast, off Padre Island.They containsome of the most valuable historical informationand artifacts to be found in underwater sites inthe Western Hemisphere. In the late 1960s, a1554 Spanish shipwreck site was excavated.Artifacts from the ship are now on display in amuseum in Corpus Christi.

When Mexico won independence from Spain,Texas became part of Mexico.This era of Texashistory is very brief (1821–1836), and only a fewsettlements date from those years. Most of thenew Mexican settlements were associated withranching. One of the best-known towns of thisperiod is Victoria, founded in 1824.

Most people probably think that all of theimportant Spanish sites in Texas were located andstudied many years ago. Not so! During the pastfive years, two new sites of national importancehave been located by archeologists.

Coronado's Campsite

From 1540 to 1542 an expedition led bySpanish explorer Coronado traveled four thou-sand miles through the American Southwest insearch of gold.The expedition included about1,500 Indians, 300 Spanish soldiers and adventur-ers, and thousands of domestic animals—cattle,sheep, and horses. In spite of the many peopleanimals, and all of the gear they must have need-ed, material remains of their presence in Texashave been hard to find.

An archeologist began looking for one ofCoronado's campsites in Texas in the early 1990s.In the spring of 1996 he announced that a camp-site had been located in Blanco Canyon in theTexas Panhandle, near the town of Floydada.

The site is of great importance in Texas his-tory because it relates to the first encounter ofEuropeans with Indian groups of the Panhandle-

Plains region. Accounts of the Coronado expedi-tion contain the first descriptions of PlainsIndians in Texas.

European artifacts found at the site include:crossbow points, a complete horseshoe datingfrom the period of Spanish exploration, and achain mail glove.

The site has been assigned the number41FL81, for the 81st archeological site recordedin Floyd County.

The horse was introduced to Native Americans by the Spanish andsoon appeared in historic rock art. Petroglyph from Garza County.

Mission San Sabá

In 1757, in what is now Menard County, theSpanish established Mission Santa Cruz de SanSabá.The mission was part of the Spanish effortto deal with the Lipan Apaches. Only ten monthsafter its founding, the mission was attacked andburned by a large force of Native Americans,mostly Comanches.

Both historians and archeologists have longsearched for the mission site. In 1993 a team ofhistorians and archeologists, working together, atlast succeeded.They found the general area byresearch in historic documents. As they searchedfor the exact site, they were lucky to come upona recently plowed field.The plowing had turnedup several artifacts, including a ceramic olive jarfragment dating from the Spanish Colonial period.

Test excavations at the site revealed manymore types of artifacts. Sherds of Majolica (a

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kind of pottery that is typical of Spanish Colonialsites) were found. Metal objects includedwrought-iron nails, latches and hooks, hinges,horse gear, and musket balls.

San Sabá is famous not only as a mission sitebut as the site of a historic event.The battle atSan Sabá was the first one between Spaniards andNative Americans in Texas in which the NativeAmericans used guns.The guns they used wereflintlock weapons.This battle was also the firstmajor conflict with the Comanches in Texas.

Early French Settlement(1685 to 1820)

French settlement in Texas was never verywidespread. All of the settlements were locatedalong the borders of the state: three along theRed River, two near the eastern border, and twoon the Gulf Coast.

The beginning date of French settlement isset by the founding of La Salle's Fort St. Louisin 1685.The ending date is set by the abandon-ment of pirate Jean Lafitte's Galveston Islandcommunity in 1820.

In the late 18th and early 19th centuries,Indian villages along the Red River were suppliedby French traders. Archeological investigation ofthese sites has added to our understanding of theearly French presence in Texas. Study of thesesites also has helped us understand when contactwith Europeans began to alter forever the lives ofNative Americans.

Besides these trading sites, the best knownFrench settlement site in Texas is Nacogdochesin East Texas, founded in 1721.

The most important French settlements inthe southern United States lie to the east ofTexas, in Louisiana. However, the French presencein Texas led the Spanish to become more activein this frontier area.They established missions,presidios, and settlements to prevent the Frenchfrom taking over. So, today Texas has a uniqueHispanic heritage—with just a hint of Cajun spicealong our eastern border.

La Salle, Fort St. Louis,and the Belle

In 1685 Robert Cavalier, Sieur de La Salle,sailed from France in search of the mouth of theMississippi River. His ships arrived, instead, inwhat is now Matagorda Bay on the coast ofTexas. One of his original four ships had beencaptured by pirates, one was shipwrecked, and athird was sent back to France. La Salle and 20 ofhis remaining 180 men moved inland to find alocation for a colony. He founded Fort St. Louisnear the coast in what is now Victoria County.

When La Salle returned to the coast, helearned that his fourth ship, the Belle, had beenwrecked during a storm in the bay in 1686. Badluck and mistakes continued, and La Salle'sattempt to establish a colony failed. Most of thecolonists died, and a Spanish expedition laterburned the remains of the fort.

More than 300 years later, in 1995,TexasHistorical Commission (THC) archeologistslocated the site of the Belle shipwreck. Evidencethat the wreck was indeed that of the Belle wasdiscovered in one of the first recovered arti-facts—a 700-pound bronze cannon with identify-ing French markings.

Incredibly, in 1996,THC archeologists alsoverified the site of Fort St. Louis.The site hadbeen studied by historians, but there was no finalevidence that this was the fort site until thearcheologists excavated a cache of cannons there.The cannons had been found and buried at thesite by a Spanish expedition—and were describedin Spanish accounts.

Texas as Republic andState (1836–to present)

When Texas became a republic, many newimmigrants came from the United States andEurope.They joined the Mexican Texans,AfricanAmericans, and Anglo-Americans who werealready living here.

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Native American groups who had originallylived in Texas had been unable to withstand thesettlement of their territories. First the Europeanand, later, the Anglo-Americans pushed theIndians out of Texas. By the 19th century, only theComanches and their allies remained as a realthreat to western settlement. In the early daysthe Comanche's allies were the Wichitas. Laterthe Comanches were joined by Kiowas, KiowaApaches, Cheyennes, and Arapahoes. Apacheresistance continued only in far western Texasand New Mexico.

When Texas joined the United States, federalforts were established to assist in the eradicationof these aggressive tribes who were dedicated toholding fast to their lands and their indepen-dence. In 1874 the U.S. military began a campaignto force the last of the Indian tribes that lived inTexas onto reservations in the "Indian Territory"

of Oklahoma.This military campaign was knownas the Red River War because it took place nearthe headwaters of the Red River in the TexasPanhandle.

Several battles took place during this cam-paign in which the Indians were defeated. In 1875the last of the Comanches, led by the famouschief Quanah Parker, surrendered to the military.With the end of the Red River War, the Indians'determined resistance had failed, and the waywest was open to Anglo-American settlers.

Pioneer settlers moved westward and north-ward across the land from the early settlementsin eastern Texas.They built dugouts, log cabins,and simple stone and adobe structures. Arche-ological investigation of their home sites hasrevealed many details of Texas history. Arche-ology has helped us understand the trade andcommunications routes that the settlers devel-

Diagram of the excavation of La Salle's cannons at Fort St. Louis.

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Intial 1 x 2mTest Unit

Approximate edge of originalSpanish burial pit

Edge of final Test Unit

Test holes

Actual edgeof original

Spanishburial pit

0 50 100 cm

8

7

3

6

4

5

2

1

Magneticanomaly asoutlined on

surface

oped and has revealed in vivid detail the dailylives of pioneer families.

Sites of early industry in Texas include rail-road camps, mines, sawmills, pottery kilns, brickworks, iron works, and cow camps.These sitestell of the roadworkers, the cowboys, and thelaborers who live on in our folklore and litera-ture but have too often been neglected in formalhistories.

Today people of all racial, ethnic, and religiousbackgrounds live in Texas. And they are all creat-ing the historic and archeological sites of thefuture.

The Frontier Forts—Historicaland Archeological Sites

Most of the frontier forts of Texas wereestablished in the 1840s.Then, they were tem-porarily abandoned by the federal governmentduring the Civil War. Most were rebuilt after the

war, but even these were active military installa-tions for only half a century. A very few survivedinto the 20th century, and these survived withfew of their original structures intact.

The Texas Centennial—the 100th an-niversary of the Texas Revolution—was celebrat-ed in 1936. Planning for this event inspired Texansto begin preserving the unique places and struc-tures of the past. Some work was done torestore or protect the most famous frontierforts.

However, major work was not begun onmost of the old forts until the 1960s.This workwas inspired by new state and federal preserva-tion laws. Archeology has played an importantrole in the restoration and protection of theforts. Artifacts recovered during excavations arenow on display in many of these historic places.A list of historic forts that are open to the publicis given in an Appendix at the end of this"Historic Texas" section.

Early frontier forts in Texas, 1848–1860.

Ft. Bliss

Ft. Quitman

Ft. Davis Ft. Lancaster

Ft. ClarkFt. Inge

Ft. Croghan

Ft. GrahamFt. Chadbourne

Ft. Mc Kavett

Ft. Phantom Hill Ft. Worth

Ft. Gates

Ft. Mason

Ft. Martin Scott

Ft. LincolnFt. Hudson

Ft. Stockton

R i o G r a n d eR

i ve

r

Pe

c o s R i v e r

C o l o r a d o R i ve

r

Br a z o s

Ri v

e r

N u e c e s

R e d R i v e r

S a n

A n t on i o R i v e r

T r i ni t y

Ft. Duncan

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A Frontier Fort inside a CityFort Concho (1867–1889) is located within

the City of San Angelo in Tom Green County. Itis one of the best-preserved frontier forts inTexas, consisting of more than 20 reconstructedand restored buildings.The fort was establishedin 1867 and operated until 1889.

Archeology has been very important here,especially in locating the foundations of originalbuildings. Some of the remains of the fort still liebeneath the city streets of San Angelo.

The restored barracks is one of the site'smost popular exhibits.This and other exhibitsdepict the history of the fort, local settlement,and the last days of the frontier.

Archeology also is part of on-going educa-tional activities sponsored by the Fort ConchoMuseum.

About ten reports of archeological investiga-tions at the fort, and many historical studies, havebeen published.The archeological site number ofFort Concho is 41TG57.

A Hispanic Neighborhoodas an Archeological Site

As the population of Texas grows, so doesthe size of our cities. As a city grows, many of itsolder neighborhoods may be destroyed to makeway for modern developments.The study of"urban archeology" is becoming more and moreimportant. Laredo is a good example because itis an old Texas city in an area that was settled inlate Spanish times.

The improvement of Interstate Highway 35and a new bridge where it crosses the RioGrande at Laredo was planned in the 1970s.Theproject would have an impact on an old area ofthe city, so state and federal laws required thathistorians and archeologists study the area.

Archeologists began investigation of a four-block area in 1979, and their report was pub-lished in 1986.The site area was numbered41WB19.

Excavations revealed clues to 120 years ofoccupation of this Mexican Texan neighborhood.

The archeologists found artifacts that were evi-dence of changes from Spanish times to the1970s.To learn more about this site, the archeol-ogists also studied written histories and inter-viewed people who had lived in the neighbor-hood.

The archeologists learned that in the timebefore the Civil War (1860) many houses werebuilt of stone or jacal construction. A jacal wasa small house built of upright sticks daubed withmud and having a thatched roof.The sticks wereusually mesquite, since there were no large treesin south Texas. Houses of hand-quarried stoneand jacals in south Texas date from as early as the1790s, the period of Spanish colonization in thisregion.

After the Civil War the railroad came toLaredo, and from about 1888 to 1915 new brick

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African American soldiers, known as Buffalo soldiers, served atmany of the frontier forts in Texas.

homes were built.Wooden houses of the board-and-batten type were associated with immi-grants of the Mexican Revolution period.

The addition of electricity, plumbing, andpaved streets marked the modern period ofoccupation.

Thousands of interesting artifacts were found.The artifacts helped the archeologists to under-stand the different periods of settlement andacculturation in this Laredo neighborhood.

Pioneer Cabins in LBJ Country

Lyndon B. Johnson, president of the UnitedStates from 1963 to 1969, is honored in Texas byboth state and federal historic site parks.Thestate park is located in Gillespie County, nearLBJ's birthplace. Besides honoring a famous Texan,the park also preserves a good selection of Texashistory.

Historic frontier settlement left many impor-tant sites in the park area. German Texan home-steads of log and stone are found there. Alsorelated to the period of German settlement arethe remains of log barns, rock fences, vegetableand wine cellars, hand-dug wells, livestock corrals,well houses, smokehouses, a one-room school-house, and a lime kiln.

Before the historic sites were restored,archeologists came in 1968 to record and studythe archeological sites.The Behrens, Danz, andSauer homesites were recorded. Small testunits were excavated beneath and around theBehrens cabin, and a trash dump was explored.At the Sauer homesite test excavations revealedstone foundations of an earlier structure at thesite. Deep test pits were dug in a trash-filled cel-lar, and many artifacts were recovered.The Danzplace was carefully mapped and artifacts wererecovered from the surface, but the site was leftfor later study.

Study of the structures and artifacts addedmany details to what we know about life in 19th-century German farmsteads.The archeologicalstudies also helped in preservation of the historicsites.The Behrens Cabin has been restored and

furnished as it was in the late 19th century.TheSauer homesite has been restored and is operat-ed as a "living history" farmstead. Both are opento park visitors.

The SeminoleNegro Indian Scouts

The Seminole Negro Indian Scoutswere members of a unique culture.Their ances-tors were runaway black slaves who, in the early1800s, joined with the Seminole Indians inFlorida.The Seminole blacks were later forciblyremoved with the Seminoles to a reservation inOklahoma.

On the reservation, the Seminoles werelocated near their traditional enemies, theCreeks. In the 1850s, to escape troubles on thereservation many of the Seminoles went toMexico. Some of the Seminole Indians laterreturned to the reservation, but the SeminoleNegroes stayed. From there in 1870 they wererecruited into Texas by the U.S. Army to serve asscouts. A small group went to Fort Duncan in1870, and two years later another group went toFort Clark.

Fort Clark, located near the town of Brack-ettville in Kinney County, was founded in 1852.Based at this fort, the Seminole Negro IndianScouts served as U.S. military scouts from 1872until 1914. Four of the scouts received the Medalof Honor, but all of the scouts were known asexcellent trackers, hunters, and soldiers.

All that remains of their presence in Texasis a cemetery and the buried remains of their vil-lage near Fort Clark.The scouts, however, are notforgotten. Many descendants live in the village ofNacimiento, in northern Mexico, where most ofthe scouts moved with their families after beingdismissed from service in 1914.They still holdreunions and visit the cemetery near Fort Clark,and six years ago they started a drive to keeptheir history alive.

Descendants are being helped by the TexasHistorical Commission and the Institute of TexanCultures to preserve the story of the famous

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scouts. Archeologists located the former villagesite, and interviewers are recording family histo-ries. Both historic and recent photographs arebeing collected and preserved.

APPLYING

YOUR KNOWLEDGE

There were several Spanish missions andforts in Texas.

• The Alamo was once a Spanish mission,and its name was Mission San Antoniode Valero. Why is the Alamo famous inTexas history?

• Name some other Spanish missions inTexas.

Frontier forts were also part of the HistoricIndian period.

• What kinds of things would you expect tofind in a frontier fort?

Some sites associated with different ethnicgroups are discussed above. Name thesegroups.

• Name some other ethnic groups that arepart of Texas today.

A HISTORICAL REMINDER

Every historic site is also an archeo-logical site. So the next time you visitthe Alamo, or the San JacintoBattlefield, or Mission San José, apioneer log cabin, or even a historichome in a small town, you are alsovisiting an archeological site.

Historic sites on public lands areprotected by law. Those on privateland are not. So, only you can pro-tect many of the historic sites inTexas.

Please don't dig in sites, don'tremove artifacts from sites, and doencourage others to follow yourexample.

Remember, you are:The Guardian of the Past.

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A formal portrait of a Seminole Negro Indian Scout.

APPENDIX

Forts You Can Visit Fort Belknap (1851–1876) South of Newcastle, Young County. Six original structures and one replica of this federal frontier fort are now part of a county park. www.grahamtxchamber.com/historical_tours.html Fort Clark (1852–1946) Near Brackettville, Kinney County. Fort Clark is associated with both the Seminole Negro Indian Scouts and the Buffalo Soldiers. This fort did not close until after World War II. It is now a private museum, open to the public. Fort Clark's site number is 41KY21. texaspecostrail.com/plan-your-adventure/historic-sites-and-cities/sites/old-guardhouse-museum-fort-clark Fort Davis (1854–1891) At town of Fort Davis, Jeff Davis County. This federal frontier fort is now a restored National Historic Landmark, administered by the National Park Service. It is one of the best-restored forts in Texas. Fort Davis's archeological site number is 41JD128. www.nps.gov/foda/index.htm Fort Duncan (estab. 1849) Near Eagle Pass, Maverick County. Several buildings have survived at this federal frontier fort and have been restored as part of a municipal park and country club. Fort Duncan's site number is 41MV2. www.eaglepasstx.us/default.aspx?name=Parks_Museum Fort Griffin (1867–1881) North of Albany, Shackelford County. This federal frontier fort is now a state historic site park. Fort Griffin's archeological site number is 41SF4. www.visitfortgriffin.com/ Fort Lancaster (1855–1861) East of Sheffield, Crockett County. This federal fort, which was not reestablished after the Civil War, is also an Indian Wars battle site. The restored ruins are now a state historic site park. Fort Lancaster's archeological site number is 41CX28. www.visitfortlancaster.com/

Fort McKavett (1852–1883) Southwest of Menard, Menard County. This federal fort has been well restored and is now a state historic site park. Fort McKavett's archeological site number is 41MN2. www.visitfortmckavett.com/ Fort Martin Scott (estab. 1848) Near Fredericksburg, Gillespie County. The post guardhouse (restored) still survives. The site is operated by the Fredericksburg Heritage Foundation. Fort Martin Scott's archeological site number 41GL52. www.ftmartinscott.org/ Fort Mason (1851–1869) Near Mason, Mason County. This federal frontier fort was abandoned and fell into ruins. The officers quarters have been recon-structed on the original foundations, and the fort is now open to the public. Fort Mason's site number is 41MS130. www.masontxcoc.com/attractions-rec/114-fort-mason Fort Parker (estab. 1834) Near Groesbeck, Limestone County. This private fort, first home of Cynthia Ann Parker, mother of Quanah Parker, was restored in 1936 and again in 1967. It is now a state park. Fort Parker's site number is 4lLT8. www.tpwd.state.tx.us/state-parks/fort-parker Fort Richardson (estab. 1866) Near Jacksboro, Jack County. Six buildings survive at this fort, which has been restored by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Fort Richardson's archeological site number is 41JA2. www.tpwd.state.tx.us/state-parks/fort-richardson Fort Stockton (estab. 1858) In city of Fort Stockton, Pecos County. This federal fort guarded the San Antonio–El Paso road. Several original buildings, primarily of adobe construction, still stand in the historic part of the city of Fort Stockton. The fort's archeological site number is 41PC71. historicfortstocktontx.com/attractions-2/historic-fort-stockton/

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A.D.—the abbreviation of anno domini. In mea-suring time, this means years since the birthof Christ.

aborigines (ab-oh-RIJ-uh-neez)—the indigenousinhabitants of a country; the native peoples ascontrasted with invading or colonizing peo-ples. In North America we usually use theterms Native Americans or AmericanIndians, while in Australia the term Aboriginesis used to indicate the original human inhabi-tants of the country.

acequia (uh-SAY-kee-uh)—an irrigation channel,or ditch. A system of acequias is associatedwith the Spanish Colonial missions in SanAntonio.

adobe (uh-DOH-bee)—bricks made of mudmixed with straw and dried in the sun.

agate (AG-it)—a hard, fine-grained stone havingseveral colors arranged in stripes or bands.Alibates agate, from the Texas Panhandle, isbanded gray and purple; this agate was usedin making stone tools during thousands ofyears of prehistory.

agave (uh-GAH-vee)—a group of related plantsthat have long spiny leaves, such as the centu-ry plant and the Spanish dagger.

agriculture (AG-ri-kuhl-cher)—farming, or thecultivation of food plants such as corn andbeans.

Alabama (al-uh-BAM-uh) - Coushattas (koo-SHAH-tuhz)—a group of Indians who cameto East Texas in the early 1800s and who stilllive in the state today.

anthropology (an-throh-PAHL-uh-jee)—thestudy of human cultures.

Apaches (uh-PA-cheez)—Native Americans ofthe Contact and historic periods in Texas.TheApaches were a bison-hunting culture andwere first met by Spaniards in the TexasPanhandle.

Arapahoes (uh-RAP-uh-hohz)—a northernPlains group that joined with several southernPlains tribes in the 1860s; they became alliesof the Comanches.

Archaic (ar-KAY-ik)—a long period of prehistoryfollowing the Paleoindian period. Archaicpeople lived mostly by hunting small gameand gathering wild plant foods.

archeology (ar-kee-AHL-uh-jee)—the science oflearning how past people lived by studyingthe remains they left behind in the placeswhere they once lived or camped.

archeological (ar-kee-oh-LAHJ-uh-kuhl) reposi-tory (ree-POZ-i-toh-ree)—a place wherearcheological records and artifacts are storedfor permanent curation. In Texas, the mainarcheological respository is the TexasArcheologial Research Laboratory, which is apart of the University of Texas at Austin. Seealso curation.

archeological (ar-kee-oh-LAHJ-uh-kuhl) site(syt)—a place that contains artifacts or othercultural remains left by people who oncelived in or used that place.

arrowpoint (EHR-oh-poynt)—a sharp stone tip,or projectile point, for use on an arrow thatis to be shot from a bow.

artifact (ar-tuh-FAKT)—any object that wasmade by past people. For example, an arrow-point or a clay pot.

association (uh-soh-see-AY-shun)—undisturbedartifacts or other remains that are found

GLOSSARY

You probably already know some of the words in this glossary. But some words may be used with otherwords to form phrases that have special meanings. Some words have many meanings, and the ones givenhere are only the ones used in this book. Pronunciations guides are included for all except simple wordsand abbreviations.

A

GLOS-1

together in a site are described by archeolo-gists as being found in association. For exam-ple, a Paleoindian site may contain spearpoints in association with mammoth bones.

Atakapans (at-uh-KAP-uhnz)—a group ofIndians who lived in the southeastern part ofTexas and along the upper Texas coast at thetime of European contact.

atlatl (AT-uhl-at-uhl)—a tool, usually made ofwood, that was used as a spear thrower inmuch the same way that a sling shot is usedin throwing rocks.

attribute (a-truh-BYOOT)—a characteristic ofan object; for example, a stem is an attributeof some arrowpoint types. See also type.

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B.C. —the abbreviation of "before Christ"; inmeasuring time, this means years before thebirth of Christ.

B.C.E.—the abbreviation of "before the com-mon era; this means the same as B.C.

B.P.—the abbreviation of "before the present." Inscientific radiocarbon dating, this meansbefore a date set at 1950.When we say "tenyears ago" we are also measuring time inyears "before the present."

band—a small social group consisting of two ormore nuclear families; a band is usually terri-torially based rather than being based in onepermanent place, such as a village; many hunt-ing and gathering groups lived in bands.

bedrock (BED-rahk)—the layer of solid rockthat lies under the soil. If the soil has erodedaway, the bedrock may be exposed on thesurface.

Behrens (BEH-rinz) homesite—a GermanTexas farm site in the LBJ park.

Belle (bel)—one of La Salle's ships, the Belle waswrecked in Matagorda Bay and is now aninternationally known archeological site.

bison (BY-suhn)—the correct name for theAmerican animal usually called a buffalo.

bison (BY-suhn) antiquus (an-TIK-wuhs)—anextinct bison that was much larger than themodern bison.

board (bohrd) and batten (BAT-uhn)—this is atype of construction for the outer walls ofwooden houses; the walls are formed ofwide, vertical boards with a narrow strip oflumber nailed over each place where thewider boards are joined.

botanist (BAHT-uhn-ist)—a scientist who stud-ies plants.

breechclout (BREECH-klawth)—a brief garmentworn draped about the hips of a person.

burned-rock (bernd rahk) midden (MID-uhn)—a heap of fire-blackened and fire-crackedrocks that were removed from a cooking pitand piled around the edges of the pit.

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C.E.—the abbreviation of "common era"; thismeans the same as A.D.

Cabeza (kah-BAY-suh) de (day) Vaca (VAH-kuh)—the first Spaniard to travel in the inte-rior of Texas.

Caddos (KAD-ohz)—a group of Indians wholived in settled villages in Northeast Texasduring the Late Prehistoric period and intothe historic period.

Castroville (KAS-troh-vil)—the name of one ofmany different styles of dart points made bypeople during the Archaic period.

catalogue (KAT-uh-lawg)—an artifact is cata-logued when it has been given a number thattells exactly where in the site that artifactwas found.

ceramics (ser-AM-iks)—any deliberately firedclay artifact, such as ceramic vessels.Archeologists usually use this word, insteadof pottery, as a category for fired-clay wares,because ceramics refers to all kinds of fired-clay artifacts, from prehistoric pots to mod-ern porcelain, from fired-clay figurines toceramic door knobs.

B

C

GLOS-2

ceremonial (sehr-uh-MOHN-ee-uhl) center —a place where people gather to observe ritu-als and rites that are part of their spiritualbeliefs.

chain mail—a kind of flexible armor made ofinterlocked rings of metal. Chain mail wasworn by some of the early Spanish explorersin Texas.

chert—a type of hard, smooth stone that rangesin color from gray to pink and even purple.Chert was often used by prehistoric peoplefor making arrowpoints, knives, and otherstone tools.

Cheyennes (shy-ANZ)—a Plains Indian groupthat became allies of the Comanches andother Southern Plains Indians in the late 19thcentury.

Christianize (KRIS-chun-yz): to convince some-one to adopt the Christian religion.

chronology (krahn-AHL-uh-jee)—an arrange-ment of events in the order in which theyoccurred.

Clovis (KLOH-vis)—the name of the oldestknown projectile point found in Texas. Clovispoints were made by Paleoindians about11,500 years ago.The people who madethese points are identified as the Clovis cul-ture.

Coahuiltecans (Koh-uh-weel-TAY-kuhnz)—thename given to the many bands of Indians whowere hunters and gatherers and who lived insouth Texas and northern Mexico at the timeof European contact.

Comanches (koh-MAN-cheez)—a group ofPlains Indians who moved into Texas in about1700.Today the headquarters of theComanche tribe is in western Oklahoma.

comparative (kum-PEHR-uh-tiv) analysis (uh-NAL-i-sis)—to study one thing by comparingit to another similar or opposite thing.Comparative analysis is very important to thescience of archeology.

Contact (KAHN-takt) period (PEER-ee-uhd)—the time from the arrival of the first

Europeans (about 1500) until the Spaniardsbegan to build missions in the state (about1700) is called the Contact period.

contour (KAHN-toor) lines—the curvy lineson a topographic map that are used to showelevations and relief.The interval between thelines is a set distance that measures verticalspacing. For example, if the contour intervalis 10 meters and two contour lines appearvery close together, the lines show that theland rises (or falls off) very steeply. If the con-tour lines are far apart, they show that theland goes up (or down) 10 meters over along distance.That is why contour lines arefew and far between on a topographic map ofthe plains—and very close on a map of themountains.

contract (KAHN-trakt) archeology—archeolo-gy that is contracted by private firms or thegovernment for projects that must conformto local, state, or federal laws.

Coushatta. See Alabama-Coushatta.

cultural (KUHL-cher-uhl) remains (re-MAYNS)—anything that was made or used byhumans. Cultural remains include many thingsbesides tools. Some examples are the burnedrock in a hearth, the remains of an adobewall, a pit where trash was buried, and paint-ings on the walls of caves.

crossbow —a special bow with a mechanicaldevice that made it shoot with much greaterforce than a common bow.

culture (KUHL-cher)—a group of people whospeak the same language and have the samecustoms and way of life from generation togeneration.When archeologists find the samekinds of artifacts, made in the same styles,and evidence of the same type of lifeways(such as hunting and gathering) in sites thatcover long periods of time, the people whomade those artifacts are identified as a cul-ture (such as the Folsom culture).

curation (kyoo-RAY-shun)—taking care of a spe-cial collection, such as a collection of artifacts.

GLOS-3

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Danz (danz) homesite—a German Texan farmsite in the LBJ park.

diameter (dy-AM-uh-ter)—the length of astraight line through the center of an object;diameter is often used as a measurement forcircular or ball-shaped objects.

domesticate (duh-MES-tuh-kayt)—the act orprocess through which people cultivate orraise plants and animals for use by people.

-E-

Edwards chert (ED-werdz chert)—a CentralTexas stone prized for making projectilepoints and other stone tools.

Elephas (EL-uh-fuhs) columbi (kuh-LUHM-by)—an extinct member of the elephant fam-ily. Mammoths are one example of extinctelephants.

ethnohistory (eth-noh-HIS-tuh-ree)—the studyof the development of past cultures. Ethno-historians study documentary sources tolearn more about past peoples and how theylived.

excavate (eks-kuh-VAYT)—in archeology, toexcavate means to investigate a site through acareful, scientific digging process.

excavation (eks-kuh-VAY-shun) unit. Themapped and measured square in which exca-vation is done.

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flint—this name is often applied to any hard,fine-grained stone, such as chert or agate,used for making arrowpoints and similartools. See also agate; chert.

flintlock—a gun or pistol used in the 17th and18th centuries; a piece of flint, for striking aspark, was used in the firing works of theseweapons.The small squares of flint are oftenfound in French and Spanish Colonial sites.

Folsom (FOHL-suhm)—the name of the style ofPaleoindian spear or dart point that wasmade after the Clovis point. Folsom pointswere made by Paleoindians of the Folsomculture.

Fort Clark—located near the town ofBrackettville in Kinney County, this frontierfort was founded in 1852; the SeminoleNegro Indian Scouts village was located nearthis fort.

Fort Concho (KAHN-choh)—a federal frontierfort in Tom Green County that was estab-lished in 1867 and operated until 1889.

Fort Duncan (DUHN-kuhn)—located inMaverick County, this frontier fort was estab-lished in 1849; Seminole Negro Indian Scoutsserved here.

Fort St. Louis. See La Salle.

Fresno (FREZ-noh)—the name of one of themany styles of arrowpoints made by LatePrehistoric people in Texas.

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genetics (jin-E-tiks)—the study of genes, a spe-cial material in human and animal cells. Genesdetermine our physical appearance.

geographic (jee-oh-GRAF-ik) coordinates(koh-OR-di-nuhts)—points on a map that canbe used to provide location; the system oflatitude and longitude can be used as coordi-nates on a topographic map to mark thelocation of an archeological site.

geologist (jee-AHL-uh-jist)—a scientist whostudies the history of the earth and its land-forms, such as mountains, canyons, and plains.

Great Plains—a geographical region of high,level land that extends from Canada to Texas,in the center of North America. Except forwooded river valleys, the plains are mostlygrasslands.

grid—in archeology, a grid is a system of squares,made of string attached to stakes, placed overa site.The grid lets the archeologist record

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areal location in the site during excavation.One point in the grid is a permanent datumpoint (usually a piece of steel rod) that is leftburied at the site. A future archeologist canuse that datum point to establish exactly thesame grid over the site.

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hearth (harth)—any place where pits, stones, orburned soil remain in place to show wherepeople once built a fire.

Historic (his-TOHR-ik) period—archeologistscall the time after European contact in NorthAmerica the Historic period.

historic preservation—a term once associatedonly with restoring and protecting old build-ings or structures of the historic period, butnow used by people in heritage-related fieldsto include all types of cultural resources,including archeological sites (both prehistoricand historic).

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in situ (in SI-too)—when an artifact is found inplace in an archeological site, archeologistssay the artifact was found in situ. If a site hasbeen disturbed, the artifacts in the site mayno longer be in situ.

irrigate (EER-uh-gayt)—to supply water to landor crops by artificial means, such as diggingcanals from a river. Farmers who irrigatetheir crops do not have to depend on rainfall.

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jacal (hah-KAHL)—a small house built of uprightsticks daubed with mud and having a thatchedroof.

Jumanos (hoo-MAH-nohz)—a bison-huntingpeople who lived in the Trans-Pecos regionand adjoining areas of Texas at the time ofEuropean contact.

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Karankawas (kuh-RAHN-kuh-wuhz)—a groupof hunting and gathering Indians who wereliving along the Gulf coast in southern Texasat the time of European contact.

Kickapoos (KIK-uh-pooz)—an Indian group thatmoved down from the northern United Statesand into Mexico, and then moved into Texasafter Texas became a state. Kickapoos still livealong the border near Eagle Pass,Texas.

key. See map key.

Kiowas (KY-uh-wuhz)—a Plains Indian groupthat made peace with the Comanches andbecame their allies in the late 18th century.Their historic range extended into the TexasPanhandle.

Kiowa-Apaches—an Indian group culturallyrelated to the Lipan Apaches; they joined thePlains Indian group known as the Kiowa andentered Texas in the late 18th century.TheKiowa and the Kiowa-Apaches became alliesof the Comanches, and their historic rangeextended into the Texas Panhandle.

kill site—an archeological site that contains theremains of animals and the tools that prehis-toric peoples used in killing those animals.

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Lafitte (lah-FEET)—a Frenchman and a famouspirate, Jean Lafitte built a fortified house onGalveston Island in the early 19th century,when Galveston was still part of SpanishTexas; this compound was called MaisonRouge.

Laredo (luh-RAY-doh)—a city on the Texas-Mexico border that dates from the lateSpanish Colonial period.

La Salle (lah SAHL)—the early French explorerwho established an early settlement, calledFort St. Louis, near the Texas coast. His namewas Robert Cavalier, and his title was Sieurde La Salle.

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Late Prehistoric (pree-his-TOHR-ik)—the lastperiod of prehistory in Texas.The LatePrehistoric period began when people beganto use the bow and arrow, make pottery, andpractice agriculture.This period ended whenEuropeans came to Texas and the Historicperiod began.

lifeways (LYF-wayz)—the pattern of living that acultural group follows. Lifeways include thethings that people do in order to get foodand to use other natural resources. Forexample, moving about from place to place insearch of wild plant foods is part of a lifewayspattern.

Lipan (li-PAHN) Apaches (uh-PACH-eez)—thegroup of Apaches known as the Lipan werebison hunters in the Texas Panhandle at thetime of European contact. A few Lipan nowlive in New Mexico.

loincloth (LOYN-clawth). See breechclouts.

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majolica (muh-HOH-li-kah)—a pottery made bythe Spanish; early majolica is often blue andwhite, but other colors also were used; tinwas used in the glaze, and majolica looks verydifferent from Native American pottery.

mano (MAH-noh)—a rough stone (such as anoval piece of sandstone) that is held in thehand and used to grind seeds or other foodsagainst a grinding stone (metate).

map key—the part of a map (usually inset, in abox, or printed in the margins) that gives themeanings of any symbols or abbreviationsthat are used in the map.

material (muh-TEER-ee-uhl) culture (KUHL-cher)— the structures, tools, and other arti-facts that are the material remains of pastpeoples.

material (muh-TEER-ee-uhl) remains (ree-MAYNZ)—any remains of a past culture,including items made or used by the peoplewho once occupied an archeological site. For

example, stone tools, pottery sherds, and fire-cracked rock from a hearth are materialremains.

metate (muh-TAH-tee)—a slab of rough stone(such as sandstone) used with a mano (hand-held grinding stone) to grind seeds and otherfoods.

midden (MID-uhn)—any place where past peo-ple heaped trash, food remains, or other dis-carded items. Shell middens are commonalong the coast, and burned-rock middens arecommon in central Texas.

mission (MISH-uhn)—a Spanish Colonial settle-ment for Christianizing the Indians of aregion; the settlement included a missionchurch and Indian quarters.

Montell (MAHN-tel)—the name of one of manydifferent styles of dart points made by peopleduring the Archaic period.

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Nacimiento (nah-see-mee-EN-toh)—a village innorthern Mexico that was settled by theSeminole Negro Indian Scouts.Their descen-dants still live there.

Nacogdoches (na-kuh-DO-chis)—French tradewith the Indians of this locale in the early18th century led the Spanish to establish mis-sions here, to keep the French out of Texas;the settlement that grew around the missionsplayed an important role in early Texas history.

natural forces—any force not controlled ordirected by people. Natural forces includewind and rain, which can disturb an archeo-logical site and eventually erode it completelyaway.

nomadic (NOH-mad-ik)—a word, derived fromnomads, describing people who move aboutfrom place to place (usually within a definedterritory) in search of food instead of build-ing permanent shelters and settling in villages.

non-renewable (NAHN-ree-NYOO-uh-buhl)—something that cannot be duplicated or

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replaced is nonrenewable. Archeological sitesare nonrenewable cultural resources.

north arrow—an arrow-shaped pointer on amap that shows the direction of magneticnorth (magnetic north is the direction as itwould appear on a compass).

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ocher (OH-ker)—a type of iron ore (usually redor yellow in color) that is commonly used asa natural pigment, or paint color; red ocherwas used to make the red paint used in mostrock art sites in Texas.

olive jar—a heavy ceramic vessel used for ship-ping olive oil; sherds of olive jars are oftenfound in Spanish Colonial sites.

oral (OHR-uhl) tradition (truh-DISH-uhn)—knowledge that is passed from one personto another and one generation to anotherby the spoken word. Cultures that have nowritten language must depend on their oraltradition to preserve the history and mythsof their people.

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Paleoindian (pay-lee-oh-IN-dee-uhn)—the earli-est known human inhabitants of NorthAmerica, including prehistoric Texas.

paleontologist (pay-lee-uhn-TAHL-uh-jist)—ascientist who studies the history and lifewaysof extinct animals through the fossilizedremains of animal bones.

Pedernales (ped-er-NAH-les)—the name of oneof many different styles of dart points madeby people during the Archaic period.

pemican (PIM-uh-kuhn)—meat dried andground with nuts or berries.

Perdiz (per-DEEZ poynt)—the name of one ofthe many styles of arrowpoints made by LatePrehistoric people in Texas.

perishable (PEIR-ish-uh-buhl) artifact (AR-tuh-fakt)—an artifact made of wood, plant fiber,

or some other material that will not last longafter the item is discarded.

petroglyph (PET-roh-glif)—a type of rock artcreated by engraving, or incising, the designon on a natural rock face.

pictograph (PIK-toh-graf)—a type of rock artcreated by painting the design on a rock face.

Plains Indians—the term applied to Indian cul-tures of the High Plains who lived mostly byhunting bison. Comanches and Apaches arePlains Indians.

Plainview (PLAYN-vyoo)—the name of a latePaleoindian spear point. Plainview points weremade by Paleoindians of the Plainview culture.

pothunter—a person who digs in archeologicalsites and collects archeological objects forfun or profit.

pottery—any vessel, such as a bowl or jug, madeof moist clay and then hardened by firing.The kind of pottery made by Native Ameri-cans is called coarse earthenware because itwas fired over an open fire and is not as hardas pottery fired in a kiln. A pottery kiln is aspecial kind of oven with a very hot fire.

pottery sherd—a piece, or fragment, of a pot-tery vessel. More sherds than whole vesselsare found in most archeological sites.

prehistory (pree-HIS-tohr-ee)—the time beforewritten history; in Texas the prehistoric peri-od ends with the arrival of the first Spanishexplorers in the 16th century.

presidio (pruh-SID-ee-oh)—the Spanish wordfor fort; the surviving Spanish forts in Texasare still called presidios.

projectile (proh-JEK-tuhl) point (poynt)—asharp tip for a spear, dart, or arrow. Prehis-toric people made their projectile points ofstone.

provenience (proh-VEEN-ee-uhns)—the loca-tion of material remains in an archeologicalsite according to their horizontal and/or ver-tical position in relation to a set of spatialcoordinates. Spatial coordinates include gridsquare, unit number, and level. Location data

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is supplemented by supplemental notes andphotographs. For example, significant remainsare usually photographed in situ.

pueblo (PWAY-bloh)—an Indian village withclosely clustered, apartment-like houses usu-ally made of adobe brick or stone.The best-known builders of prehistoric pueblos are theIndians of New Mexico and Arizona.

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quarry (KWAR-ee) site—a place where prehis-toric people dug or collected stone for mak-ing stone tools.

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random (ran-DUHM) sample—a selection ofitems that has no regular plan or pattern; forexample, an archeologist may decide to do adetailed study of only a random sample of100 flakes from a large collection of flintflakes. A simple way to get this random sam-ple is to number all of the items, write thenumbers on slips of paper, shake up the slipsin a container, and then draw out 100 slips;today, computers can select a random samplefrom a list of item numbers.

redoubt (REE-dowt)—a small, usually temporarydefensive work, especially one used to defenda hill or pass.

repository (ree-PAHZ-uh-tohr-ee)—a specialplace, like a museum, where artifacts can beproperly curated. See also curation.

rockshelter (RAHK-shel-ter)—a natural recessin a stone canyon wall or a shelter formed byfallen boulders. Some prehistoric peopleslived in rockshelters.

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Salvage (SAL-vij) archeology—excavations car-ried out to save as much of a site as possiblein a short period of time.

Sauer (sour) homesite—a German Texan farmsite in the LBJ park.

scale—a statement of the relationship betweenactual measurement and the distance shownin a map, chart, plan, or photograph. Forexample, if the scale of a map is "1 cm = 1km," then 1 centimeter on the map is equalto 1 kilometer of actual distance.

Scallorn (SKAL-ern)—the name of one of themany styles of arrowpoints made by LatePrehistoric people in Texas.

sedentary (SED-uhn-ter-ee)—archeologists saythat people were sedentary if they lived inone place and grew their own food, ratherthan moving about from place to place insearch of wild foods.

Seminole (SIM-uh-nohl) Negro IndianScouts—the Seminole Negroes were asso-ciated with the Seminole Indians in Florida,Oklahoma, and Mexico. Members of thisunique culture served as U.S. military scoutsin Texas in the late 19th and early 20th cen-tury.

shaman (SHAY-muhn)—a priest or ceremonialleader who uses magic to cure the sick, fore-tell events, and communicate with the spiritworld.

shell (shel) midden (MID-uhn)—a place wheremussels, clams, or oysters were collected andeaten, and the shells discarded by people.Most shell middens were formed in placeswhere people returned season after season,year after year, to camp in the same placesalong the coast.

sherd. See pottery sherd.

Sioux (soo)—the Sioux, like the Comanches,were Plains Indians.The Sioux lived farthernorth on the plains, not in Texas.

site. See archeological site.

site form—also sometimes called "site surveyform" or "site data form"; these terms referto the forms that archeologists fill out whenthey record a site.When the form has beencompleted, a permanent site number is

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assigned and the form is placed in an archeo-logical repository.

site map—a map prepared by an archeologist toshow the locations of features and excava-tions units in an archeological site.

social center—any place where people meet ingroups to act as a government, to performceremonies, or to carry out other activities.

sotol (SOH-tohl)—a desert plant of Mexico andthe Southwestern United States.The sotolplant has slender, pointed leaves.When thesotol blooms, a stalk rises up from the centerof the cluster of leaves, much like the stalk ofa century plant.

Spanish (SPAN-ish) Colonial (kuh-LOHN-ee-uhl) period—part of the Historic period,after about 1700 until the end of Spanish rulein Texas (about 1800).

specialize (SPESH-uhl-yze)—to develop a specialskill. In prehistory, people who were huntersand gatherers usually did not have the needto develop special skills. For example, somehunters and gatherers did not use pottery,and others used only a few simple pots.When people settled in agricultural villagesand their groups or bands contained moremembers, they had the time and the need tobecome specialists, such as tool makers, pot-tery makers, weavers, or religious leaders.

special sample—any sample of remains from anarcheological site taken for special scientifictests. For example, a carbon sample can beused for radiocarbon dating, and a pollensample can be used to identify plants.

stem—beginning in Archaic times, some projec-tile points were made with stems at theirbases, where the points were attached toshafts for use as darts or arrows.

strata (STRA-tuh)—layers of soil in an archeo-logical site, each layer being different in tex-ture and color from the soil above or belowit. Cultural remains and natural sedimentsbecome buried over time; the layer on thebottom is the oldest, the layer on top is theyoungest. Strata may be formed by natural

forces (such as erosion) or by human activi-ties (such as discarding ashes and fire-crackedrock from fires).

stratigraphy (struh-TIG-ruh-fee). See strata.

symbolic (sim-BAHL-ik)—not having a literalmeaning, or having a meaning other than theobvious literal meaning. For example, a spur(like those used by cowboys) can be used tosymbolize, or stand for, a basketball team.

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test unit—a small excavation for determiningthe significance of an archeological site. Seealso excavation unit.

Texas Centennial (sin-TIN-ee-uhl)—the 100thanniversary of the Texas Revolution, whenTexas became a republic.

Tigua (TEE-gwuh)—a group of puebloan Indiansfrom New Mexico who moved to a Spanishmission in El Paso in the late 1600s.The Tiguastill live in El Paso, in a pueblo called Ysleta.

timeline—a visual representation of events inchronological order.

Tonkawas (TAHN-kuh-wuhz)—a group ofbison-hunting Indians who lived in centralTexas during the Historic period. A fewTonkawas now live in Oklahoma.

topographic (toh-poh-GRAF-ik) map—a mapthat accurately depicts the physical featuresand relief of an area. Relief—or how hilly orflat the land is—is shown on the map by con-tour lines. See also contour lines.

trade beads—glass beads made in Europe andtraded to the American Indians of theHistoric period.

travois (TRAV-wah)—poles rigged as a sort ofsled, usually with a cover made of animalhides, to be pulled behind a dog or horse.

turquoise (TER-kwoyz)—a bluish green gem-stone, usually from New Mexico or Arizona.Beads of turquoise were important prehis-toric trade items and have been found inmany archeological sites in Texas.

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type—in archeology, a characteristic is called anattribute, and a set of objects with similarattributes is called a type. For example,arrowpoints that have a set of similar attrib-utes may be defined as a type and given aname, such as Perdiz point.

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unit. See excavation unit. See also grid.

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Wichitas (WICH-i-tahs)—a group of Indians liv-ing in north-central Texas during the earlyHistoric period.The Wichita tribal group nowlives in Oklahoma.

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