2014 TEXAS ARCHEOLOGICAL SOCIETY FIELD SCHOOL
TO BE HELD IN COLUMBUS, TEXAS,
Dr. Jason W. Barrett
Linda Gorski
It is official – the annual Texas Archeological Society Field School will be held near Columbus, Texas, on property along the Colorado River, on June 14 – 21, 2014. This Field School will be co-sponsored by the three regional archeological societies – Brazosport, Fort Bend and Houston. HAS member Dr. Jason Barrett, who has been the PI on our Dimond Knoll Screening Project has been chosen to be the PI for the 2014 TAS Field School.
Lithics including preforms, points and
stone tools have been recovered by the landowner
on many parts of the property
The site for Field School 2014 offers a rare multidimensional opportunity to explore the great time depth of human occupation in our region. A rich diversity of temporally significant artifacts have been identified across the 700-acre property, providing evidence for 10,000+ years of occupation - from late Paleoindian all the way through historic! Only preliminary archaeological investigations have been conducted to date, and the number, depth, and integrity of cultural deposits has yet to be determined.
Historic ceramics from one of the historic sites on the ranch.
Several prehistoric upland lithic procurement and production sites have been identified to date, but excavations targeting deeply buried activity areas and habitation zones have yet to be completed. The property also contains a number of early Texas historic sites, with at least one structure directly on top of the earlier Archaic site. Historic artifacts date from the Republic of Texas period, through the pre-civil war era, and up to the early 1900s. An extensive historic ceramic sherd collection has already been discovered which is comparable to the Velasco assemblage!
An 1806 German Marien coin recovered during a
recent walking survey of the ranch by members of
the BAS, FBAS and HAS
The original landowner was a member of the Texas House of Representatives in the 1850s. The current landowner, a descendent with an earnest interest in discovering and preserving the property's rich and dynamic past, has been actively working to have the site recognized for its importance to regional prehistory, as well as Texas' early history.
This is a great opportunity for HAS members to attend a field school close to home. I hope you’ll block out June 14 – 21 on your calendar. Watch for more information in the coming months on dates we’ll go out to Columbus for preliminary surveys and shovel tests hoping to identify new sites in advance of the TAS Field School. If you’d like more information right now, email me at president@txhas.org and I’ll do my best to answer any question.
For more information about the TAS 2014 Field School go to the 2014 Field School section at the TAS Website.