Archeological Testing and Evaluation of the Western Portion of 41CV1310, Fort Hood, Coryell County, Texas

Prewitt and Associates, Inc., completed an evaluation of the western portion of Subarea C at 41CV1310 on the Fort Hood Military Reservation in June and July 2007. The work was conducted for the Texas Department of Transportation in conjunction with the proposed Northeast Copperas Cove Bypass in southern Coryell County. Fieldwork included a resurvey of the area and hand excavation of shovel tests and test units. Maximum dimensions of the tested landform, a small segment of Holocene terrace (T) adjacent to 1 House Creek, are 65x40 m, or 2,600 m2. Excavations yielded only sparse prehistoric cultural remains in questionable depositional context, and the area has no potential to contain an intact and interpretable prehistoric component. It is recommended that this portion of 41CV1310 is not eligible for listing in the National Register and warrants no further work

Archeological Testing Of The Fivemile Crossing Site, 41MN55: A Toyah Site On The San Saba River, Menard County, Texas

Archeological testing of the Fivemile Crossing site, 41MN55, was conducted by Prewitt and Associates, Inc., for the Texas Department of Transportation in November 2006. Located on an alluvial terrace along the San Saba River about 4.3 miles west of Menard, Texas, the site consists of a shallowly buried Late Prehistoric or Protohistoric occupation. Eighteen hand-excavated test units sampled 13.5 m2 from two very narrow strips of intact deposits within the right of way on both sides of FM 2092. The excavations recovered chipped stone artifacts and bone-tempered pottery from a single occupation zone attributed to the Toyah culture. What remains of the site inside the right of way is minimal and is considered not eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places or designation as a State Antiquities Landmark. The road improvements were allowed to proceed without further archeological investigations

Val Verde on the Sunny Rio Grande Geoarcheological and Historical Investigations at San Felipe Springs, Val Verde County, Texas

In the fall of 1997, Prewitt and Associates, Inc. conducted archival and oral history research, an archeological survey, and National Register testing of a prehistoric site in the vicinity of the San Felipe Springs in southeastern Val Verde County, Texas. The work was done in preparation for construction of a water treatment plant and related facilities for the City of Del Rio. The survey resulted in the recording of one historic site (41VV1820) and further documentation of historic and prehistoric components at a previously known site, 41VV444. The latter site also was the focus of intensive geoarcheological investigations. National Register testing of 41VV444, called the San Felipe Springs site, was restricted to portions of the alluvial terraces of San Felipe Creek near the East and West San Felipe Springs. A 40-m\u27 block excavation near the East Springs revealed three stratified prehistoric components in the upper ca. 100 m of alluvium. These sediments represent continual deposition over the last 3,000-4,000 years, and archeological materials denoting Late Prehistoric, Protohistoric, Late Archaic, and Middle Archaic occupations were recovered. The upper component post-dates A.D. 1300 and produced plain bone-tempered potsherds, ClifIton and Perdiz arrow points, and steeply beveled scrapers. This component represents a Toyah phase occupation on the western periphery of the Toyah culture area, but it shares many attributes with Protohistoric Infierno phase occupations of the Lower Pecos. The middle component is characterized by Shumla dart points and three pit features originating near the base of a dense burned rock layer. It represents utilization of the area during the Flanders Subperiod of the Late Archaic. Although recovered from many sites (particularly rockshelters), the chronology of Shumla points is not well established in the region. Radiocarbon assays place the age of the San Felipe Springs Shumla component at ca. 800-200 B.C. Geomorphic evidence suggests that a major flood episode (or episodes) occurred along San Felipe Creek between ca. 1300 and 800 B.C. This gravelly deposit separates the middle component from the lower component and is indicative of a high volume flood event, possibly similar to the August 1998 flooding along San Felipe Creek resulting from Hurricane Charley. Underlying this zone is a discrete Middle Archaic occupation containing a dense burned rock layer and an internal pit feature. Radiocarbon dates, along with associated Bulverde and Langtry variant dart points, correlate to the San Felipe Subperiod. Also associated with this occupation is a small concentration of artifacts representing a dump or cache of usable lithic materials. Historic components at 41VV1820 and 41VV444 contain structures related to the City of Del Rio\u27s water pumping and distribution system. These resources, particularly the East Springs pump house and pond enclosure at 41VV444, are historically significant; however, they will be removed during construction of new water pumping facilities. Site 41VV444 encompasses most of what is now the San Felipe Country Club golfcourse. Built by Texas\u27 first golfcourse architect, John Bredemus, in 1922, the San Felipe course is now recognized as an important historic landscape

Data Recovery Investigations at the Tank Destroyer Site (41CV1378) at Fort Hood, Coryell County, Texas

Data recovery investigations at the Tank Destroyer site (41CV1378) were conducted in August 2007 for the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). This work was required because of potential impacts to the site from TxDOT’s planned improvements of Tank Destroyer Boulevard and State Highway 9. The investigations focused on a burned rock mound (Feature 1), one-half of which has been destroyed by an adjacent tank trail. The mound contained two internal features: an off-centered earth oven and a small cluster of Rabdotus sp. shells. With the exception of the location of its earth oven, the mound at the Tank Destroyer is typical of a classic central Texas domed mound, though slightly flattened by postdepositional processes. In all, an area of 30.5 m2 and volume of 11.8 m3 of cultural deposits were hand excavated, and an additional ca. 17.3 m2 was mechanically stripped. The mound excavations yielded 5,570.5 kg of burned rocks. Artifacts recovered from mound and nonmound contexts consist of 129 chipped stone tools, 9 cores and core fragments, 4,466 pieces of unmodified debitage, 1 ground stone tool, 2 unmodified bone fragments, 1,415 Rabdotus sp. shells, and 40 historic artifacts. In addition, 413 pieces of microdebitage and 251 Rabdotus sp. shells were recovered from flotation and soil column samples taken from the mound. There was virtually no preservation of vertebrate faunal remains and poor preservation of botanical remains. No economic plants (i.e., food resources) were recovered despite the collection and processing of flotation samples. Sixteen radiocarbon assays on charred wood and Rabdotus sp. shells date the site occupation to 1500 b.c. through a.d. 1650. The date range for the diagnostic projectile points recovered from the site (200 b.c. to a.d. 1200) fits nicely within the range of radiocarbon dates. As a group, the radiocarbon dates and the projectile points suggest that the most intensive period of site use occurred intermittently between 1000 b.c. and a.d. 1200. Like most burned rock mounds, the mound at the Tank Destroyer site consisted of a jumbled mass of burned rocks that episodically accreted around an earth oven. These processes and repeated use over centuries limit our ability to recognize distinct components for analysis. Given these limitations, our analysis took a different approach. While it includes traditional analyses of the lithic, burned rock, and snail assemblages, it also examines social identity during the Late Archaic period in central Texas and the relationships between burned rock mounds and middens and environmental variables through a landscape analysis