A Stratified Late Archaic Campsite in a Terrace of the San Idelfonzo Creek, Webb County, Southern Texas

Archeologists from TRC Mariah Associates Inc. of Austin conducted mitigation excavations at the Lino site (41WB437) during a six-week period in April and May 1998 under contract with the Texas Department of Transportation, Environmental Affairs Division. The prehistoric archeological site was within the right-of-way of the planned expansion of Highway 83, south of Laredo. A single 196 m2 block measuring 7 m north-south by 28 m east-west was investigated following requirements of a contract that stipulated a three-pronged approach to data recovery. First, a Gradall™ was employed to carefully strip 2 to 4 cm thick layers in eight 3 m wide areas within the block. Balks measuring 80 cm wide by 120 cm tall were left standing between each 3 m wide Gradall™ -stripped area. The material discovered in situ during the Gradall™ stripping was plotted using a total data station. When clusters of cultural materials were encountered during the Gradall™ stripping, these were designated as features, and a series of manual excavations in 1 by 1 m units were dug around each feature. The matrix surrounding these features was screened and in situ data recorded with the total data station. Feature matrix was collected and floated in the laboratory. A total of 124 m2 were hand excavated around 24 recognized features discovered during Gradall™ stripping. Upon reaching the target depth of 120 cm below the surface, the Gradall™ stripping ceased, having mechanically removed 187 m3 of deposits. The second field approach was the hand excavation and screening of matrix from the 80 cm wide by 7 m long standing balks. The total data station was used to plot most in situ material greater than 5 cm in diameter from the 48 m3 hand-excavated balks. In conjunction with the hand excavations of the linear balks, the third field approach involved the collection of 348 four-liter flotation samples from 29 vertical columns systematically spaced every 2 m across the excavation balks. These float samples were collected from the northwest corner of every other hand excavation unit. Flotation results from eight analyzed columns of samples were the basis for assessing the recovery rate from hand excavated units immediately adjacent to the selected columns. The 235 m3 block investigation yielded quantities of cultural materials relatively well stratified throughout the 120+ cm deposits. At least five and possibly six cultural occupation zones were more or less horizontally distributed across the excavation block. Based on three wood charcoal dates from the testing phase and nine radiometric dates from the mitigation phase, all occupations occurred during a 1,400-year period between ca. 2000 and 3400 B.P. The occupations yielded quantities of scattered burned sandstone, 22 burned rock dumps, three burned rock-filled pits, one charcoal stained hearth, two mussel shell concentrations, and one mano cluster. Also recovered were quantities of lithic debitage, a few mussel shells, and sparse formal stone tools including fewer than a dozen ground stone implements. Virtually no bone or burned subsistence remains, and relatively few Rabdotus shells were recovered. Chipped stone tools included 24 whole and fragmented projectile points, 46 bifaces, 18 scrapers, two drills, three hammerstones, and at least 202 edgemodified flakes. The ground stone tools included five manos and eight abraders. One mussel shell pendant with a single drilled hole and notched edges was also recovered. The occupation zones yielded sparse diagnostics in the form of 11 Tortugas projectile points, one Matamoros point, and five Refugio points. Occupations 2 and 6 did not yield diagnostic projectiles, and the latter may not represent a discrete occupation. Occupation 5 was related to the Refugio points and dated to about 3200 B.P. Occupations 1, 3, and 4 were related to the Tortugas and Matamoros points and dated to between 2000 and 3000 B.P. Thirty-six features (8 through 43) were recognized during the mitigation investigations. These included 22 burned rock clusters, three rock filled basins, three occupation lenses, two fresh water mussel shell clusters, one flake concentration, one mano cluster, one charcoal stained basin hearth, and at least one burned root. The burned rock clusters dominate the features (67 percent) and contained from four to 80 burned sandstone rocks. These loosely clustered but unpatterned rocks were associated with sparse wood charcoal chunks and mostly sparse chert debitage. All four basin features yielded quantities of charcoal, and three of these were deeper basins filled with burned rocks. Formal stone tools were rarely found immediately adjacent to the burned rock pit features. The mitigation results contribute significant information about the nature and diversity of Late Archaic adaptations in extreme south Texas

Geronimo Creek Outfall Replacement, The City of Seguin, Guadalupe County, Texas: An Intensive Cultural Resource Survey

The City of Seguin (City) is proposing to construct a new, replacement effluent outfall for the Geronimo Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant. The City also proposes to abandon the existing outfall structure and existing pipeline in place. The proposed project will involve the extension of an existing 24 inch (in) (61 centimeters [cm]) wastewater treatment plant effluent line for a length of 535 feet (ft.) (163 meters [m]). The line will terminate at a new outfall structure located on the east bank of Geronimo Creek, approximately 260 ft. (79 m) from its confluence with the Guadalupe River. Two new manholes will be constructed along the line at major bends in the line. Line depths will range from 9 to 28 ft. (2.7 to 8.5 m). A 40 ft. (12.2 m) wide permanent easement is proposed for the line, along with a 30 ft. (9.1 m) wide temporary easementfor construction purposes. The extent of the outfallstructure should be fully within the 40 ft. (12.2 m) wide easement. The area of potential effect (APE) is defined as an area measuring 535 ft. (163 m) in length, and 70 ft. (21.3 m) in width for a total of 0.85 acres, and generally follows the eastern bank of Geronimo Creek. The Texas Historical Commission (THC) reviewed the proposed development plans and determined that a cultural resource survey was necessary for this City proposed project as the area has potential for cultural resources. The City contracted with TRC Environmental Corporation (TRC) of Austin to conduct the intensive cultural resource survey of their proposed undertaking/APE. TRC archeologists consulted the THC Archeological Sites Atlas (THC Atlas), a database that contains previously documented cultural resource sites and locations of previously conducted archeological surveys, prior to the field investigations. A 1 mi. (1.6 km) radius search around the APE revealed one previously recorded cultural resource site, 41GU21. This prehistoric site is on a high terrace just west of Geronimo Creek and has been extensively disturbed during modern housing construction and is considered ineligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). No previous cultural resources surveys have been conducted in the vicinity of the APE. Southwest of the APE and beyond the 1 mi. (1.6 km) radius was a Texas Department of Transportation survey conducted in 2007 by Moore Consulting, Inc. along Farm-to-Market road 477. No cultural resources were recorded in that linear investigation. On October 14 and 15, 2014, Mike Quigg, a TRC archeologists of the Planning, Permitting, and Licensing Practice of TRC’s office in Austin, conducted an intensive cultural resource survey along the 535 ft. (163 m) length of proposed APE. This included a 100 percent pedestrian survey, plus the mechanical excavation of four backhoe trenches (BT) within the APE to determine the presence/absence of any potential cultural resources within the APE. One deeply buried prehistoric site of potential significance was identified in two trenches (BTs 1 and 2) on the upper terrace along the APE. No cultural materials were recovered from two trenches (BTs 3 and 4) dug into the APE in the lower terrace. No historic structures were in the proposed APE. TRC recommends avoidance of the potentially significant, deep stratified prehistoric site. If the site cannot be avoided then TRC recommends further testing to assess the sites significance, and the potential to yield significant information important in prehistory, either locally, regionally or nationally as per its legal obligations under existing state guidelines. The City of Seguin reviewed the draft report, the archeological findings, and recommendations by TRC archeologists, and sought an alternate route for the proposed sewer line to avoid impact to cultural resource site 41GU168. The City and its engineers agreed to an alternate reroute satisfactory with the landowner that avoids the upper terrace The City of Seguin reviewed the draft report, the archeological findings, and recommendations by TRC archeologists, and sought an alternate route for the proposed sewer line to avoid impact to cultural resource site 41GU168. The City and its engineers agreed to an alternate reroute satisfactory with the landowner that avoids the upper terrace and the archeological site altogether. This proposed reroute successfully avoids and preserves deeply buried prehistoric site 41GU168 in place. TRC now recommends no further cultural resource investigation following the new proposed sewer line location

The Lino Site: A Stratified Late Archaic Campsite in a Terrace of the San Idelfonzo Creek, Webb County, Southern Texas

Archeologists from TRC Mariah Associates Inc. of Austin conducted mitigation excavations at the Lino site (41WB437) during a six-week period in April and May 1998 under contract with the Texas Department of Transportation, Environmental Affairs Division. The prehistoric archeological site was within the right-of-way of the planned expansion of Highway 83, south of Laredo. A single 196 m2 block measuring 7m north-south by 28 m east-west was investigated following requirements of a contract that stipulated a three-pronged approach to data recovery. First, a Gradall™ was employed to carefully strip 2 to 4 cm thick layers in eight 3m wide areas within the block. Balks measuring 80 cm wide by 120 cm tall were left standing between each 3 m wide Gradall™ -stripped area. The material discovered in situ during the Gradall™ stripping was plotted using a total data station. When clusters of cultural materials were encountered during the Gradall™ stripping, these were designated as features, and a series of manual excavations in 1 by 1 m units were dug around each feature. The matrix surrounding these features was screened and in situ data recorded with the total data station. Feature matrix was collected and floated in the laboratory. A total of 124 m2 were hand excavated around 24 recognized features discovered during Gradall™ stripping. Upon reaching the target depth of 120 cm below the surface, the Gradall™ stripping ceased, having mechanically removed 187 m3 of deposits

Cultural Resource Survey of the U.S. Highway 67 Water Improvement Project, City of Presidio, Presidio County, Texas

The City of Presidio is proposing to upgrade their water distribution system, provide services to the Colonia of Las Pampas, north of Presidio, and improve the overall water system reliability to accommodate these additional demands. Following a review of the proposed undertaking, the Texas Historic Commission (THC) recommended that a cultural resource survey be performed (THC letter dated October 21, 2015). To meet its responsibilities under existing State and Federal statutes, the City contracted TRC Environmental Corporation (TRC) of Austin to conduct the necessary cultural resource survey. Subsequently, TRC archeologists submitted a Texas Antiquities Permit Application to the THC, and Antiquities Permit #7722 was issued to archeologist Benjamin G. Bury, who served as Principal Investigator. The Area of Potential Effect (APE) consists of approximately 8.18 acres and includes the existing Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) ROW along U.S. 67 and two 0.02 acre parcels adjacent to the ROW that are currently privately owned, but will be acquired by TxDOT as new ROW easements prior to construction. The project will be funded by the Border Environment Cooperation Commission (BECC). Given the involvement of the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) with the BECC, the USEPA is the lead federal agency for this effort. Fieldwork was conducted on July 26th and July 27th, 2016. The field effort consisted of a systematic pedestrian survey at 15 m (50 ft.) intervals across the APE. Cultural resources documented during the survey included one historic site (41PS1220) and three isolated core reduction flakes that were widely separated and not associated with any other cultural materials. Site 41PS1220 consists of mid-to late-20th century trash left from informal dumping along U.S. 67. The dumping ground has been graded smooth in the last 30 years. Consequently, site materials are in a secondary context. Given these disturbances, TRC recommends that site 41PS1220 is not eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) or qualified for nomination as a State Antiquities Landmark (SAL). Additionally, one previously recorded site (41PS346) recorded within the ROW in 1976 was not relocated during the investigation, and has likely been significantly redeposited during previous road maintenance activities. TRC recommends that the portion of site 41PS346 within the U.S. 67 ROW is not eligible for inclusion in the NRHP or qualified for nomination as a SAL. Therefore, TRC recommends the project proceed as planned

Eligibility Assessment of the Slippery Slope Site (41MS69) in TxDOT Right-of-Way in Mason County, Texas

A private landowner reported archeolgical materials were looted along a steep road cut on the southwestern side of Farm to Market (FM) road 1871 along the Llano River south of Mason, Texas (CSJ: 1111-04-002). The landowner was concerned that looting had undermined massive oak trees enough that they might fall directly onto the roadway below. The looting was occurring within Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) right-of-way and east of the existing fence line. In June 2004, archeologists from the Planning, Permitting and Licensing Practice of TRC Environmental Corporation (TRC) Austin office conducted a site specific recording, geoarcheological investigation, and archeological testing for National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) and State Antiquities Landmark (SAL) eligibility assessment at prehistoric site 41MS69, the Slippery Slope site. This cultural resource investigation was conducted for the Environmental Affairs Division of TxDOT through multiple Scientific Services Contracts, Work Authorizations, and Supplemental Work Authorizations over the years and through Texas Antiquities Permit No. 3447, issued by the Texas Historical Commission to Principal Investigator, J. Michael Quigg

Root-Be-Gone (41YN452): Data Recovery of Late Archaic Components in Young County, Texas Vol I

This cultural resource investigation was necessitated by the proposed bridge replacement and new right-of-way and easement along the Farm to Market road at Gages Creek crossing (CSJ: 3149-02-010) by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) in southern Young County. From January 29, 2007 through March 16, 2007, an archeological crew from the Cultural Resources Department of TRC Environmental Corporation’s (TRC’s) Austin office conducted data recovery excavations in part of site 41YN452 (RootBe-Gone) before any disturbance from the planned bridge replacement activities occurred. This data recovery program was conducted under TxDOT Scientific Services Contract No. 575XX SA008 and Texas Antiquities Permit No. 4003. Data recovery investigations were conducted along the western side of the existing two-lane paved road in two areas previously documented to have high concentrations of cultural activities centered on cultural features. These two areas were identified during TRC’s 2006 site eligibility assessment, which was also conducted on adjacent site 41YN450. Only the Root-Be-Gone site was accepted as eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places and, therefore, subject to intensive data recovery investigations. This report provides the accepted research design that guided the analyses, describes the methods employed, discusses the excavation process, and presents detailed findings and results of technical analyses from the 50.5 m3 (144 m2) data recovery excavations for three, horizontally-separated Late and Terminal Archaic components at Root-Be-Gone. The data recovery investigations included the mechanical removal of roughly 30 to 60 cm of sediment from above a previously identified target zone, cultural materials in a buried A horizon that contained an apparent Terminal Archaic assemblage in two horizontally-separated areas. Each area was targeted by a single block excavation, labeled North and South Block, which are roughly 70 m apart and which parallel the existing right-of-way. Following the mechanical stripping to access the targeted Terminal Archaic component in the buried A horizon, hand-excavations were conducted in 1-by-1 m units in continuous blocks through the targeted buried A horizon. The target zone varied from 20 to 40 cm thick. This buried A horizon appeared to contain a single, isolated Terminal Archaic component. Root-Be-Gone (41YN452) yielded what is considered three horizontally-separate cultural components (labeled 1, 2, and 3) in the buried A horizon. This buried A horizon varied in depth from 45 to 70 cmbs. A few scattered Late Prehistoric arrow points were discovered on the surface and above the Terminal Archaic component. The younger and scattered Late Prehistoric artifacts were determined to occur above or on top of the buried A horizon. No definable cultural features were identified with the scattered arrow points. These scattered, Late Prehistoric materials were deemed insignificant and not targeted during the data recovery investigations. The excavations yielded assemblages of chipped stone tools (N = 154), lithic debitage (N = 1,486), mussel shell (N = 8,430), faunal bone (N = 71), charcoal (N = 111), burned rocks (N = 4,421), features (N = 18), and other cultural materials, including sediment samples. During the analyses, wood charcoal radiocarbon results from across the excavated areas revealed that a minimum of two, and possibly three different Terminal and/or Late Archaic components were represented in the buried A horizon in the two blocks. The North Block was radiocarbon dated by nine accepted dates to ca. a 230 year period between 1100 and 1330 B.P. The cultural materials recovered were assigned to a single, well-defined and isolated Terminal Archaic Component 1. That component yielded three dart points and one tiny arrow point associated with 14 cultural features. The features were comprised mostly of quantities of freshwater mussel shell concentrations in dumps, most associated with small scattered burned rocks; a burned, rock-filled heating element, scattered mussel shells and lithic debitage, and a few scattered formal chipped stone tools. The absolute age documented for this Terminal Archaic component that yielded dart points overlaps in time with the Scallorn arrow point using populations of the Austin phase of the Late Prehistoric period. The South Block yielded minimally two sets of radiocarbon dates. The northern two-thirds of the South Block yielded seven accepted absolute wood charcoal dates that range over a nearly 630 year period between 690 and 1320 B.P. The targeted buried A horizon yielded what appeared as a single Terminal Archaic dart point and a limited stone tool assemblage. This assemblage is assigned to the Late Archaic Component 2. TxDOT archeologists considered this part of the South Block to be potentially mixed based on the wood charcoal radiocarbon dates obtained. Therefore, TxDOT archeologists decided that detailed analyses were restricted to the two cultural features (Features 11 and 13) and the formal stone tool assemblage recovered from that area. Because of the possible mixed cultural materials, this data was not used to address the presented research questions. The southern one-third of the South Block was radiocarbon dated by four accepted wood charcoal dates to a narrow 120 year period with an average age of 1855 B.P. This area was dominated by a single 3.0 to 3.5 m diameter mussel shell feature (Feature 4) that lacked associated formal chipped stone tools and diagnostic dart points. Here, this material is assigned to the Late Archaic Component 3. Because of the documented age difference from the Terminal Archaic Component 1 in the North Block, this material was not used to address the research questions that focused on the Terminal Archaic period. Six research questions were targeted and address issues that include: whether the excavations yielded an isolatable Terminal Archaic component, what cultural materials were associated with the Terminal Archaic component, how this assemblage compares to other Terminal Archaic assemblages in the region, what was the subsistence base and broader economic pattern for this period, and was the bow and arrow adopted simultaneously by all groups. Following the acceptance of the final report, these materials were permanently curated at the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory (TARL) in Austin. The Texas Historical Commission granted permission to curate only a small sample of the freshwater mussel shells collected during these investigations. The curated shells originate mostly from identified cultural features in all three components

Archeological Testing of TxDOT Right-of-Way through Site 41BL278, Bell County, Texas

In January 2004, Blanton & Associates, Inc., conducted an archeological survey of 8.5 hectares (21.1 acres) for a proposed roadway improvement and bridge replacement project (CSJ: 0396-04-059) along roughly 1,800 meters (m) of the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) right-ofway where State Highway (SH) 317 crosses the Leon River in Bell County, Texas (Ringstaff 2004). That investigation consisted of three shovel tests, ten backhoe trenches, and five hand-excavated columns. Five backhoe trenches and the screened trench columns were excavated in the alluvial terrace on the southern side of the Leon River and encountered a single cultural component buried between 130 and 180 centimeters (cm) below surface (bs). Wood charcoal from burned rock Feature 1 yielded an accelerated mass spectrometer date of 2490 ± 50 B.P. As a result, boundaries of a previously documented prehistoric cultural resource site to the southeast, 41BL278 were extended northwestward to include the river terrace on the southern side of the Leon River where the bridge development, area of potential effect (APE) is proposed. Ringstaff (2004) recommended archeological testing/evaluation in the area of the APE at site 41BL278, if that part of the site could not be avoided by planned bridge expansion. The Texas Historical Commission concurred with this recommendation

Phase I Cultural Resources Investigations at Justiceburg Resevoir on the Double Mountain Fork of the Brazos River, Garza and Kent Counties, Texas Volume II

The prehistoric site descriptions are divided into three sections: Garza County, Kent County, and Isolated Finds. All sites are described fully in a telegraphic format in order to conserve space. The descriptions are organized by county in alphabetical order and in numerical order of site within each county. Information for each site 1s organized into six headings: location, description, features, cultural materials observed/collected, shovel test data, and assessment/recommendations. The determination of the percentage of the site remaining intact is based on in-field observations of the postulated original areal extent of the site versus what is still potentially intact. Assessments are based on each site\u27s individual merits and are stated in terms of eligibility for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. These assessments were made by the Project Archeologist and the Principal Investigator based on a site-by-site review. Two categories of eligibility include: potentially eligible (sites with excellent to unknown research potential) , and not eligible (sites with little or no further research potential). Research potential is derived from each site I s potential to contribute to the resolution of the questions posed in the Research Design (Chapter 5). While most of the research potential categories are reasonably clear, the unknown category should be more fully explained. Sites with unknown potential are those that are buried, lack exposed features, and failed to yield temporally or functionally diagnostic materials. The unknownII designation refers to the inability (based on extant data) to specify which research questions a site may appropriately address rather than a lack of any research potential. Assessments also may refer to exotics. This term is used to identify materials or artifacts that were imported into the local area. Included are such items as obsidian, Alibates agate, Tecovas jasper, and nonlocal ceramics. Recommendations are provided on the basis of each site\u27s assessment. These do not consider the suggested sampling strategy described in Chapter 13, Recommendations/Treatment Plan. Isolated Finds were thoroughly documented in the field and were assigned trinomial site numbers to facilitate record Jceeping; however, they are not felt to be worthy of extended descriptions for reporting purposes. Therefore, this category of sites is treated in highly abbreviated form in a separate section following the site descriptions. Information provided for Isolated Finds includes: site number, location, landform, elevation, area, description, and material type. Isolated finds are defined as any single surface artifact or feature with no associated materials or features, or surface sites with a density of cultural materials less than one item in 20 rna. These finds generally are highly disturbed, redeposited, or lack intact context. No shovel testing was done at Isolated Finds, except at sites 41GR411, 41GR482, 41GRS19, 41GRS32, 41KT46, and 41KT71, where all tests excavated were negative. Only three of these Isolated Finds are dated. These sites are considered to retain little interpretive value beyond the survey level, and none require further work. Because of this, Isolated Finds are not considered eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. Finally, abbreviations are used throughout the site descriptions. Those referring to roads, distances, elevations, and cardinal directions are self-explanatory. However, two others require explanation. GRC refers to Grand River Consultants, Inc., a firm located in Grand River, Colorado, which performed limited archeological survey at Justiceburg in 1982. NRHP refers to the National Register of Historic Places; this phrase is abbreviated to save space since it must be used in the assessments of each individual site

Big Hole (41TV2161): Two Stratigraphically Isolated Middle Holocene Components in Travis County, Texas Volume I

During April and May 2006, an archeological team from the Cultural Resources Section of the Planning, Permitting and Licensing Practice of TRC Environmental Corporation’s (TRC) Austin office conducted geoarcheological documentation and data recovery excavations at prehistoric site 41TV2161 (CSJ: 0440-06-006). Investigations were restricted to a 70 centimeter (cm) thick target zone between ca. 220 and 290 cm below surface (bs) on the western side of site 41TV2161 – the Big Hole site in eastern Travis County, Texas. This cultural investigation was necessary under the requirements of Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), the implementing regulations of 36CRF Part 800 and the Antiquities Code of Texas (Texas Natural Resource Code, Title 9, Chapter 191 as amended) to recover a sample of the significant cultural materials prior to destruction by planned construction of State Highway 130 (SH 130). The latter by a private construction firm – Lone Star Infrastructure. This necessary data recovery was for Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), Environmental (ENV) Affairs Division under a Scientific Services Contract No. 577XXSA003 (Work Authorization No. 57701SA003). Over the years since the original award, multiple work authorizations between TxDOT and TRC were implemented and completed towards specific aspects of the analyses and reporting. The final analyses and report were conducted under contract 57-3XXSA004 (Work Authorization 57-311SA004). All work was under Texas Antiquities Committee Permit No. 4064 issued by the Texas Historical Commission (THC) to J. Michael Quigg. Initially, an archeological crew from Hicks & Company encountered site 41TV2161 during an intensive cultural resource inventory conducted south of Pearce Lane along the planned construction zone of SH 130 in the fall of 2005. Following the initial site discovery, archeologists expanded their investigations to the west across the SH 130 right-of-way, and completed excavation of 10 backhoe trenches, 13 shovel tests, and 11 test units at site 41TV2161. The investigations encountered at least seven buried cultural features and 1,034 artifacts, some in relatively good context. The survey and testing report to TxDOT presented their findings and recommendations (Campbell et al. 2006). The ENV Affairs Division of TxDOT and the THC reviewed the initial findings and recommendations, and determined site 41TV2161 was eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places and as State Antiquities Landmark as the proposed roadway development was to directly impact this important site and further excavations were required. Subsequently, TRC archeologists led by Paul Matchen (Project Archeologist) and J. Michael Quigg (Principal Investigator) initiated data recovery excavations through the mechanical-removal of between 220 and 250 cm of sediment from a 30-by-40 meter (m) block area (roughly 3,000 m3). This was conducted to allow hand-excavations to start just above the deeply buried, roughly 70 cm thick targeted zone of cultural material. Mechanical stripping by Lone Star Infrastructure staff created a large hole with an irregular bottom that varied between 220 and 260 cmbs. To locate specific areas to initiate hand-excavations within the mechanically stripped area, a geophysical survey that employed ground penetrating radar (GPR) was conducted by Tiffany Osburn then with Geo-Marine in Plano, Texas. Over a dozen electronic anomalies were detected through the GPR investigation. Following processing, data filtering, and assessment, Osburn identified and ranked the anomalies for investigation. The highest ranked anomalies (1 through 8) were thought to have the greatest potential to represent cultural features. Anomalies 1 through 6 were selected and targeted through hand-excavations of 1-by-1 m units that formed continuous excavation blocks of various sizes. Blocks were designated A, B, C, D, E, and F. The type, nature, quantity, and context of encountered cultural materials in each block led the direction and expansion of each excavation block as needed. In total, TRC archeologists hand-excavated 38.5 m3 (150 m2) from a vertically narrow target zone within this deep, multicomponent and stratified prehistoric site. Hand-excavation in the two largest Blocks, B and D (51 m2 and 62 m2 respectively), revealed two vertically separate cultural components between roughly 220 and 290 cmbs. The younger component was restricted to Block B and yielded a Bell/Andice point and point base, plus a complete Big Sandy point. These points were associated with at least eight small burned rock features, one cluster of ground stone tools, limited quantities of lithic debitage, few formal chipped and ground stone tools, and a rare vertebrate faunal assemblage. Roughly 20 to 25 cm below the Bell/Andice component in Block B and across Block D was a component identified by a single corner-notched Martindale dart point. This point was associated with a scattered burned rocks, three charcoal stained hearth features, scattered animal, bird, and fish bones, mussel shells, and less than a dozen formal chipped and ground stone tools. Both identified components contained cultural materials in good stratigraphic context with high spatial integrity. Significant, both were radiocarbon dated by multiple charcoal samples to a narrow 200-year period between 5250 and 5450 B.P. during the middle Holocene. With exception of the well-preserved faunal assemblages, perishable materials were poorly preserved in the moist silty clay loam. Charcoal lacked structure and was reduced to dark stains. Microfossils (e.g., phytoliths and starch gains) were present, although in very limited numbers and deteriorated conditions. The four much smaller Blocks (A, C, E, and F) yielded various quantities of cultural material and features, but these blocks also lacked sufficient charcoal dates and diagnostic artifacts Those artifacts and samples were left unassigned and analyzed separately from the Bell/Andice and Martindale components. The two well-defined components in Blocks B and D are the focus of this technical report. The components provide very significant data towards understanding rare and poorly understood hunter-gatherer populations during late stages of the Altithermal climate period. This final report builds upon the interim report submitted to TxDOT (Quigg et al. 2007) that briefly described the methods, excavations, preliminary findings, initial results from six feasibility studies, and proposed an initial research design for data analyses. Context and integrity of the cultural materials in the two identified components was excellent. This rare circumstance combined with detailed artifact analyses, solid documentation of their ages through multiple radiocarbon dates, and multidisciplinary approach to analyses, allowed significant insights and contributions concerning the two populations involved. Results provide a greater understanding of human behaviors during a rarely identified time in Texas Prehistory. The cultural materials and various collected samples were temporarily curated at TRC’s Austin laboratory. Following completion of analyses and acceptance of this final report, the artifacts, paper records, photographs, and electronic database were permanently curated at the Center for Archaeological Studies (CAS) at Texas State University in San Marcos

Data Recovery at 41MI96 in Mills County, Texas

Prehistoric site 41MI96 in Mills County, Texas was subjected to archeological data recovery excavations by staff archeologists from the Archeological Studies Program of the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) in May 1999. This work followed an initial environmental review by TxDOT personnel that concluded that a proposed bridge replacement and associated realignment of a county road (CSJ: 0923- 23-011) had a high probability to impact previously unrecorded archeological sites. Subsequently, an archeological impact evaluation was conducted by TxDOT staff archeologists, under the direction of Dr. G. Lain Ellis. TxDOT investigations were conducted under Texas Antiquities Committee Permit No. 2193 to perform data recovery efforts at 41MI96 prior to development impacts. In 2012, TRC Environmental Corporation (TRC) of Austin was contracted by the Environmental Affairs Division of TxDOT through Work Authorization 57-109SA003 to conduct analysis on the recovered remains and complete a technical report of TxDOT’s field investigations and TRC’s laboratory findings in fulfillment of TxDOTs’ Antiquities permit. Data recovery excavations consisted of the excavation of four mechanical trenches across two creek terraces (T1 and T2) and hand-excavations in two small blocks (Blocks 1 and 2) within the TxDOT right-of-way on the northwestern side of the project area. Hand-excavations in both blocks were initiated to target newly discovered burned rock concentrations encountered in the bottom of backhoe scrapings. A total 5.5 m3 of manualexcavation was completed, which was comprised of 16 total 1-by-1 m units, 11 in Block 1, and 5 in Block 2. Cultural materials were dominated by ca. 602 burned rocks and 2,846 pieces of lithic debitage, 89 informal and formal tools, but lacked diagnostic artifacts and faunal material. Six small, intact burned rock features were identified in Block 1 and were the focus of laboratory analyses. The scattered burned rocks and debitage from Block 2 were only tabulated and discussed in a general way, as TxDOT personnel believed they were in mixed context. The six small burned rock features ranged in size from 33 to 100 cm in diameter and represented four intact heating elements (two with basins and two without), plus two small burned rock discard piles. Radiocarbon dating of organic residues in nine burned rocks from five intact features indicates multiple occupations over a span of roughly 700 years from 820 to 1450 B.P. (cal A.D. 560 to 1270). The lack of recorded depth measurements for cultural materials, combined with limited sediment deposition between the successive occupations, prevented isolation of individual occupational episodes. The lack of discernible vertical separation in the prehistoric occupations reflects slow soil aggregation during this period, likely lengthy surface exposure and possible erosion between events, and soil conditions which may also account for a near absence of charcoal and other organic materials such as vertebrate remains. Four technical analyses (radiocarbon dating, starch grain, lipid residue, and high-powered usewear) focused on a limited suite of chipped stone tools, associated lithic debitage, and burned rocks collected from five of the six intact features in Block 1 in the T2 terrace. Starch grain analysis on fragments of 20 burned rocks from five features and 20 chipped stone tools from around the features in Block 1 yielded positive results from 47.5 percent of the specimens. Of considerable interest is the documentation, in addition to multiple grass species, of grains of the tropical cultigen maize (Zea mays) on two burned rocks each, from Features 2 and 3, plus on two edge-modified tools in the vicinity of those two features. One specific burned rock with a gelatinized maize starch grain on it was directly AMS dated to 980 ± 30 B.P. or cal A.D. 1020 to 1150. Some identified maize starch grains had been damaged through grinding, heating, and/or boiling, evidence of processing as a food resource. This indicates use of maize as a food resource in central Texas a number of centuries earlier than previously suspected. Lipid residue analysis on portions of the same 20 burned rocks from those five features yielded residues in 100 percent of the samples. The results indicate that both plant and animal products were present on all the rocks, with large herbivore lipids (likely bison or deer) present on at least one rock, and oily seed lipids present on at least three rocks. Residues from conifer wood products, here likely juniper trees, were present on 60 percent of the rocks, and indicate at least one specific wood species used to heat the rocks. High-powered microscopic use-wear analyses on 15 chert tools (11 edge-modified flakes, 2 biface fragments, and 2 complete choppers) revealed their use in processing wood, plants, bone, and hide as well as unspecified soft and hard materials. The sparse frequency of formal chipped stone tools likely reflects the limited area investigated and also the possibility that these occupations reflect low-intensity and short-term camps that focused on preparing and cooking a few food resources in heating facilities and the manipulation of other perishable resources. The lipid and starch analyses of the burned rocks provides important information concerning the resources cooked by the rocks in these small burned rock features, most significantly the presence of maize and wild native grasses. These resources would have gone unidentified without these specialized analyses. Continued use of these two analytical techniques on suites of burned rocks from other features/sites in and around central Texas will provide an empirical basis for identifying changes in subsistence patterns over time and across geographical space. It is also notable that direct radiocarbon dating of organic residues contained within the porous sandstone burned rocks here has succeeded in providing satisfactory chronological control for the features and site, strongly indicating that this technique can be beneficially employed in the future in cases where other organics such as wood charcoal, charred seeds/nuts, and/or bone are unavailable for absolute dating. In 1999 the Texas Historical Commission accepted TxDOT’s field investigations as sufficient and concurred with TxDOT’s recommendation that no further work was necessary under Texas Antiquities Committee Permit No. 2193. Parts of site 41MI96 outside the current TxDOT right-of-way have not been fully evaluated. Based on the present findings and the excavated intact features in Block 1, it appears that potentially eligible deposits may be present beyond the current right-of-way. If TxDOT further expands this county road, it is recommended that those areas at 41MI96 be evaluated prior to surface modifications related to that project