Sarahville de Viesca (41FA86) Cemetery Search, Falls County, Texas

The search for the 1830s Sarahville de Viesca cemetery took place in Falls County, Texas, located about 10 km southwest of Marlin, Texas (Appendix A). The project was sponsored by the Summerlee Foundation of Dallas. One of the foundation’s purposes is to investigate and preserve Texas history. In 2006 the foundation purchased land that contained the Sarahville de Viesca site and a cemetery called Bull Hill to preserve these sites and make them available for research. As part of this mission, the Summerlee Foundation asked the Texas Historical Commission (THC) to investigate the Bull Hill cemetery (41FA86). The THC investigated the cemetery from 2008 into 2011, under the direction of Dr. James Bruseth, then director of the Archeology Division of the THC. The Bull Hill cemetery was the burial place for former enslaved workers at the nearby Jones Plantation and for the descendants of the enslaved workers. During the recordation process, information was found that indicated the 1837 burial site of James Coryell, a Texas Ranger stationed at the settlement, was located immediately south of the Bull Hill cemetery. In 2010 the burial site was found a few meters south of the cemetery, and excavation of the grave took place later that year and again in 2011 by the THC. The project reported in this document is an effort to search for additional graves associated with the 1830s Sarahville community around the location of the Coryell burial site. Fieldwork for the project took place from August 22 to 24, 2019. The project area was a .0676 ha area around the Coryell gravesite. The effort was directed by Principal Investigator James Bruseth, and assisted by staff of the THC, including Bradford Jones, Rebecca Shelton, and Arlo McKee. Additional help was given by THC Commissioner John Crain, Dallas resident Gwyneth Gravelle, and Summerlee Foundation President Gary Smith. A total of 98 person- hours of time were spend on the fieldwork. The working hypothesis for the project was that Coryell was buried at this location because it was the cemetery for the nearby settlement of Sarahville de Viesca (1834-1838) capital of the Roberston Colony of Texas. Specifically, the goal was to investigate shallow surface depressions around the Coryell grave to see if grave shafts could be found beneath them. Three depressions were selected, and .75 cm by 1.5 m units were placed over each depression and excavated to about 30 cm. Grave shafts were found in two of the three units, confirming that Coryell’s grave was part of a larger burial complex. The excavations in the three units did not recover any artifacts. Records and photographs are curated at the THC. The results indicate that the Sarahville de Viesca town cemetery was indeed located here. When the Jones Plantation was established in the area in 1850, the enslaved workers at the plantation were allowed to continue using the Sarahville cemetery as their burial place. The cemetery became known by the name Bull Hill

Archeological Investigations at the Hudnall-Pirtle Site (41RK4) An Early Caddo Mound Center in Northeast Texas

The Hudnall-Pirtle site (41RK4) is situated on a large T-1 alluvial terrace of the Sabine River in northern Rusk County in Texas. This area of the state, commonly called Northeast Texas, is part of the Southern Gulf Coastal Plain, a relatively level, sloping plain formed by the pre-Pleistocene embayment of the Gulf of Mexico. From a biogeographical perspective, the site is located in the Oak-Hickory-Pine forest of eastern Texas, otherwise known as the Pineywoods. This area represents the western extension of the southern coniferous forests and is dominated by shortleaf and loblolly pine trees. Hardwood trees, including various oaks, hickory, elm, and gum, are the dominant vegetation in the floodplains of rivers and major creeks in Northeast Texas

ALCOA #1 (41AN87): A Frankston Phase Settlement along Mound Prairie Creek, Anderson County, Texas

The ALCOA #1 (41AN87) site is a Frankston Phase (ca. A.D. 1400-1650) site located on a high alluvial terrace of Mound Prairie Creek, about seven kilometers northeast of Palestine, Texas. Mound Prairie Creek, a perennial stream, flows southeast to east across the county and drains into the Neches River. The site is approximately 10 meters above the Mound Prairie Creek floodplain, and the creek channel is 300 meters to the south. Although the investigations at the site have been rather limited to date, it appears that the ALCOA #1 site is a single component Frankston Phase homestead, or possibly a small hamlet. Other Frankston phase sites are known on Mound Prairie Creek, Hurricane Creek, Walnut Creek, and Brushy Creek, all Neches River tributaries, and the possibility exists that these may be part of a larger related Caddo community and settlement system

Animal Husbandry and Colonial Adaptive Behavior: Isotopic Insights from the La Belle Shipwreck Fauna

Changing social and economic practices had an important role for human adaptive strategies in colonial contexts and sometimes had profound consequences for emerging societies. This study uses insights from stable-isotope analyses, as well as other historical and archaeological evidence, to investigate the social and economic roles of French animal husbandry as an adaptive strategy for the settlers taking part in La Salle’s famous expedition (1684–1688) to colonize the mouth of the Mississippi River. Stable carbon- and nitrogen-isotope analyses of pig bones and other faunal remains from the shipwreck, La Belle, and associated Fort Saint Louis on the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico are used to evaluate specific historical accounts of colonists’ animal-husbandry practices and show that a large swine population was sustained primarily on meat from local hunting activities. In this context it is argued that, although the substantial efforts involved in raising pigs mainly on other animal products seemingly makes little economic sense, there are social explanations for what initially appears to be irrational behavior. This study provides an example of how stable-isotope analyses of animal-husbandry practices can contribute to understanding social processes through historical archaeology

Genomic insights into methanotrophy: the complete genome sequence of Methylococcus capsulatus (Bath).

Methanotrophs are ubiquitous bacteria that can use the greenhouse gas methane as a sole carbon and energy source for growth, thus playing major roles in global carbon cycles, and in particular, substantially reducing emissions of biologically generated methane to the atmosphere. Despite their importance, and in contrast to organisms that play roles in other major parts of the carbon cycle such as photosynthesis, no genome-level studies have been published on the biology of methanotrophs. We report the first complete genome sequence to our knowledge from an obligate methanotroph, Methylococcus capsulatus (Bath), obtained by the shotgun sequencing approach. Analysis revealed a 3.3-Mb genome highly specialized for a methanotrophic lifestyle, including redundant pathways predicted to be involved in methanotrophy and duplicated genes for essential enzymes such as the methane monooxygenases. We used phylogenomic analysis, gene order information, and comparative analysis with the partially sequenced methylotroph Methylobacterium extorquens to detect genes of unknown function likely to be involved in methanotrophy and methylotrophy. Genome analysis suggests the ability of M. capsulatus to scavenge copper (including a previously unreported nonribosomal peptide synthetase) and to use copper in regulation of methanotrophy, but the exact regulatory mechanisms remain unclear. One of the most surprising outcomes of the project is evidence suggesting the existence of previously unsuspected metabolic flexibility in M. capsulatus, including an ability to grow on sugars, oxidize chemolithotrophic hydrogen and sulfur, and live under reduced oxygen tension, all of which have implications for methanotroph ecology. The availability of the complete genome of M. capsulatus (Bath) deepens our understanding of methanotroph biology and its relationship to global carbon cycles. We have gained evidence for greater metabolic flexibility than was previously known, and for genetic components that may have biotechnological potential