Texas Almanac, 1941-1942 Page: 37
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HISTORY OF TEXAS. 37
INDIAN TRIBES AT COMING
OF WHITE MAN.
Usually the written history of Texas
begins with the coming of the early ex-
plorers, padres and conquistadores; ac-
tually it should begin with the aborig-
inal Texans, the Indians. Written his-
tory has usually given this chapter
scant space because there has been
scant information. In recent years,
through the gradual accumulation of
information dug from the archives of the
early explorers and the evidence dug
from the earth by the archaeologists, no-
tably through the work of the late
Prof. J. E. Pearce of the University of
Texas, an appreciable amount of de-
pendable information has been estab-
lished dating back far beyond the ear-
liest visit of the white man.
Antiquity of Man in Texas.
Recent discoveries have greatly in-
creased the estimates of the length of
time that man has inhabited Texas.
Notably, the discovery of hand-carved
stone images during recent years in
gravel pits in Henderson County are be-
lieved to date back to the Pleistocene
age. Dr. E. H. Sellards, University of
Texas, estimates the antiquity of man in
Texas at 100,000 years. At the time of
the coming of the white man, the Texas
region probably was one of the more
thickly populated areas of North Amer-
ica, exclusive of Central Mexico.
Climate and indigenous flora and
fauna resources of Texas made it a more
than ordinarily habitable region. The
great herds of buffalo, deer and other
wild animals, the fish of the coast and
inland streams, and the native fruits, the
berries and pecans made maintenance of
life relatively easy. Not only was the
population relatively large, but, even in
that day Texas was characterized by an
outstanding characteristic of today-di-
versity. This diversity of prehistoric cul-
tures grew out of the diversity of soils
and physiographic conditions that have
contributed largely to diversity since the
advent of white men. In prehistoric Tex-
as were represented the cultures of the
Mississippi Valley, the wooded and open
plains and the Rocky Mountains.
Three Indian Eras.
Chronologically, the story of Indians
in Texas falls into three parts:
First, those who passed from the scene
before the coming of the first white man,
leaving to the archaeologist the only evi-
dence of existence; secondly, the Indian
tribes living within the present bounds
of Texas when white men came; thirdly,
the migration into Texas from the east
by groups of aborigines, driven westward
by the impact of white man's advance
FIRSTfrom the Atlantic Seaboard, and the de-
cline and passing of all aboriginal peo-
ples, both those who lived in Texas at
the time of the coming of the white man
and those who later moved across the
eastern border.
Prehistoric Texans.
Research of recent years has brought
to light evidence to prove that Texas is
one of the most fertile fields in North
America for archaeological research.
Consistent effort by the department of
anthropology of the University of Tex-
as has brought to light most of this in-
formation and effected the assembling
at the university of one of the most val-
uable regional anthropological museums
in America. Much work has also been
done by a number of other state educa-
tional institutions, notably Sul Ross
State Teachers College, Texas Techno-
logical College, West Texas State Teach-
ers College and several societies, in-
cluding the Central Texas Archaeological
Society and the Archaeological and Pa-
leontological Society of Texas, as well
as the Heye Foundation of New York and
the Smithsonian Institution of Wash-
ington.
The importance of Texas in American
archaeology, wrote Prof. J. E. Pearce,
lies in "(1) the fact that the state is in
the heart of a great North American tri-
angle, the apices of which are the cul-
ture centers of the Maya-Aztec area, the
Pueblo area and the Mound-Builder
area; (2) the evidence which it affords
of the relationship between the cultures
of the pronounced natural environments
such as the forested areas, the coasts, the
prairies and the high plains, and (3) the
inherent value of the early Texas cul-
tures in themselves."
The importance of Texas as a field for
research in prehistoric cultures is em-
phasized also by Frank M. Setzler of
the Smithsonian Institution, who wrote,
after finishing research in Texas in 1935,
as follows:
"The State of Texas, characterized by
its vast size, diversified climate, fauna
and flora, surrounded by divergent ab-
original culture centers, may be consid-
ered at the present time as containing
the possible solution to many important
archaeological problems. Among these
may be cited the northern migrations of
autochthonous Mexican cultures; the
southern development and western
spread of a Mississippi Valley mound or
protohistoric Indian pattern; the south-
ern extremity of a plains complex; and
last, but most important for considera-
tion here, the eastern migration and in-
fluence of the better established prehis-
toric southwestern groups."
The most productive archaeological
evidences probably have been the In-
NATIONAL BANK
IN DALLAS
MEMBER F. D.I.C. .
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Texas Almanac, 1941-1942, book, 1941; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117164/m1/39/?rotate=90: accessed March 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.