Heritage, Volume 17, Number 4, Fall 1999 Page: 12
38 p. : ill. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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The
Changing Face
of Texas Archaeology
Even the art of digging for ruins and examining
the evidence those artifacts yield is changing.
Four professionals in the field take a look at
some of the issues coming to bear on both
the public and the archaeological community.By Dr. Dee Ann Story
Archaeologist
W hen I arrived at the
University of Texas almost 50 years ago to
major in archaeology, I had visions of one
day making great discoveries in Greece or
perhaps Mexico. Instead, I found Texas archaeology
-- discovering that it has fascinating,
though not as adequately appreciated,
ancient treasures. The study of
Texas archaeology is relatively young, its
beginnings coinciding closely with the
onset of this century. Still much has been
accomplished.
The first several decades of the century
saw a small group of dedicated local amateurs
and an even smaller number of professionals
locating major sites and carrying
out limited, but not always careful, excavations.
It was a time of discovering
Texas prehistory and collecting specimens
suitable for exhibit. Some of the finds -
including earthen mounds in East Texas,
well-preserved wooden and fibrous artifacts
from dusty rock shelters in West Texas, and
small pueblo-like villages in the Canadian
valley - attracted national attention.
However, there was little grasp of the considerable time depth and regional
complexity now known to distinguish
Texas archaeology.
Far better perceptions of the cultural
history of Texas began to
emerge in the late 1930s, thanks
primarily to large-scale WPA
projects and the professionally
trained archaeologists hired to
run them. Though not very long
lived, the WPA excavations had a
profound impact on Texas archaeology.
Surviving as generally good field notes and
numerous artifacts-especially in the collections
curated at the Texas Archeological
Research Laboratory at UT Austinthe
WPA findings have been the basis for
many publications, theses, and dissertations.
Indeed, the WPA data was critical
to the definition of the artifact types, periods,
and cultural complexes that became
archaeological vogues in the 1940s and
1950s and that, with important refinements,
continue to make the prehistoric
archaeological record more intelligible.
Government involvement in archaeology
in Texas has increased enormously, and
today is responsible for most of the professional
work in Texas. Known as cultural
resource management, public archaeology
is concerned with the rescue of information
from sites threatened by destruction
as well as the management of sites on public
property. It began modestly in late 1940s
and 1950s with the excavation of a small
number of the sites to be inundated byStone effigy pipe found at the George C. Davis
site. Courtesy of the Texas Archeological
Research Laboratory, The University of Texas
at Austin.reservoirs, including lakes we now identify
as Amistad, Sam Rayburn, and Whitney.
Since then, the Antiquities Code of Texas
and a host of federal historic preservation
laws and regulations have been passed, and
along with them has come a great spurt in
archaeological activity. For example, when
I got started in Texas archaeology, there
were five professional archaeologists working
in the state, with most of them headquartered
at the University of Texas at
Austin. Today, there are at least 30 times
that many; they are to be found in academic
institutions, state offices, and (increasingly)
private firms that contract forHERITAGE * 12 * FALL 1999
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Texas Historical Foundation. Heritage, Volume 17, Number 4, Fall 1999, periodical, Autumn 1999; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth45395/m1/12/: accessed March 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Historical Foundation.