National Register of Historic Places Eligibility Testing of Sites 41LT172 and 41LT354 in Luminant's Kosse Mine, Limestone, Texas Page: 69
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6. Site 41LT354
Feature 3
Feature 3 was first identified in the east and west walls of Trench A2. Units 5 and 6 sampled the
east side of the feature, and the west side was left unexcavated. In profile, Feature 3, a large pit
feature, extended in places up to 110 cmbs and more than 2 m north to south. The east to west
dimension of the feature remains unknown. The pit is roughly basin shaped but undulates slightly
both in circumference and at its base (Figure 13). The pit did not appear to be lined with rocks, but
contained thermally altered rocks throughout the vertical column. Thermally altered rocks
recovered from the feature include hematite, metaquartzite, chert, silicified wood, and quartz
arenite. In plan, at the base of Level 10, the soil within the pit appeared to be organically enriched
and was much darker (10 YR 2/2 very dark brown) than the surrounding E horizon soil outside of
the feature (5YR 5/3 reddish brown).
A total of 15.7 g of carbonized plant remains was recovered from the -inch screens and from a
9-liter flotation sample taken from near the base of the feature. The carbonized plant assemblage
includes persimmon, red oak, white oak, indeterminable oak, holly, elm, plum/cherry,
indeterminable wood charcoal, carbonized and semicarbonized bark, hickory and hickory/walnut
family nutshell, and a plum/cherry seed. Sixty-two faunal bone fragments recovered from the
feature included white-tailed deer, deer-sized artiodactyls, medium-sized mammal, and
undeterminable specimens.
The origins of Feature 3 remain somewhat ambiguous after sampling. The feature does appear to
have arisen in part through a variety of activities associated with subsistence processing,
presumably in a domestic context. Compared to other features excavated within the Kosse Mine
(Fischbeck et al. 2011; Sherman et al. 2007) or elsewhere at 41LT354, Feature 3 is unique. It
yielded substantially more carbonized plant remains than any of the other sampled features.
Burned rock features excavated at 41LT56 and 41LT387 (Fischbeck et al. 2011) yielded less than
0.3 g of identifiable carbonized plant remains and only 1 bone fragment combined (Fischbeck et al.
2011). None of the features excavated at sites 41LT253 or 41LT320 yielded more than 0.1 g of
identifiable carbonized plant remains, and only Feature 2 at 41LT320 yielded any faunal remains
(n = 5) (Sherman et al. 2007). Additionally, none of the previously sampled features within the
Kosse Mine showed remnant stains or pit outlines, and they are typically much smaller.
Feature 3 is similar in morphology and content to the roasting pits recorded at the Bird Point Island
site (41FT201) and the Adams Ranch site (41NV177) during the RCAP investigation (McGregor and
Bruseth 1987). These pits were typically larger than Feature 3 (20 to 50 m2) but ranged in depth
from 100 to 225 cm and were roughly basin shaped with undulating bases. All contained high
frequencies of macrobotanical remains, thermally altered rocks, baked clay, dart points, bifaces,
cores, and steeply chipped unifaces. Interestingly, the roasting pits in the north area of 41FT201
formed a ring around three house features identified there. Feature 3 does not appear to resemblePrivate and Confidential
Atkins 100021558/110187 69
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Atkins North America, Inc. National Register of Historic Places Eligibility Testing of Sites 41LT172 and 41LT354 in Luminant's Kosse Mine, Limestone, Texas, report, February 2012; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth839205/m1/78/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.