Texas (Other Keyword)
26-49 (49 Records)
This paper focuses primarily on the depositional processes of a historical midden site through a geoarchaeological analysis of an early 1900s domestic midden from Fort Davis Texas. Microscopic investigation has traditionally been used to interpret pre-history archaeological sites with poor emphasis on historical contexts. The examination of Fort Davis’ 2014 collection of heavy-fraction artifacts and soil micromorphological samples will show how geoarchaeology can be used in historical settings...
The History and Archaeology of Quack Medicine in Texas (2022)
This is an abstract from the session entitled "Current Research at Texas A&M University's Conservation Research Laboratory" , at the 2022 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. Fraudulent medical devices or treatments, or quackeries, were initially brought to the United States by British salesmen. After the War of 1812, American quack treatments, commonly called snake oil, were concocted and reached their peak during the Civil War. Texas, which joined the United States in...
Hurricane Harvey: One Story of the Houston Historical Archeology Network Perservering (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Current Research and On Going Projects at the J Richard Steffy Ship Reconstruction Laboratory" session, at the 2019 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. In late August 2017, Hurricane Harvey struck the Texas Coast, causing at least 70 deaths and tens of billions of dollars in damages. Already connected through a partnership of documenting and conserving Civil War artifacts recovered from Buffalo Bayou in the 1960s, the Heritage Society at Sam...
Identities in Flux at an American Frontier Fort: A Study of 19th Century Army Laundresses at Fort Davis, Texas (2016)
As spaces of translation, frontiers and boundaries are the ideal location to study personhood and identity as inhabitants of these landscapes constantly experience and actively negotiate between the multiple live realities that are shaped by often conflicting ideologies. I propose the use of third-space as a framework for understanding the fragmentation and fluidity of experience in the American frontier during the 19th century. Using materials related daily life at a multi-ethnoracial, western...
In Search of La Garita: The Archaeological Discovery of the Spanish Colonial Watch Tower and Powder House (2018)
The location of the Spanish Colonial Watch Tower and Powder House, built between 1808-1809, has been confirmed in San Antonio. These structures represented a significant military post that was, through its span of use, occupied by the militaries of Spain, The Republic of Mexico, The Republic of Texas, The United States, and The Confederate States of America. The long use of the structures ended in the late 19th century when the buildings were demolished and their locations were lost. The City of...
Indianola, The Forgotten Gateway to Western Texas: A Proposed Plan of Archaeological Investigation, Preservation, and Outreach (2016)
The port of Indianola once served as the Gulf Coast's western terminus, providing the shortest overland routes to the Pacific Coast and access to countless European and American immigrants settling west Texas. By 1871, Indianola was second only to Galveston in the size and traffic of its port. Success was short lived, however. Two successive hurricanes in 1875 and 1886 destroyed the city, causing its widescale distruction and abandonment. Despite a rich, important history, Indianola has not...
Investigating Spanish Colonial Features Using GPR in Urban Settings (2017)
Archaeologists at Raba Kistner Environmental, Inc. (RKEI) have been utilizing 3-D ground penetrating radar (GPR) surveys to rediscover Spanish Colonial features such as acequias and foundations in San Antonio, Texas. Many Spanish Colonial sites in San Antonio are located in urban settings and are often covered by roads, parking lots, and sidewalks. Use of 3-D GPR, archival research, and, in some cases, subsurface testing, has allowed us to determine under what geomorphological and burial...
Juntando La Junta: Bringing Together Ceramics Research in the La Junta Region of West Texas (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The La Junta de los Ríos (or La Junta) region of West Texas and Northeast Chihuahua is composed of villages scattered around the confluence of the Rio Conchos and Rio Grande. Based on limited investigations, La Junta village sites (AD 1200-1684) appear to be archeologically similar to, yet distinct from, adjacent Mogollon groups. While the region has been...
The Milam Street Artifact Assemblage: Texas Civil War Artifacts Rediscovered (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Maritime Transportation, History, and War in the 19th-Century Americas" session, at the 2019 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. Buffalo Bayou has connected Houston, Texas to Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico since the city’s founding in 1837. During the American Civil War of 1861-65, Houston served as a storehouse for weapons, ammunition, food, clothing, and other supplies destined for the war effort in Galveston and the rest of the...
More than a picture: Experiments in Terrestrial Lidar documentation in archaeological and architectural management at Texas Army National Guard (2015)
Texas Army National Guard is responsible for management of archaeological and historical buildings at several locations across the state. In order to more effectively integrate preservation concerns into the many internal systems of the Guard's organization, the Cultural Resources team has been reaching out to other departments for expertise and access to technology. This poster summarizes the efforts to utilize terrestrial LiDar not only for detailed documentation of historic properties, but...
Of Platforms and Preparation: Clovis Blade Technology at the Gault Site (41BL323), Central Texas, USA. (2016)
The careful preparation of Clovis striking platforms is considered characteristic of the technology. Platform preparation is regarded as a critical component of many lithic reduction strategies but very few studies have specifically focused on individual platform traits. General observations regarding Clovis platforms on bifaces suggest that these platforms are well-prepared and utilize five traits; faceting, reducing, releasing, isolating, and grinding. Platform preparation in a blade...
An Officer and a Gentleman? Telling the story of Captain Rábago and the Spanish Colonial Site of Presidio San Sabá through Archaeology and History (2013)
Presidio San Sabá, located in Menard County, is the largest Spanish Fort in Texas. Occupied from 1757 to 1770, the garrison was under the command of Captain Felipe Rábago for most of its existence. Prior to and during his command, the presidio underwent several changes that reflect the political and social environment of Spanish Colonial Texas during the late 18th century. Drawing from both archaeological investigations conducted by Texas Tech University and historical research, the story of...
Playing with Gender: Considerations of Intersecting Identities Expressed through Childhood Materials at Fort Davis, Texas (2016)
Too often, children are made invisible in the archaeological record. However, as a site of experimentation and play where multiple interrelated subjectivities are in constant negotiation, childhood is the foundation for identity construction. Using an assemblages of children’s toys and personal items from 19th and 20th century Fort Davis, Texas , we posit that childhood is a reflection of larger social dynamics. Employing the materials of daily life, we will focus on how children’s negotiations...
Politics, The Public, And Archaeology In Texas (2017)
This study examines organizations performing CRM archaeology in the state of Texas and the federal laws that dictate their projects (e.g. Section 106 and its implementing regulations at 36 CFR 800.2 [c]). Specifically this research focuses on the legal requirements to "consult the public" or implement a "public outreach" program. However, who constitutes the public and what constitutes outreach and consultation is not specified in the regulations. Consequently, the standards do not necessarily...
POLLEN AND PHYTOLITH ANALYSIS FOR 41CW54, TEXAS (2001)
Thirty-one phytolith samples and two pollen samples were examined from 41CW54, reported in 99-60. Eighteen of these samples represent stratigraphic deposits that included four occupations. One sample was collected off-site as a control sample, and the remaining twelve samples were collected from sediments associated with tools, including gouges, flakes, and points, or from a paleochannel. Radiocarbon ages from the paleochannel range from 7560 ± 100 BP to 6650 ± 40 BP. The two pollen samples...
Queer Frontier Identities: A Look at at the Laundresses' Quarters and Enlisted Married Men's Quarters of Fort Davis, Texas (2017)
This paper defines frontiers as queer locals that shape the relationships and practices of individuals within them. Frontiers are liminal spaces where normative ideals are actively challenged and thrown into flux by competing ways of knowing, both new and old. Inhabitants of these heterogeneous communities simultaneous assert, contest, and reassert their positionality and personhoods daily through a series of meetings between and within cultural groups. As a result a third space of fluidity...
Queer Rations: Foodways at a 19th Century Military Fort (2015)
This paper explores the ways that Queer Theory can be used in the archaeological study of foodways using materials from Fort Davis, Texas. At this nineteenth century military outpost, a racially, ethnically and economically diverse community sidestepped normative notions of foodstuffs. By engaging a queer framework, this research investigates how consumption practices on the American frontier were less regulated and more fluid than previously interpreted. Fort Davis’ foodways - including...
Queerness is for White People: The Effects of the Idea of African American Sexual Deviancy among 19th Century Buffalo Soldiers (2015)
This paper investigates male identified homosociality within black communities by tracing male relationships within 19th century gendered labor spaces. Using examples from Fort Davis, Texas, this study analyzes Buffalo Soldier troops stationed there from 1867-1891. A queer perspective allows this research to focus on the bonds and relationships amongst African American soldiers that do not subscribe to traditional heteronormative practice. Because so often these relationships are obscured within...
Return To The 'Queen City of the West': Preliminary Investigations at the Port of Indianola, Texas (2017)
Indianola, Texas was the commercial gem of the western Gulf of Mexico during the height of its existence, from the late 1850s until its abandonment in 1887. Responsible for much of the commerce entering western Texas and the western territories via the Gulf of Mexico, Indianola has been largely overlooked archaeologically, despite a high potential for the presence of a significant amount of cultural materials. A team of archaeologists from Texas A&M University, the Institute of Nautical...
Sex, Drugs, and Rock and Roll: Digging Hippie Archaeology in the Lone Star State (2013)
In 2012, Texas Tech University conducted archaeological excavations at Peaceable Kingdom Farm, in Washington, Texas. The 300-acre property was part of land owned in 1824 by one of Stephen F. Austin’s 300 original colonists, William S. Brown. Later the property was sold to John D. McAdoo, a Texas Supreme Court justice who operated a plantation here in the 1850s. After emancipation, tenant farmers occupied the property and in the 1960s and 70s the property served as a Hippie colony known as...
Technical Considerations of the Growth and Evolution of the Spanish Colonial Irrigation System in San Antonio, Texas (2018)
San Pedro Springs and the San Antonio River provided an ample water supply which enticed the Spanish to establish missions, a presidio, and villas in the vicinity. Harnessing and diverting the flow of water became one of the important challenges the Spanish faced in developing successful agricultural fields. Construction of the first irrigation ditch began shortly after the founding of Mission San Antonio de Valero. Throughout the Spanish Colonial period and into the very early 1900s, the...
Tom Dillehay, Texas, and Identity (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Dedication, Collaboration, and Vision, Part I: Papers in Honor of Tom D. Dillehay" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Tom Dillehay is best known for his tremendous contributions to the archaeology of the Americas and rightly so. In terms of quality, impact, and scope, the combined body of his work is phenomenal. His interdisciplinary holistic anthropological approach frequently casts the archaeology of the Western...
What Trash Tells Us: A Look at Fort Davis's 20th-Century Population (2017)
Following closure of the military post in 1891, the racially and socially diverse community that had grown around Fort Davis lost one of its main economic resources. In the decades after, the civilian population saw a shift of resources from predominately military issued goods to items brought in by rail through the neighboring communities of Alpine and Marfa. This paper analyzes a select assemblage of metal, ceramic, and faunal materials excavated from an early twentieth-century domestic trash...
WWI Concrete Shipwrecks in Texas (2018)
During World War I, raw material supply shortages in the United States caused many manufacturing innovations to be made, including the use of concrete for the hulls of merchant ships. Concrete ships were manufactured by both the US government and private companies, but few were ready in time to contribute to the war effort. These ships were unique in their design, sailing capabilities, and working lifespan. There are four recorded archeological examples of concrete oil tankers in Texas, wrecked...