Texas Archeological Research Laboratory: Everything in Texas is Bigger

Summary

The Texas Archeological Research Laboratory (TARL) was formally established at the University of Texas in 1963 to preserve an ever growing accumulation of records and collections documenting the unique history and prehistory of Texas for research, teaching and public interest. Acquisition of the collections and archive began ca. 1918. University excavations under the Works Projects Administration, and later the federal River Basins Survey salvage program for sites impacted by dams and reservoir construction greatly expanded the records and collections. Today, work done by Cultural Resource Management archeologists continues to add to the collections and refine our understanding of Texas archeology.

Interconnected with TARL’s long history is the specter of our legacy collections. In order to draw more researchers to our collections we have embarked on a multi-year plan of prioritization and rehabilitation of our most highly regarded holdings. TARL’s holdings document the history of archeological research in Texas and the archeologists that founded Texas archeology; revitalization of these collections can ultimately create a better and more complete picture of the cultural landscape. The process has begun to attract volunteer labor to rehabilitate collections, update our collections care, and digitize the massive amount of paper data.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Museum Meet and Greet

Keywords

Spatial Coverage