Exploring Occupation Patterns in the Lower Pecos and Central Texas Regions over the Last 9,000 Years using Radiocarbon Dates

Summary

We use summed probability distributions derived from radiocarbon sequences as a gross measure of prehistoric occupation patterns for two regions in Texas. The first sequence consists of over 325 dates from the Lower Pecos Region, located along the Rio Grande and Pecos Rivers. The region has over 40 years of radiocarbon dating, with dates in this database coming from multiple excavation projects that were frequently focused on shelters and cave. The second dataset comes from the Upper San Antonio River area in Central Texas and reflects projects conducted since the late 1970s. This set has roughly 320 dates, with all dates coming from open sites. Focusing on the last 9,000 years, we compare the two regional sequences. Using the same calibration procedure, we isolate a series of differences in these distributions that do not seem to be adequately explained by sample bias (i.e., AMS vs conventional samples) or taphonomic processes related to different recovery contexts. While research is ongoing, these sequences may track regional hunter-gatherer occupation patterns, with differences providing opportunities to explore the impacts of other variables (e.g., climate/ ecological shifts, disease) on each region.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 15547