Landscape Perspective on Cowboy Life and Ranching Along the Southern High Plains Eastern Escarpment of Northwestern Texas
Author(s): Stance Hurst; Dallas C. Ward; Eileen Johnson
Year: 2016
Summary
Cattle ranching is an important part of the heritage of many former frontier regions, yet are informed primarily by a few first-hand accounts and biographies of successful ranches or famous cattlemen. Examining the relationship between ranching-related material culture recovered archaeologically and the landscape is a first step towards constructing a landscape view of ranching heritage that is missing within the present literature. Research at Macy Locality 16 (~1890-1920), located near a freshwater spring and overlooks a creek, has revealed the remains of a corral and chuck wagon with related camping activities. The position of the camp on the landscape in relation to other ranching-related landscape furniture indicates the site functioned as a round-up camp. Clusters of over 300 cartridges indicate shooting firearms and perhaps shooting competitions was an important activity at round-up camps. This type of recreational activity is not well documented in the historic literature.
Cite this Record
Landscape Perspective on Cowboy Life and Ranching Along the Southern High Plains Eastern Escarpment of Northwestern Texas. Stance Hurst, Dallas C. Ward, Eileen Johnson. Presented at Society for Historical Archaeology, Washington, D.C. 2016 ( tDAR id: 434726)
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Keywords
General
Cattle Ranching
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Cowboys
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Round-up
Geographic Keywords
North America
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United States of America
Temporal Keywords
1890-1920
Spatial Coverage
min long: -129.199; min lat: 24.495 ; max long: -66.973; max lat: 49.359 ;
Individual & Institutional Roles
Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology
Record Identifiers
PaperId(s): 490