Archaeological Investigations of the Archaic and Paleoindian Occupations at Hall’s Cave, Texas

Summary

Hall’s Cave is a well-studied paleontological site that has provided a detailed climatic record for the Texas Hill-country from the late Pleistocene through the Holocene. There have been no discussions, however, of the archaeological record of the cave deposits. Archaeological excavations at Hall’s Cave conducted in 2017 revealed a 3 m thick, well-stratified sequence of sediments derived from the watershed outside the cave. Early deposits ranging from 18,000 to14,000 cal yr B.P. contain the remains of horse, Bison antiquus, saber-toothed cat, and other species in well dated contexts. The archaeological record includes a burned rock midden, twenty hearths, projectile points, stone tools, and flakes that range from late Paleoindian to late Archaic. The hearths represent mostly short-term occupation episodes and the macrobotanical remains they contain provide a unique opportunity to understand diachronic subsistence and environmental changes for the region.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 21479