Skiles Shelter (41VV165): A Closer Look at a Long-Term Earth Oven Facility

Author(s): Bryan Heisinger

Year: 2019

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Skiles Shelter (41VV165) is located at the mouth of Eagle Nest Canyon, roughly 250 meters northwest from the Rio Grande in the Lower Pecos Canyonlands of southwest Texas. Skiles Shelter is characterized by a fading panel of Pecos River Style rock art, numerous bedrock milling features, and a massive burned rock midden (BRM) accumulation of fire cracked rock (FCR) and cultural refuse. In 2013 and 2014, archaeologists with the Ancient Southwest Texas Project (ASWT) of Texas State University carried out extensive excavations in Skiles Shelter to better understand the rockshelter and how its archaeological deposits formed. Based on the initial excavation results, it was hypothesized that Skiles Shelter was used primarily used as an earth oven facility for the baking and processing of plant and animal foods. This paper further explores the results from the archaeological investigations at the site and takes a closer look at its use as an earth oven facility.

Cite this Record

Skiles Shelter (41VV165): A Closer Look at a Long-Term Earth Oven Facility. Bryan Heisinger. Presented at The 84th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Albuquerque, NM. 2019 ( tDAR id: 450240)

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

Spatial Coverage

min long: -124.365; min lat: 25.958 ; max long: -93.428; max lat: 41.902 ;

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 24497