Excavations at the Crane Dune Site (41CR61), a Prehistoric Habitation, Burial, and Lithic Cache Site in Crane County, Texas

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Crane Dune site (41CR61) was identified by AmaTerra archaeologists during a survey for the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) prior to widening Highway 385 in Crane County, Texas. The site consists of at least two components (Late Prehistoric and Late Archaic) centered on stabilized sand dunes. The cultural occupations span a 40-50 cm thick dark anthrosol layer consisting of charcoal-stained sandy sediments, suggesting intensive occupation. Excavations focused on exposing and recording features, which consisted primarily of rock-lined ovens in shallow basins, as well as deeper cooking pits without rocks. Additionally, one feature was made up of a cached assemblage of over 50 flake blanks and a Marshall dart point. Finally, two pit features consisted of human burials containing extremely deteriorated remains as well as grave goods consisting of bone beads, bone and turquoise pendants, and lithic tools. General artifacts include dart and arrow points, occasional groundstone and ceramic sherds, chert and quartzite debitage, at least two obsidian flakes, and faunal material ranging from rodents to bison. The Crane Dune site continues to provide a wealth of archaeological data in an under-studied region of Texas. Analysis is currently ongoing, and this paper will present the latest results of the project.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• SAA 2021: General Sessions

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 33336