Geoarchaeology at TxDOT: Case Studies from Data Recoveries in Texas

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Geoarchaeology Within the Context of Cultural Resource Management (CRM) Today (Part Two)" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Geoarchaeology is an important resource for archeologists in Cultural Resources Management (CRM). The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) has championed the benefits of geoarcheology by commissioning the development of statewide, geographic information systems (GIS)-based predictive models for locating prehistoric archeological sites. As a agency, TxDOT is striving to incorporate geoarcheological studies into all aspects of our archeological program, from background studies and surveys to planning for data recovery excavations. Here we will look at a few sites in which TxDOT employed preliminary geoarchaeological studies to guide data recovery field efforts. Through these preliminary geoarcheological studies, TxDOT was able to strategically target specific occupational surfaces and optimize hand excavation efforts. Going forward we hope to implement this geoarcheological paradigm for all CRM data recovery excavations.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• Geoarchaeology Within the Context of Cultural Resource Management (CRM) Today (Part Two)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 53164