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FIGURE . Stone artifacts manufactured from El Sauz chert found in Hidalgo and Starr Counties, and the Mexican States of Tamulipas and Nuevo Leon. The smeared coloration patters and small vugs are diagnostic features of the chert. (A) preform broken in manufacture; (B) distal end of a dart point, a vug perforates this specimen; (C) proximal end of a Hidalgo point; (D and J) preforms; (E) Langtry point; (F, K and O) Matamoros points; (G) Cameron point; (H) a quarry blank; (I) reworked beveled triangular point; (L) beveled asymmetrical point; (M), biface scraper; (N) Hidalgo point broken along a vug; (P) beveled triangular point; (Q) Caracara point; (R) Hidalgo point with large vug at center. Typology from Turner et al. ().
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Stone tools ranging in age from Early Archaic (3500-6000 B.C.) to Late Prehistoric (A.D. 700 to historic times), made of a distinctive light gray but sometimes colorful chert, have been identified in private collections in south Texas for at least 50 years. The source of this stone, known in the archeological literature as “El Sauz chert,” are two...
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Context 1
... mately percent of the samples, however, exhibit a wide range of coloration including pink, red, yellow, orange, purple, green and caramel which all occur as mottles, irregularly shaped patches and smeared-out colorations rather than solid colors. The gray shades are the most common and possess the best flaking properties ( Figure ). The colorful varieties are probably overrepre- sented in collections because they are more attrac- tive. ...Citations
... The two hills are capped by massive, thick chert deposits 5-7 m thick. At both sites the chert grades downward into a white to pale brown, calcite-cemented tuffaceous sandstone with varying degrees of induration (González et al. 2014). Modern collectors of projectile points in the 1960s noted that many points found in deep South Texas were made of a distinctive light grey, but sometimes colourful variety of high-quality chert not found in the local gravels. ...
... El Sauz chert is very fine grained, predominantly composed of micro-to crypto-crystalline quartz (,c. 0.1 µm) (González et al. 2014). The bulk of the chert is light to medium grey and possesses excellent flaking properties. ...
The Oligocene-Miocene Catahoula Formation occurs along the length of the Gulf of Mexico coastal plain from the Rio Grande to the state of Mississippi. In Starr County, in south Texas, the formation is typified by the 20-meter-thick Catahoula Volcanic Ash, interpreted to represent a single caldera eruption. The massive ash fall is the main source of the uranium that has been mined in South Texas since the late 1950's. It is also the origin of massive amounts of petrified wood, which was used in prehistory for making projectile points and continues to be used for landscaping. Diagenetic alteration of the volcanic ash produced the distinctive El Sauz Chert, which was used by native Americans for 10,000 years to make projectile points. More recently, the Catahoula Volcanic Ash was used as pozzolanic aggregate with Portland cement for the construction of Falcon Dam. The outcrop of the Catahoula Volcanic Ash in Starr County is the centerpiece of a geoheritage initiative, titled Ancient Landscapes of South Texas at the Nexus of Natural and Cultural History , whose goal is to connect the earth and social sciences to educate residents, students and visitors in how the region's geology has played a significant role in its social history.
... 28 Analysis of the formation and points by the CHAPS Program team using X-ray diffraction and portable X-ray fluorescence revealed that this chert has a distinct "fingerprint" of high titanium and zirconium content. 29 Based on this research, we now have evidence that this resource was exploited beginning near the end of the Pleistocene, some nine thousand years ago. ...
Prior to 2009, South Texas was essentially an archaeological tabula rasa, largely unknown in the academic, public, or grey literature due to its location far from research universities, the state historic preservation office, and cultural resource management firms. Here, we relate how a consortium of anthropologists and archaeologists, biologists, historians, geologists, and geoarchaeologists have embraced a locally focused, place-based STEAM research approach to tell the story of a largely unknown region of the United States and make it accessible to K–17 educators,1 the public, and scholars with bilingual maps, books, exhibits, films, traveling trunks, and scholarly publications. The efforts of the Community Historical Archaeology Project with Schools Program at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley have been recognized locally, nationally, and internationally.
... Fluorescence color and intensity is a function of the type fluorophores present, fluorophore concentration, and the wavelength and intensity of the light source. As such, fluorescence has been utilized to differentiate lithic source materials (Collins and Headrick 1990;Frederick et al. 1994;Gonzalez et al. 2014). ...
Bonfire Shelter is a stratified rockshelter site in Val Verde County, Texas with multiple archaeological components spanning the Paleoindian through Late Prehistoric Periods. The shelter is primarily known as the site of two well-documented bison kills: one in the Archaic (Bone Bed 3) and one in the Late Pleistocene (Bone Bed 2). Excavators in the 1960s and 1980s argued that a third bone bed, designated Bone Bed 1, comprised entirely of extinct Pleistocene megafauna, is also the result of human activity. If unambiguous evidence of human activity is identified, Bone Bed 1 may predate the appearance of Clovis or related Early Paleoindian traditions in the region. This thesis presents the results of new excavations and geoarchaeological analyses conducted to evaluate the formation processes associated with Bone Bed 1 and their implications for potential archaeological deposits.
In the summer of 2017, Texas State University’s Ancient Southwest Texas Project initiated new excavations of Bone Bed 1. Intact portions of the Bone Bed 1 substrata with in situ faunal remains were identified at the base of test units dating to the 1960s and 1980s. A series of 11 test units and one column sample excavated in this area reidentified and confirmed the Bone Bed 1 stratigraphy and faunal assemblage reported by Bement (1986).
Sediment from each column sample strata, including three strata related to Bone Bed 2, was evaluated with a suite of geoarchaeological analyses to better understand the formation processes contributing to the Late Pleistocene deposits at Bonfire Shelter. Targeted microartifact sampling was conducted to identify ephemeral traces of human activity potentially overlooked by previous investigators.
A functional model exploring plausible scenarios that could account for the presence of the Pleistocene faunal assemblage at Bonfire Shelter was developed based on ethnoarchaeological accounts, modern proxy studies, and known archaeological sites of similar antiquity. Geological, faunal, and potentially cultural evidence was synthesized using this model to identify the “best fit” scenario for each Bone Bed 1 stratum. While no conclusive evidence of human activity was identified, this thesis provides valuable insight into the dynamic conditions at Bonfire Shelter in the Late Pleistocene and refines the chronology of Bone Bed 1 by over 1,000 years, providing critical context for newly identified Early Paleoindian activity elsewhere in Mile Canyon.
... In Starr County and Tamaulipas Mexico, the Pliocene (5.3-2.5 my BP) Goliad gravels unconformably overlie a 20-meter-thick deposit of Oligocene (34-23my BP) altered rhyolitic volcanic ash, the volcanic member of the Catahoula Formation. Interaction of groundwater with the silica-rich ash produced a high-quality finegrained chert suitable for stone tool making, this chert is known in the archaeological literature as El Sauz Chert (González et al., 2014;Kumpe & Kryzwonski, 2009). Groundwater and the silica-rich ash also contributed to the unique silicified wood found throughout the Catahoula Formation, which litter the landscape and collects in nearby stream beds (Bailey, 1926). ...
... El Sauz Chert has been recognized as an important lithic resource that was extensively used by stone-tool makers in prehistoric times in the LRGV; it outcrops as two isolated hills in Starr County (Figure 2). Kumpe and Kryzwonski (2009), and González et al. (2014) report on the large volume of debitage and discarded artifacts blanketing the outcrops which served as quarries for thousands of years. This chert formed by devitrification of the volcanic ash in the Catahoula Formation (González et al., 2014) and is chemically different from other cherts in the area. ...
... Kumpe and Kryzwonski (2009), and González et al. (2014) report on the large volume of debitage and discarded artifacts blanketing the outcrops which served as quarries for thousands of years. This chert formed by devitrification of the volcanic ash in the Catahoula Formation (González et al., 2014) and is chemically different from other cherts in the area. El Sauz Chert is typically a light grey color, though it can have spotted and smeared colorations of red, purple, yellow, and honey ( Figure 6A and B). ...
Analysis of 976 lithic artifacts from twelve museum and private collections in the Lower Rio Grande Valley revealed a preference for seven rock types. Sixty nine percent of all tools were made from gravel chert, which is locally the most abundant rock type on the Frio and Goliad Formations, as well as on the gravels of the Rio Grande. Representing less than 10% each were, the local El Sauz Chert, a black banded metamorphic rock, volcanic rocks, agates, silicified wood, limestone and black chert. Variations in the relative proportion of each rock type are observed by location, suggesting a tendency to use other suitable rocks that were locally available. Contrary to what has been suggested an abundance of lithic resources were available to stone tool makers in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. This study underscores the value of working with collectors in regions where little archaeological research has been conducted.
... These either focus on exploring new non-destructive techniques (Hawkins et al., 2008;Olivares et al, 2009;Hughes et al., 2010;Olofsson et al., 2011;Forster 2012;Hogberg et al., 2012;Hassler et al. 2013;Parish et. Al. 2013;Speer, 2014) or employing these techniques to source lithics whose origin was still unclear (Bustillo et al., 2009;Milne et al., 2009;Pétrequin, et al., 2011;Pettitt et al. 2012;Gonzalez, et al., 2014;Ekshtain et al. 2014;Andreeva et al. 2014;Nazaroff et al., 2015;Speer 2016;Bruggencate et al. 2016;Gurova et al. 2016;Sánchez de la Torre, et. al., 2017). ...
This study aims to identify the petrological characteristics of Neolithic chert artefacts associated with the Temple Period (c. 4000-2500 cal BC) and their probable sources from the local Maltese chert formation as well as the main possible chert sources in Sicily. Were the chert and flint materials used by prehistoric Maltese peoples obtained from local sources or imported from abroad? In particular, the archaeological literature just assumes that the chert/flint and cultural attributes of the Temple period came from Sicily; this assumption has never been tested or proved. There are also a number of important subsidiary questions which will stem from the implications of this investigation. These include: 1) to what extent were the Maltese people isolated or part of an extended Mediterranean network through trade or exchange relationships; 2) if they were isolated, how would they be able to survive in such a seemingly restricted environment?; 3) if they were more connected to external cultural groups, what was the impact of these connections on Maltese identity?; 4) were they deliberately sourcing raw stone material for specific purposes?; 5) was there a link between the properties of the rocks (quality) with the usage of the rock artefact? and how did Neolithic Maltese people understand and assess rock ‘quality’? This last question has further related implications: 6) is the chaîne opératoire the same for all raw stone materials or does the quality and the type of rock have a significant effect on the process? These questions are not all definitively answerable in this thesis, but have a significant bearing on the results of the ERC-funded FRAGSUS project and other archaeological projects dealing with the islands’ cultural development. In addition to the above thematic lines of inquiry, this research investigates to what extent a scientific perspective on sourcing lithic artefacts can provide conclusive evidence of resource exploitation sources. Traditional archaeological methodologies for stone sourcing (largely based on macroscopic qualitative assessments) are often subjective and unreliable, or produce un-verifiable results. Therefore, a more scientific methodology designed for examining rock outcrops is a necessary addition to this process, and is the reason why I have selected a methodology based on the geological and petrological properties derived from the geological formation of the rock outcrops. The approach consists of both traditional and new geological techniques, including: a) macroscopic examination, b) Optical and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), c) Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIRS) d) X-ray Fluorescence (XRF), and e) Laser ablation - Inductively Coupled Plasma - Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). All of these strands of evidence have contributed to an over-arching chaîne opératoire approach to link source – choice - manufacturing process – tool – use – discard aspects of the life of chert artefacts recovered from several key Neolithic sites in Malta and Gozo, namely from Xagħra Circle, Ġgantija, Taċ-Ċawla, Santa Verna, Kordin and Skorba. Thus a major outcome of this research is to propose a specific methodology for the analysis and sourcing of chert artefacts for the wider Mediterranean region, which can be reliably used in future archaeological projects. To date, the geological and archaeological literature has suggested a long list of potentially informative techniques for sourcing lithic assemblages. However, there has not yet been any investigation which indicates the most informative and reliable combination of appropriate techniques. It is believed that the chosen techniques as applied to the Maltese Islands have produced reliable results on sourcing chert assemblages, as each method approaches a different, yet related quality of the rock. In conclusion, the macroscopic, microscopic and geochemical characteristics of the chert sources and artefact assemblages have suggested a combination of mainly local chert sources during the Temple period of the Neolithic, as well as a more minor component of imported material from Sicily and another unknown source altogether. Moreover, the type of tools and manufacturing techniques have provided strong evidence of a distinct local craft tradition employed on the Maltese Islands during the late Neolithic. It further confirms the interaction with neighbouring societies and gives a possible indication of cultural influence and exchange. Finally, this study has presented a beneficial methodology for lithic analysis for all archaeological researchers working on the provenance of lithic material elsewhere in the Mediterranean area and the wider world.
... Investigated by Gonzalez et al (2014), this quarry in Starr County has been the source of artifacts for at least 11,000 years. The chert from this quarry is fine grained and comes in various bright colors including red and yellow, but the most common color in this assemblage is grey. ...
There is evidence that South Texas has been occupied for over 11,000 years. The primary source of this evidence is derived from private collectors as the region has received little professional archaeological attention. Since 2009 the CHAPS Program Team has worked with local collectors identifying sites and educating the public regarding the ephemeral nature of archaeological sites. Arising from this work were questions regarding the source of raw materials used for making stone tools.
To do this we used a Brucker IV Tracer pXRFto examine more than 700 stone artifacts from Hidalgo, Jim Hogg, and Zapata Counties. These materials were provided by local collectors and the Museum of South Texas History. Ten different raw materials were identified.
The physical properties associated with lithic raw materials are regularly assumed to be a determining factor that articulates with stone tool morphology. Among those attributes most frequently advanced to account for differences between sites and assemblages are raw material size and mechanical flaking properties. Quantitative analyses of raw material color can provide a consistent, and replicable, means of assigning raw material color groups. To evaluate whether elliptical biface morphology differs as a function of color, each elliptical biface from 41AN13 was assigned to a raw material color group, then analyzed using the tools of geometric morphometrics. Results demonstrate that elliptical bifaces differ significantly in shape, but not size, by raw material color group. This finding supports the interpretation that extralocal producers—and local Caddo users/knappers—conditioned elliptical biface shape not based upon nodule size or mechanical flaking properties, but on the basis of raw material color.
Within the South Texas Plains, the area broadly defined by the Rio Grande to the south and the Nueces River to the north, a distance of ca. 175 km, evidence of open human occupation is remarkably abundant. Because it is predominantly a region of loose, sandy soils and active and relict sand dunes where wind processes dominate, the area is known as the South Texas Sand Sheet (STSS). There is no running water within the STSS and all streams are ephemeral. Existing drainage systems are small, localized, and not integrated, carrying water for a few days and up to two weeks after the passage of a storm. The lack of running water makes human occupation on this semi-arid area even more remarkable. The STSS and the adjacent wind deflated areas have hundreds of small and shallow elongated deflation troughs. Most of these poorly drained swales retain seasonal fresh water that sustain high moisture plants and are ephemeral wetlands; a small percentage of them hold water year round. As a result, the long history of human occupation of the STSS was possible due to the presence of the deflation troughs. This study explores the connection between human occupation of the STSS and deflation troughs at four previously unreported archeological sites in northern Hidalgo County using a combination of intensive archeological and geological survey, oral history, GIS technology, and existing soil maps.
