Browsing by Subject "Gault"
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Item A microwear study of Clovis blades from the Gault site, Bell County, Texas(2009-06-02) Minchak, Scott AlanPrehistoric quarries in America are poorly understood and thus problematical to take into account when making inferences about past behavior. A microwear analysis of Clovis blades from the 2000 Texas A&M University excavations at the Gault site (41BL323), located in southern Bell County, Texas, provided a window into this problem. Texas A&M excavations on the site produced an extraordinarily large number of Clovis artifacts in two bounded geologic units, 3a and 3b. Included in the artifact types are blades, specialized elongate flakes associated with a core and blade technology. In conducting a microwear analysis of the Clovis blades from Gault, I proposed the following questions: (1) were the Clovis blades utilized at Gault?; (2) is there a difference in the use-wear patterns of Clovis blades from the geological units 3a and 3b?; and (3) is Gault, as a quarry/workshop site, a place to just obtain raw materials or did it also serve as a craft site? Observations from experiments, stereomicroscope analysis, compound microscope analysis, and SEM/EDS analysis led to answers for two research questions: (1) blades were used at Gault and (2) there is a difference between Clovis units 3a and 3b. Eight Clovis 3a blades, or 3.0% of the total Clovis 3a blade/blade fragment population (n=264), exhibit use-wear. Six Clovis 3b blades, 3.3% of the total Clovis 3b blade/blade fragment population (n=182), exhibit use-wear. In general, Clovis 3b blades were used on harder contact materials (wood to bone) than those in Clovis Unit 3a (softer contact materials similar to grass, sinew, and rawhide). The function(s) of quarries and quarry-related workshops were interpreted by William Henry Holmes as a place to obtain raw materials, while Kirk Bryan interpreted them as a place to bring other materials to work in craft activities. Following the microwear analysis of Clovis blades/blade fragments at Gault, I compared Gault to three other Paleoindian quarry-workshop sites (Wells Creek, Dutchess Quarry, and West Athens Hill). My intent is to provide supplemental data for the consideration when applying Holmes? and Bryan?s respective hypotheses.Item Geoarchaeological investigation of natural formation processes to evaluate context of the clovis component at the Gault site (41BL323), Bell County, Texas(Texas A&M University, 2008-10-10) Alexander, Dawn Aileen JoyceTexas A&M University completed excavations at the Gault site (41BL323) in Bell County, Texas, in the spring season of 2000. Located at the head of Buttermilk Creek, past inhabitants have enjoyed perennial springs and a variety of natural resources available in the immediate area, including high quality chert from the Balcones Escarpment of the Edwards Plateau. Chipped stone material diagnostic of the Clovis period was recovered during the TAMU block excavation, informally referred to as the "Lindsey Pit," from clay deposits approximately 35 cm thick. Natural agents that may have impacted contextual integrity of the Clovis cultural deposits include stream action, pedoturbation, and bioturbation. Artifact spatial analyses examined long axis orientations and artifact degree of dip to identify non-random patterns that would result from stream action. Vertical and horizontal relationships of refitting artifacts were examined to evaluate post-depositional displacement. Orientations of chipped stone artifact long axes and inclination were found to be statistically random, with minor patterns that reflect the paleotopography. Thirty-three groups of refitting artifacts were identified, none of which contained elements recovered from deposits more recent than the Clovis clays. Five groups have elements that appear to come from both of the Clovis clay deposits, indicating a small degree of vertical displacement. The results of this research indicate the clays bearing Clovis materials retained a high degree of integrity such that the spatial patterns preserved in the archaeological record at this location are the result of cultural activities and not natural processes. Though time-consuming in the field and laboratory, additional fine-grained analyses such as artifact orientation and refit studies provide separate lines of evidence to account for natural processes that may have acted to obscure the original patterns of the archaeological record, and our understanding of past human cultures.Item Site Formation Processes at the Buttermilk Creek Site (41BL1239), Bell County, Texas(2010-10-12) Keene, Joshua L.The archaeological literature warns against trusting the context of artifacts found within a vertisol due to the constant mixing of sediments caused by the shrink/swell properties of clays. These churning processes were thought to be the defining characteristic of vertisols until only the past few decades. It is now apparent that vertisols vary drastically based on a wide spectrum of variables and are fully capable of forming without churning processes. The Buttermilk Creek Site, Block A represents a prime example of a minimally developed vertisol. In addition, the site itself is a heavily occupied lithic quarry that has been almost continuously inhabited since Clovis and possibly Pre-Clovis times. This thesis takes a detailed look at the sediments and distribution of lithic artifacts from Block A of the Buttermilk Creek site to address the two following research objectives: 1) to determine if the archaeological context within the floodplain sediments at Block A has been disturbed by post-depositional processes, and 2) to identify discrete occupation surfaces within the vertic floodplain sediments at the site. These objectives are addressed using a variety of methods, including: 1) plotting the stratigraphic position of diagnostic artifacts, 2) determining the size distribution of debitage and artifact quantities throughout the floodplain deposits, 3) examining the distribution of cultural versus non-cultural lithic material, 4) recording the presence or absence of heat alteration in the deposits, 5) creating maps showing the degree of fissuring across the site, 6) analyzing differences in patination on artifacts, and 7) analyzing the presence of calcium carbonate on artifacts from all levels. Results from these analyses show that, despite the classification of sediments at Block A as a vertisol, vertical displacement of artifacts is largely absent. Chronologically ordered diagnostic points, consistently size sorted artifacts, and a lack of constant mixing of calcium carbonate throughout the profile suggest that artifacts found as deep as 20 cm below the Clovis-aged horizon represent intact cultural horizons. These oldest components found in Block A may represent some of the earliest known evidence of people in the New World.