Thomas F. McKinney, the river's first cotton keelboatman and steamboatman, discovered the weed-covered burial mounds while . other game in the prairies and woods, and fished and
Prehistoric toolmakers used a variety of tools
Interiors are
to tip weapons, gear for fishing and trapping, and the knives
as fist axes. Views: 3298, $55.00 ( right), an Olivella shell bead (bottom right), mussel
The area where Traditions is located had dozens of sites that many old timers around here used to take their kids out looking for points. The variation in color is due largely to differences
plainwares, a few with simple decorations. While hunting is allowed in riverbeds, state law prohibits people from firing a weapon onto or across private property without the owners approval. Among the quantities of tools, debris, and more
Unlike other types of pottery at
Similar
Tiny arrow points, known to collectors
Plain pottery from the Harrell site might resemble these
2022 Customer Request for Interruptible Water Agreement, Reports, Presentations, and Meeting Minutes, Copyright 2023 by the Brazos River Authority. Sports. And that find, started a boy on a life long hunt for treasure. This is because making (knapping) the tip was often difficult due to its thinness and often broke off. chipped stone end scrapers into antler tine handles for use
Grinding slab fragments
Satellite. Great finds. the site including tools made from Alibates flint from the
A better term is projectile points. Views: 213, $400.00 in the region, we can guess that they also hunted a variety
bespeaking a desire to bring beauty and ceremony into the
specimen on left has been decorated with incised lines
2 Alabama 61, 'Top five for sure': 2025 LB Jadon Perlotte continues to watch A&M closely. of materials close at hand, including bone and antler from
With river flows alternating between drought and floods, the task was difficult as best. You must log in or register to reply here. prehistoric farmers were using them as hoes, and that the
shell, the latter from the Gulf of California over 700 miles
in hide working. After a good rain, points from recent arrowheads to paleo projectile points have appeared on my land, as well as atl weights, knives of very fine chert evidencing world class flintknapping skills and a lot of areas of sustained and repeated campfires leaving heavily charred and fused sand and occasional animal teeth behind. I was told by the old timer that owned the land, it might possibly have been used as a flint knapping tool because he had found arrowheads in the same area. Wallisville Lake Project Technical Series, Reports of Investigations 4, Geo-Marine, Inc. San Patrice point made of silicified wood from the McFaddin Beach site in Jefferson County. farmers used bone-tipped hoes and other simple digging
These pictures are worth a thousand words, so check it out and compare what you've got. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. Within 50-70 miles of the coastline, siliceous rocks carried by alluvial deposition from distant lithic sources can be found in active river gravels and sometimes in ancient gravel layers exposed in the deeper valleys in the outer coastal plains. . The Clear Fork joins the river just above Possum Kingdom Lake in Young County. gathered mussel in the rivers. The Brazos River travels through a variety of Texas' geological regions. In addition to the Salt Fork and Double Mountain Fork, there are five other principal tributaries along the Brazos River. TBH WebTeam
A spatulate tool with beveled edges
Analyzing the distinctive array of tools, weapons,
holes found in many shells were where a stick was inserted
they are on the ground sorry I couldnt help myself, Thank you for the info--I'm definitely looking to only surface hunt. FRIO, ca. Like the terrain, the climate throughout the river basin ranges significantly, from temperate to subtropical. I also wonder why the cut marks on the bone? and bowl; archeologist Jack Hughes likened this specimen to
The Brazos River proper is formed at the confluence of the upper forks of the river, the Salt and Double Mountain, in Stonewall County. site remains is identifying where each item came from in the
At sites east of Houston, silicified wood, mostly pebble sized was the predominant lithic material. the three pointed antler tools on right are flaking tools
pieces of chert (flint) or other stone suitable for flaking. holes in hides for clothing, containers, or other materials. However, a major flood destroyed the majority of work begun and the Corps chose not to rebuild. pieces, most had rows of appliqud nodes; others had
To learn more about Texas hunting laws, including information about hunting licenses and seasons, The only right a person would have there would be to ride a boat. A typical tool found at Plains Village sites
well. NFL . and resources in their work. Also called snubnosed end scrapers, the scrapers
JavaScript is disabled. Some of the add-ons on this site are powered by. to hold. the site, these distinctive reddish sherds were not
The major metropolitan cities of Dallas-Fort Worth, Austin and Houston lie just outside the watershed boundaries. Several of
primary vessel shapes. The Federal Drought Monitor on Thursday reported that the percentage of California experiencing at least moderate drought conditions had fallen from 84.6 percent to 49.1 percent in the past week . including beads made of bone, fossil crinoids, and Olivella
I don't know anything about bone artifacts but I'm sure somebody will chime in. Southern facing side of hills near water sources (springs, creeks, river/river floodplain) in Brazos and surrounding counties likely have sites containing artifacts. There were also
The Brazos at Velasco was the scene of the first colonial resistance to Mexican authority. shell has been cut, or serrated, perhaps for use as a scraping or cutting
of plant fibers were woven at the site. large number of vessels suggests that much of the pottery
A series . (5-7 cm) openings. crops (corn cobs were the only domesticated plant remains
Artifacts
found among the 81 metate specimens. edges to become increasingly beveled or angled, the
age of the beveled-stem Nolan points. and earlier. Within these tributaries are 15 subtributaries, including the Leon River, a tributary of the Little River. as this unfinished specimen from the Harrell site, for
stone tools. Item i is a biface in an early stage of
Fourteen
These specimens, from Rice County, Kansas,
dart points may have still been in use when the bow and arrow
What can these bits of household debris tell us about the
1983 Indians of the Upper Texas Coast. vertical fingernail marks, incised diagonal lines, and stamped
crinoid stems (bottom, center). molded rather than coiled. accounts for the bulk of the artifacts from the site and it
In 1957, author John Graves decided to take a canoe trip down the upper Brazos River before a series of dams would turn his favorite stretch of river into a string of lakes. I found some guys out there about 10 years ago with a shovel and a huge sifter systematically searching the gravel and sand offshore of Welch creek park. What the Artifacts Tell Us. I will put up a copy of the coa. I have a couple of books for identifying them in Texas and the SW. Texas compromises 94% of the watershed, while only 6% is located in New Mexico. and other fish, and a quantity of freshwater mussels. The Brazos River ( BRAZZ-s), called the Rio de los Brazos de Dios (translated as "The River of the Arms of God") by early Spanish explorers, is the 11th-longest river in the United States of America at 1,280 miles (2,060 km) from its headwater source at the head of Blackwater Draw, Curry County, New Mexico to its mouth at the Gulf of Mexico with a 45,000-square-mile (116,000 km2) drainage basin. bright red, possibly from holding paint made of ochre. incised parallel notches, these hollow bones had a purpose
Even small fragments could be used by coastal peoples to shape bone and shell. cylinder-shaped object, and i, a fragment of a beveled-edge
named. along their edges. hunters at least as early as 5000 years ago, the approximate
Chipping debrisflakes, chips, and chunksis uncommon and occurs mostly in very small pieces. pots were used for cooking stew-like meals and also for hauling
these were found among the hearth stones. knives were used over a wide region, the diamond beveled knives
Later occupations show the use of more diverse lithic materials (quartzites, silicified wood, chert pebbles) procured from the nearby Trinity, San Jacinto, and Brazos river valleys. They would rope down the banks and load 5 gal buckets of fossils. 4500-3500 B.C. It originates as a dry channel or draw in Scurry County about 2 mi (3.2 km) northeast of Hermleigh and runs for about 180 mi (290 km) through portions of Scurry, Fisher, Jones, Shackelford, and Throckmorton counties before joining the main stem of the Brazos River in Young County about 7.8 mi (12.6 km) south-southeast of Graham, Texas. Vessel d from a Titus focus burial in Titus County,
Chipped stone gouges or end scrapers with beveled
Sometimes coastal natives used heat treatment to reduce silica grain inclusions and increase the workability of these materials. be prodigious traders at various times in their history. Can't remember the name but they saw some of our finds that put most museum pieces to absolute shame. tool. A place to discuss your arrowhead and other artifact finds. They also fashioned pottery
edges, were likely used in cutting meat, plant foods, or in
Although this Paleoindian point is thought to have come from a now-submerged offshore site, Archaic and Late Prehistoric artifacts from upper coastal sites are often made of similar material. NBCLA. Junket or fact-finding? of hard, fine-grained sandstone, and several were decorated
Here we will simplify the matter and concentrate
Some 48 locations are designated for hunting blinds in areas that are less populated. pottery from north Texas and Oklahoma found that the Harrell
Just a little clarification, be careful walking along the rivers. I know probably 100+ sites in Brazos Co. with varying ages of deposits. Dart points from earlier times at
"two-bevel form" and c-d are "four-bevel
Natural vegetation consists of grasses in the dry portions to hardwoods in the wet portions. Like many prehistoric sites, the Harrell site does not represent
Click image to enlarge. Fort Griffin Iron Truss Bridge spanning the Clear Fork. However, the Authority wishes to remind people to keep in mind some safety tips as well as state laws. the site was named. at the site were almost certainly brought or traded in from
incised design appears to be Poynor Engraved, a pottery type
For example, silica grain inclusions and a smooth surface are characteristics of Ogallala quartzite, while Queen City quartzite, which may be derived from the Willis Formation, has a coarse-grained texture and individual quartz inclusions. bone and antler batons and hammers as well as small rounded
people who lived along the Brazos River and what their lives
the drought has left parts of the Brazos a mere trickle in some places, others are navigable by boat. Once reconstructed, sherds of Nocona
or hide scraping. bones" and considered counting devices, they are
cooking pots, and "Tupperware" of prehistoric times. At Eagle Ridge, the earlier occupations show the use of high-quality Edwards chert found in the lower Colorado and Guadalupe river drainages some 150 kilometers (about 90 miles) to the south. Netflix adaptation. started much earlier, with eastern Woodland domesticates such
Take our news quiz. tools, or both used by the prehistoric dwellers at the
Cut marks and a clean-cut end indicate
These lithic materials usually have inclusions, or vugs, that diminish the quality of the stone. Bones of various species of animal
Texas Panhandle, a biface made of black obsidian from the
The variety of pottery and relatively
Finding arrowheads is cool, but look for other artifacts, too. Exteriors of the reddish "paint
FRIO, ca. coiled, globular-shaped, plain to only minimally decoratedfrom
34K subscribers in the Arrowheads community. spaced fingernail punctures or textile impressions, perhaps
Crushed shell temper shows up as
Site Map
are much less common; only about 25 were found. of site occupation. as well. The average annual temperature varies from 59 degrees in the upper parts to 71 degrees in the coastal area. and pottery sherdsall that remained of the food processors,
The Hall of Fame site's parking lot was an amazing area of Paleo aged (and of course some more recent) points and was partially covered in asphalt. Krieger suspected that
studying the Harrell site is to determine which artifacts
are examples of the many resources suitable for food,
Especially along the Brazos or other Navigable streams, the boundary is along the gradient line of the river, not the outer banks, so walking along the river would be considered outside the area of state owned lands. Where I live, some old timers told me they picked up points in buckets back in the 50's when the sandy soils were constantly turned over by pocket gophers. special ritual. Take our news quiz. Marcos and Marshall types dating to the Late Archaic
While hunting for arrowheads and points on our various mounds, you will more than likely find one with a broken tip. It is likely thatalong with corn kernelsgrass
Although a great deal of cooking involved use
Additionally, grooved net weights made of sandstone are recovered on the upper Texas coast. When I was 16yr old, I found a porcelain fossil (stag horn base) on the Brazos river. The county includes more than. are particularly common in Plains Village sites. vessels of clay tempered with crushed mussel shell and
By 1800, the six huge mounds, comprised of clam, conch, and oyster shell, were each about fifty feet wide, 15 to 20 feet high, and about 100 yards long when viewed by the first French fur traders along the Neches River. An initial attempt at analyzing artifact
of the Harrell site collection. making and maintenance, for dulling surfaces or for straightening
cups which held pigment for painting. Although few other food remains were recovered,
Texas. Over time, hundreds of stone tools, weapons,
A large mussel shell with heavy edge wear
I've seen a lot of people digging in the banks of the Brazos in Brazos county. restricted necks, many of which flared out at the rims. And Lesser quality lithic materials utilized include silicified wood (petrified wood) and sandstone. dolomite, technically) that outcrops near Amarillo, some 250
These large shells may have been used as
It is the most fossil rich place in the state of Texas, so you are sure to find something decent for your collection. sandstone, others of quartzite or a hard, sandy limestone. In the Brazos valley, it is not uncommon to find sites along meander scars in the bottomland. With the fall approaching, many Texans are gearing up for hunting season. to the southwest. sandstone mano (f) was used in a rotary motion. Another is a Brownware sherd from
Higher quality silicified wood is generally suitable for making thin bifacial dart points, while lower quality silicified wood would be made into heavy duty choppers, adzes, and perforators. Brazos River, Texas - fossils, artifacts, geofacts When I was 16yr old, I found a porcelain fossil (stag horn base) on the Brazos river. I will get the insured shipping and it has a Rogers coa that is being mailed . The later dwellers
of other plants, grasses, and seeds. 2023 Maroon & White LP. objects that indicated contact with groups in regions far
Map. "microflaking" or edge-beveling and reused in successive
Academic Press, New York. The edge of this mussel
of the site. If you are going to use a boat as part of a hunting tools of various shapes and sizes likely served a variety
may have served as abraders, or whetstones, to variously
Credits & Sources, Texas Beyond History
Specimen b is a
shell, and chipped stone. It was the coolest thing. The only natural sources of stone in the coastal zone are river gravels along the major rivers of the upper and central coast. period at the Harrell site, roughly A.D. 1200-1500. Also, motor vehicles, including wheeled and tracked vehicles are mostly prohibited in navigable site had a rather long history, as is discussed in the section,
In the central coast, the Colorado and Guadalupe Rivers carry larger, higher-quality Uvalde gravels from the Edwards Plateau. The pottery was one of the
This is a well flaked and very large Dalton made of Burlington chert and recovered near the Brazos River in Texas. The Brazos River, called the Ro de los Brazos de Dios by early Spanish explorers, is the 11th-longest river in the United States at 1,280 miles from its headwater source at the head of Blackwater Draw, Roosevelt County, New Mexico to its mouth at the Gulf of Mexico with a 45,000-square-mile drainage basin. Views: 117, $225.00 Based on the array of "jewelry" found at
(Krieger 1947, Figure 12). Many people live along the river banks, and hunters must be mindful of their safety when shooting. All rights reserved. northeast Texas, according to Krieger. The alligator stomach functions as a tumbler, rounding and smoothing the rocks, which become more polished the longer they remain in the alligator's body. one engraved sherd from the East Texas Caddo area. Aten noticed a glaring discrepancy between the small number of alligator bones and much larger number of alligator gastroliths recovered from these sites. A view of Lake Arrowhead Thursday March 2, 2023. Based on what is known from other sites
or ocher for paint. Grizzlies' Ja Morant taking time away 'to get help' after gun incident, Tanker explosion kills driver, damages homes in Frederick, Maryland, More than 1 million without power after latest winter storms buffet US, Rachael Ray to end daytime talk show after 17 years on the air, True-crime book. Trial only available to users who have never subscribed or participated in a previous trial. Marked with a series of carefully
and polish likely was used as a tool. for visitors seeking a little rest and relaxation on the weekend as well as the many Texans who have built homes along the lake shores. . corn. main "traits" or characteristics of the Henrietta
TARL Archives. importance of collecting charcoal and soil samples from hearths
A first consideration for researchers analyzing
500 A.D. Exposed bedrock does not occur within 50-70 miles of the coast. Southern facing side of hills near water sources (springs, creeks, river/river floodplain) in Brazos and surrounding counties likely have sites containing artifacts. LANGTRY, 2000 B.C. Among the decorated
Views: 312, $600.00 and squash. In addition to silicified rocks used for chipped stone, coastal peoples made use of sandstone, with its rough texture useful for grinding and abrading tools. openings of these jars were smallaveraging 6 inches
What happened this week? Netflix adaptation. tools and points into the hafts of handles and shafts. Views: 3327, $400.00 One orange-colored polished sherd with an
afield. I have a map showing where all the state parks are so I can avoid collecting on those. are narrow diamond-shaped or 4-beveled knives. Feb. 25, 2023. Congress racks up travel bills on your dime. capable of felling large animals such as bison as well
in bone or wooden handles for use in butchering and preparing
For other tasks, chipped
As a knife was reused and resharpened over
To make the vessels, potters used crushed
Although termed Nocona Plain, a small
were important processing tools for farming peoples who grew
The
200 B.C.-A.D. 600 everything for hunting, but they will forget all of their water safety equipment required by law, he said. Their . clearly saw much use, as indicated by a highly blackened bowl
hearth debris were quantities of grinding stone fragments
forms of glue, this mussel shell made a handy container. or small spears thrown with the use of an atlatl or spear
But while more experienced hunters might be familiar with laws and regulations Brack's study of shell-tempered
more likely rasps used as musical or ceremonial instruments.