The Prehistory of TexasTimothy K. Perttula Paleoindians first arrived in Texas more than eleven thousand years ago, although relatively few sites of such early peoples have been discovered. Texas has a substantial post-Paleoindian record, however, and there are more than fifty thousand prehistoric archaeological sites identified across the state. This comprehensive volume explores in detail the varied experience of native peoples who lived on this land in prehistoric times. Chapters on each of the regions offer cutting-edge research, the culmination of years of work by dozens of the most knowledgeable experts. Based on the archaeological record, the discussion of the earliest inhabitants includes a reclassification of all known Paleoindian projectile point types and establishes a chronology for the various occupations. The archaeological data from across the state of Texas also allow authors to trace technological changes over time, the development of intensive fishing and shellfish collecting, funerary customs and the belief systems they represented, long-term changes in settlement mobility and character, landscape use, and the eventual development of agricultural societies. The studies bring the prehistory of Texas Indians all the way up through the Late Prehistoric period (ca. a.d. 700–1600). The extensively illustrated chapters are broadly cultural-historical in nature but stay strongly focused on important current research problems. Taken together, they present careful and exhaustive considerations of the full archaeological (and paleoenvironmental) record of Texas. |
Contents
An Introduction to Texas Prehistoric Archeology | 5 |
Paleoindian Archeology in Texas | 15 |
The HunterGatherers of the Central and Southern Texas Prairies and Plains | 99 |
Archeology in Central Texas | 101 |
The Prehistory of South Texas | 127 |
Coastal Groups | 153 |
Prehistoric Occupation of the Central and Lower Texas Coast A Regional Overview | 155 |
The Archeology of the Native American Occupation of Southeast Texas | 181 |
The Hunters and Farmers of the High Plains and Canyonlands | 281 |
Archeology and Late Quaternary Environments of the Southern High Plains | 283 |
The Palo Duro Complex Redefining the Early Ceramic Period in the Caprock Canyonlands | 296 |
From Stone Slab Architecture to Abandonment A Revisionist View of the Antelope Creek Phase | 331 |
HunterGatherer and Farming Groups in the Post Oak Savanna Tallgrass Prairies and Pineywoods of Eastern and Northern Texas | 345 |
The Archeology of the Post Oak Savanna of EastCentral Texas | 347 |
The Prehistoric and Caddoan Archeology of the Northeastern Texas Pineywoods | 370 |
409 | |
The Desert Archeology of Western Texas | 203 |
Prehistory of the Jornada Mogollon and Eastern TransPecos Regions of West Texas | 205 |
The Lower Pecos River Region of Texas and Northern Mexico | 266 |
Contributors | |
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American Analysis Antelope appear arrow artifacts assemblages associated Austin basin bison bone Bulletin burials Caddoan central Texas ceramics changes Clovis coast Complex components contexts County Creek cultural dates deposits Early east eastern edited et al evidence excavated Folsom forms groups Hester High Historic Holliday human important increase indicate Johnson known Lake land Late Archaic Late Prehistoric lithic Lower major materials Mexico midden Middle North noted occupation occur Paleoindian Palo Duro Paso patterns Pecos period Perttula phase pits Plains Plainview plant Pleistocene points population present projectile points radiocarbon range record region remains Report represent Research Reservoir Ricklis River rock samples settlement shell Shelter soil South Southern stone Stratum structures Studies subsistence suggest surface Survey Table Texas Archeological Texas Panhandle tion Trans-Pecos types Unit University University of Texas upper Valley western Zone
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