Archeological and Geological Investigations at Site 41HM61: 4,000 Years of Life along the Leon River

From September through November 2011, and again in September 2013, Coastal Environments, Inc., under contract to the Texas Department of Transportation, conducted archeological and geological test excavations at site 41HM61 to determine if that locale was eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. Investigations included the excavation of 11 backhoe trenches, six small ca. 50x50-cm “witness columns,” and five block excavations consisting of several contiguous 1x1-m excavation units.
Those excavations revealed that the site contained intact, finely stratified cultural deposits, separated both horizontally and vertically, extending from the late Middle Archaic period to the Late Prehistoric or Protohistoric periods (ca. 2460 B.C. to A.D. 1600). Such stratification allowed the investigators to offer a relatively concise picture of life among those hunter-gatherer groups that sporadically included the Leon River valley within their range of exploitation. Particularly important were the results of AMS radiocarbon dates from various organic remains. When coupled with diagnostic projectile points and associated burned-rock and mussel-shell features, those dates allowed for a fine-grained interpretation of hunter-gatherer subsistence over the roughly 4,000 years that the site was utilized. It also was possible to identify local environmental changes that would have affected subsistence strategies and living conditions.
Learn more about the topic at:
Report: Archaeological and Geological Test Excavations at Site 41HM61, Hamilton County, Texas (scholarworks.sfasu.edu/ita/vol2015/iss1/6/)
This video is part of the Texas Historical Commission's Texas Archeology Month 2020 Virtual Symposium. View other presentations in the series on playlists organized by region on our KZbin channel.