HomeMy WebLinkAboutInterim Report 07.06.2000 INTERIM REPORT
CULTURAL RESOURCES SURVEY AND ASSESSMENT OF
VETERANS PARK AND ATHLETIC COMPLEX, COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS
(Texas Antiquity Permit No. 2305)
Submitted to:
Mr. Stephen C. Beachy
Director, Parks and Recreation Department
City of College Station
P.O. Box 9960, College Station, Texas 77842
Telephone: [409] 764 -3773; FAX: [409] 764 -3737
Prepared by:
Alston V. Thoms, Ph.D., Principal Investigator
and
J. Bryan Mason, Research Assistant
Center for Ecological Archaeology
Texas A &M University
College Station, Texas 77843 -4352
Submitted through:
Texas Engineering Experiment Station
The Texas A &M University System
College Station, Texas 77843 -4352
July 6, 2000
Center for Ecological Archaeology
Texas A &M University
College Station, Texas 77843 -4352
INTERIM REPORT:
CULTURAL RESOURCES SURVEY AND ASSESSMENT OF
VETERANS PARK AND ATHLETIC COMPLEX, COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS
Alston V. Thoms and J. Bryan Mason
This interim report presents results of an intensive archaeological survey of Veterans Park
and Athletic Complex, a proposed 150 -acre city park located in east College Station, Brazos
County, Texas (Figure 1). Work reported herein was conducted by staff and students at the
Center for Ecological Archaeology (CEA), Texas A &M University (TAMU), working through
the Texas Engineering Experiment Station (TEES) and under contract to the City of College
Station (City Project No. PK9941 and TEES No. C00- 00095). Survey and reporting standards
follow those established by the Texas Historical Commission (THC), described in the scope of
work, and incorporated into Texas Antiquity Permit No. 2305 for the present project.
Natural and Cultural Setting
Most of the proposed park is located in a flat -lying area on the first terrace above Carter
Creek, a perennial tributary of the Navasota River, but a small portion of the park (ca. 20 acres)
is within the floodplain. The project area and vicinity fall within the Post Oak Savannah
ecological zone. Deer and rabbits and, at times, bison, along with native roots, fruits and nuts,
would have been the main food resources for Native Americans. Euroamericans, on the other
hand, used most of the region as pasturage for livestock, although many acres were in cultivation,
especially along major watercourses.
Vegetation today consists of grasses and forbes on the terrace tread and woodlands on the
floodplain, as well as along a minor tributary steam in the northeast part of the property. Sandy
soils occur on the terrace and clayey soils are found on the floodplain. Soils on the terrace tread
and scarp (i.e., claypan soils) have sandy A and E horizons, varying in depth from 10 to 200 cm,
and a clayey sand Bt horizon, usually less than a meter thick. The Bt horizon is underlain by
stratified, sandy and gravely alluvium that forms the C horizon. Archaeological materials found
in similar settings within the Post Oak Savannah are always confined to the sandy mantle above
the Bt horizon.
There is ample evidence that Brazos County, including the upland area that surrounds the
park, was occupied by Native American people long before the arrival of European and African
explorers and immigrants. Chipped -stone projectile point types and other tools, along with
animal bones and the remains of cooking hearths and earth ovens, have been found throughout
the region, demonstrating its use by Indian people during the past 12,000 or more years.
Remains of a butchered mammoth were found along the Brazos River a few miles northwest of
College Station, but most archaeological sites in the region yield deer and rabbit bones. While
bison are widely reported as being hunted during the early historic era (ca. 1685 - 1830), very
few archaeological sites in the Post Oak Savannah region have yielded bison remains. Charred
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Figure 1. Map showing Veterans Park and 41BZ136 in relation to Bryan /College Station.
remains of nuts and roots that date to the last few thousand years have also been found at
archaeological sites in the region.
Archaeological sites are found throughout the Post Oak Savannah, along rivers and
streams, as well as in upland settings a mile of more from permanent water. They are especially
common on terraces and gentle slopes above tributary streams. These are also the parts of the
landscape where early -day French and Spanish explorers reported Indian encampments. People
of European and African ancestry first settled Texas more than 300 years ago, but it is only
within the last 175 years or so that they settled the area around College Station. By 1850, they
had displaced the local Indian populations.
Land -Use during the Historic Era
Farming was widespread on the floodplain of the Brazos River and along major
tributaries throughout the Post Oak region. Throughout much of the 1800s, the uplands,
including the area where College Station is located, served as pasture land for cattle and horses.
In the late 1800s, many of the prairie patches were placed in cultivation, but the sandy soils were
soon depleted, and once - cultivated fields were converted to pasture land. By the 1950s most the
uplands served as pasturage.
We do not yet know whether portions of the project area were cultivated during the 1800s
and early 1990s, but a review of aerial photographs shows that the area has been pasture land at
least since 1940. Cattle trails, fence lines, and ranch roads, along with a non - residential
farm/ranch structure appear on aerial photographs taken between 1940 and 1960. Sometime in
the 1970s, a large pond was constructed in the western third of the property and used by Texas
A &M students as water -ski training site (see Figures 1 and 2). In the mid 1980s, the pond was
filled in and the surrounding acreage was mechanically leveled in preparation for future
development. Sometime in the last two decades or so, an oil well was drilled in the southern part
of the project area; it was subsequently capped and the land around it was graded, presumably at
the same time that the rest of the property was mechanically leveled (Figure 2).
Field Methods
Surface survey, shovel testing, and exploratory backhoe excavations began in January
2000 and continued on an intermittent basis through February for a total of 27.5 person days.
Initial survey work corroborated what aerial photographs had revealed: most of the area had
been mechanically leveled, such that any archaeological sites there would have been destroyed.
Two areas, however, one in the northeast corner of the property and one along the terrace scarp
just above the floodplain, were comparatively undisturbed (Figure 2).
Both undisturbed areas were surveyed by walking 30- meter -wide parallel transects and
searching for pieces of chipped stone and other Native American artifacts, as well as historic
artifacts (e.g., metal, ceramic and glass items and fragments thereof), exposed on the surface, in
game trails, around rodent burrows, and in the backdirt from tree tip -ups. Where 70 percent or
more of the mineral soil (i.e., bare ground) was obscured by vegetation, one shovel probe per
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acre (i.e., at intersections of a 60 m grid) was hand dug and the backdirt was screened through
1/4 inch hardware cloth to recover buried artifacts. Shovel probes were about 30 cm in diameter
and from 20 to 100 cm deep, depending upon the depth at which the Bt horizon (culturally
sterile) was encountered. Thirty three shovel probes were dug in the relatively undisturbed areas
along the edge of the terrace tread and on the scarp. Of these probes, 6 yielded Native American
artifacts, and all of those were located along the terrace scarp. An additional 74 shovel probes
were dug radially around the positive probes to determine the extent of artifact concentrations; 31
of those were also positive. This procedure resulted in the identification of one archaeological
site-- 41BZ136- -with four artifact concentration areas, labeled A - D (see Figure 2).
Nine backhoe trenches (BHTs 1 -9) were dug in the relatively undisturbed areas to further
assess the potential for buried intact archeological deposits (see Figure 2). BHTs 1 and 4, located
in areas D and A respectively, revealed artifacts buried as much as 1 m below surface. BHT 2
was dug in the undisturbed area in the northeast corner of the property and showed that the Bt
horizon was less than 30 cm beneath the present -day surface. BHT 3, located in the east - central
part of the property that had been leveled, showed that fill material lay directly on the Bt horizon.
BHTs 5 -9 examined the terrace scarp and floodplain. They showed that the layer of fill
continued for several meters onto the floodplain and capped clayey soils that extended across the
floodplain. Examination of tench walls demonstrated that the terrace tread and slopes (i.e.,
scarp) were covered with 10 to 100 cm of fill that consisted of A -, E -, and Bt- horizon sediments
mixed together and spread over the original surface when land - leveling work was done in the
1980s.
Backhoe trenches along the terrace scarp revealed a readily apparent soil horizon, some
30 -50 cm below surface, that appeared to be a paleosol (i.e., a buried soil predating the modern
surface soil). The presence of this stratigraphic unit indicated a potential for buried intact
deposits. The northmost trench (BHT 4 in Area A) exposed the best - preserved and most -
extensive version of the ostensible paleosol and cut through the area with the largest artifact
concentration. Numerous artifacts were found in Area A in and near the distinctive soil horizon,
mostly flakes, but also a thin biface preform and one large piece of fire - cracked sandstone that
was carbon - stained on its downside.
To further assess the potential significance of site 41BZ136, CEA proposed and THC
concurred that additional field work should be undertaken. Accordingly, CEA personnel spent a
total of 18.5 person days in the field during April and May to complete the following tasks: (1)
to assess the integrity of archaeological deposits, seven backhoe trenches (labeled A - G, Figure
2) were excavated in artifact- concentration areas; and (2) to recover a sample of artifacts and
determine whether intact features or activity areas were present, four test pits were excavated in
Area A.
Survey and Testing Results
Survey work resulted in the identification of one site-- 41BZ136- -with four areas of
artifact concentrations. The portion of the site within the proposed park area covers an area
approximately 700 x 80 m in size along the terrace edge overlooking the Carter Creek floodplain.
Mechanical leveling work probably destroyed parts of the site that undoubtedly extended to the
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north and onto the terrace tread. The site also extends for an undetermined distance to the east,
across Texas Highway 30, as evidenced by a few flakes found in the road cut and along the
terrace edge (see Figure 2).
During the survey phase of work several temporally or functionally diagnostic artifacts
were recovered from shovel probes and backhoe trenches in Areas A and D, including a tip of
what was probably an arrow point, one end of a small, thin biface that may have been a preform
for an arrow point, a fragment of a drill, and an edge- modified flake fragment (i.e., side scraper)
(Figure 3). Numerous flakes and core fragments were also recovered from shovel tests and
backhoe trenches in each concentration area. All of the cores and most of the flakes exhibited
stream -worn cortex. This indicates that steam -worn Chert cobbles (4 -6 cm) provided the raw
material for most of the chipped stone artifacts found at 41BX136. Chert cobbles would have
been readily available from gravel deposits exposed along the terrace edge and from gravel bars
along Carter Creek.
Four 1 x 1 m test pits were excavated in Area A where the highest density of artifacts was
found during the survey phase (Figure 4) and where BHT 4 had revealed the most continuous
exposure of the distinctive soil horizon that appeared to represent a paleosol (i.e., a 2Ab/Bb
horizon) (Figure 5). This horizon was darker in color than the strata above or below it and field
test indicated that it contained slightly more clay than the overlying stratum. As noted, numerous
artifacts were found in or near this distinctive stratum, including a thin biface preform and a large
piece of fire- cracked sandstone that was carbon - stained on its downside (Figure 5).
Test pit excavations revealed that artifacts there were not necessarily concentrated in or
near the distinctive soil horizon. In fact, the several dozen pieces of recovered lithic debitage
(flakes and shatter) were found to be distributed more or less evenly throughout the upper 60 cm
of the solum (Figure 6). Diagnostic tools were not found in any of the test pits, nor were features
or discrete activity areas encountered.
Uniform vertical distributions of artifacts and a paucity of intact features are especially
characteristic of many sites buried in the sandy mantle. These sites tend to have been impacted
(i.e., "mixed up ") by natural site - disturbance processes (i.e., pedoturbation), including plant
growth, tree tip -ups, rodent burrows, gully formation, and various colluvial processes typical in
sandy sediments on gentle slopes. Nonetheless, the presence of a well - formed paleosol that
encompassed a significant portion of the artifacts would argue for a measure of stability and for a
potential for in situ archaeological deposits.
Laboratory analysis of sediments from Area A, however, failed to confirm that the
distinctive soil represented a paleosol. Whereas buried A horizons are expected to contain
significantly more organic matter than the overlying and underlying horizons, this was not the
case for the ostensible paleosol. Its organic content was much lower than expected. A buried B
horizon should contain markedly more clay -sized particles than would be found in overlying and
underlying horizons. Granulometric analysis showed that the ostensible paleosol in fact had
much less clay than the overlying unit and about the same amount as was in the underlying
horizon. This suggests that what appeared to be a 2Ab or 2Bb horizon was in fact an E horizon.
The dark color that appeared, based on field observations, to result from an increase in organic
5
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Figure 3. Selected artifacts recovered from 41BZ136: (a) projectile
point tip from Area D, (b) drill fragment from Area A, (c) scraper
fragment from Area A, (d) biface fragment from Area A (see Figure 2).
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Figure 6: South wall profiles of test units 1-4 (Area A, site 41 BZ136)
showing amount of Iithic debitage recovered per excavation level.
content is more likely to have been imparted by clay particles translocated from the lens of clay -
rich fill that capped this and other parts of the site.
To conclude, the collective results of the testing and analysis phase of the project indicate
that site 41BZ136 is not likely to contain in situ archaeological deposits. Although we can infer
from the types of artifacts found at the site that hunter- gatherers used the project area for a
variety of purposes through the millennia, natural site - formation processes are such that we are
unlikely to determine just which artifacts were used at any specific time. In other words, the
disturbed nature of the sites prevents us from discerning what specific activities were conducted
there during any given occupation episode or series thereof.
Summary and Recommendations
On -site inspection and discussions with knowledgeable individuals, along with a review
of aerial photographs, revealed that much of the project area was mechanically cleared and
leveled in the late 1980s. The southern and eastern margins of the property, however, remained
relatively undisturbed. One archaeological site-- 41BZ136- -was discovered and found to extend
for several hundred meters across the southern part of the park area. Native American artifacts,
including projectile points, a drill, a scraper, cores, and flakes were found buried in several areas,
each a few hundred square meters in size. In addition, it was reported that someone had found a
large dart point several years ago in the eastern part of the site. These artifacts indicate a variety
of hunting and gathering activities, along with procurement of chert cobbles from nearby gravel
deposits and their manufacture into stone tools. Judging from the types of projectile points and
other artifacts found at the site, these activities were probably carried out intermittently over the
course of several thousand years.
Backhoe trenches in several parts of the site revealed a distinctive stratigraphic horizon,
some 30 -60 cm below surface, that appeared to be a buried soil with considerable potential to
contain remains of intact hearths and other well preserved areas where were camp maintenance
activities were carried out. Further excavations, however, revealed that artifacts were equally
distributed throughout the upper 60 cm of the profile, probably as a result of plant growth, rodent
burrows, and other natural site - disturbance processes through the millennia. Sediment analysis
demonstrated that the distinctive horizon did not contain sufficient amounts of organic material
or clay to be considered a buried soil. In all likelihood, this particular horizon developed within
the last 15 years as clay nodules, added to the surface when it was mechanically leveled, were
dissolved by rain water and clay particles were moved in- solution down the profile. The process
envisioned here is similar to that attributed to the formation of clay lamella in sandy sediments.
The foregoing report and the following recommendations should be submitted to
personnel at the THC for their review and comment. Given a low overall density of artifacts,
especially a paucity of temporally or functionally diagnostic tools, and the apparent absence of in
situ archaeological deposits, 41BZ136 does not appear to be eligible for formal listing as a State
Archaeological Landmark or for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places.
Accordingly, additional archaeological field work is not warranted and it is recommended that
construction of Veterans Park and Athletic Complex be allowed to proceed.
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While site 41BZ136 is not likely to be considered significant in terms of state or federal
criteria, it nonetheless has considerable public- education potential. The nature and distribution
of Native American artifacts found there demonstrate how people used the landscape for
thousand of years before the arrival of Old World explorers. Euroamerican and African
American immigrants who settled the area within the last 200 years also left evidence of how
they used the local landscape, in the form of written and photographic records, along with oral
histories and a few scattered fragments of glass, ceramics, and metal. Information presented in
this report can be used in an interpretive kiosk that informs the public about cultural heritage and
environmental issues, as well as about how people have used the same landscape through the
millennia that eventually became College Station's Veterans Park and Athletic Complex.
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