Channel to Victoria Project

Archeological Site 41VT98 (the Buckeye Knoll Site)

By Dr. Robert Ricklis

   The Buckeye Knoll site lies on a spur of high ground overlooking the lower Guadalupe River floodplain. [Slide 1-site photo] This promontory is an erosional remnant of the Pleistocene Beaumont Formation, which was deposited about 130,000 years ago during higher-than-modern sea level. During the late Pleistocene sea level fell due to the expansion of continental glaciation and coastal-plain streams such as the Guadalupe River downcut their valleys. The Buckeye Knoll site is located on the eroded Guadalupe valley wall that resulted from such downcutting. By ca. 9,000-10,000 BP, rising early Holocene sea level caused inundation of the valleys coastline, resulting in the formation of estuarine embayments such as San Antonio Bay. Since that time the Guadalupe River has deposited sediments that have gradually filled the valley and built a delta into the upper bay.

   As indicated by the distribution of archaeological sites, valley-margin settings such as that occupied by Buckeye Knoll were popular locations for Native American camp sites. Not all of these sites were occupied at the same time, but many of them would have overlapped in time with some portion of the long occupational sequence at Buckeye Knoll.

   The Buckeye Knoll site was first noted by an avocational archaeologist who worked for Dupont when the Victoria Barge Canal was initially excavated in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The canal cut through a portion of the site, redepositing artifacts and human bone in the spoil along either bank. Despite these findings professional archaeologists did not become aware of the site until 1982 when it was recorded by Carolyn Murphy during a reconnaissance survey of the barge canal for the Corps of Engineers. The survey was intended to identify sites that might be impacted by maintenance dredging or erosion along the canal. As a result of that initial survey Coastal Environments, Inc. was contracted by the Corps to conduct additional survey along the canal and to carry out test excavations at seven sites, one of which was Buckeye Knoll. In 1989 CEI excavated 67 auger borings, five backhoe trenches and three 1x1 m hand-excavated units at the site in an effort to identify its limits and to sample the cultural deposits located there. The results of that work indicated that intact cultural deposits were present on the knoll west of the canal. Time sensitive artifacts were few in number, but those recovered suggested that the deposits spanned the period from about 5000 years ago to only a few centuries ago.

   About two years ago the Corps of Engineers began developing plans to widen the barge canal. In November of 2000 Coastal Environments was contracted to conduct more extensive test excavations at the Buckeye Knoll site in order to obtain additional information on the age, contents and distribution of the cultural deposits. The first phase of the fieldwork involved the excavation of numerous backhoe trenches around the periphery of the site in order to better define the limits of the intact cultural deposits and to recover geological information on the formation of the site. [Slide 2-backhoe trenching] This work generally confirmed our previous estimate of the extent of the cultural deposits on the knoll, but it provided two important pieces of additional information. [Slide 3-site map w/backhoe trenches] First, it suggested that intact midden deposits may be deeply buried under dredged material southwest of the knoll. Second, it indicated that intact deposits were not present between the levee and the barge canal. Following the completion of these backhoe trenches a series of hand-excavated 2 x 2 m units were opened across the site. [Slide 4-site map w/exc. units] These were eventually expanded into block excavations in two areas, so that in total 145 sq. meters were excavated by hand.

   Some of the most important information was recovered from the excavations on the knoll-top. [Slide 5-profile of knoll-top] The deposits in this area occurred in three distinct strata or zones. The uppermost, Zone 1, was a grayish brown soil that formed on the site after the Native American occupations. Beneath it lay Zone 2, a black silty midden or refuse deposit about 80 cm thick that contained numerous artifacts, including stone dart and arrow points and other tools, the debris from their manufacture, pottery fragments, animal bones and shell. [Slide 6-artifacts from Zone 2] A number of hearth features, consisting of concentrations of burned clay and stone, were also present. Based on the styles of the projectile points and ceramics, it is estimated that this zone represents intermittent occupation from about 5000 to 800 years ago.
At the base of Zone 2 or in the upper portion of Zone 3 five human burials were encountered. All of these were in extended position and occurred at the base of Zone 2 or in distinct pits that originated in Zone 2. Two of the burials contained dart points and large whelk shell pendants typical of the Late Archaic period, about 2500 years ago. The other three burials may be contemporary, but this has yet to be determined.
Beneath Zone 2 was Zone 3, a brown silty sand that was divided into upper and lower portions on the basis of slight color differences. The upper portion, Zone 3A, contained dart points and other tools of styles dating to the Paleo-Indian period, about 10,000 to 11,000 years ago. The lower portion produced very few artifacts and rested directly on the Pleistocene terrace.

   Also present within Zone 3 was an Early Archaic cemetery containing at least 70 human burials in flexed, sitting or bundle positions. [Slide 7-plan of burials in Zone 3] Grave pits were not identifiable for any of these burials, but most of them probably originated from a surface that was eroded away before the Zone 2 midden began to accumulate. A diverse array of artifacts were placed with these burials. [Slide 8-plan of mortuary artifacts in Zone 3] They include lanceolate dart points, large bifacial blades that are almost certainly ceremonial rather than functional, winged bannerstones (weights for throwing sticks which occur in eastern North America, but are not known from the Texas coast), "Waco sinkers" (ground-stone objects of unknown use), plummets, flintknapper's tool kits (containing dart points, preforms, flakes, bone and antler tools, sandstone abraders), perforated canid teeth, pendants made from freshwater mussel and sunray venus clam shells, beads made from Marginella and netrite shells, red and yellow ochre, and asphaltum (natural tar) nodules.
Radiocarbon dates obtained on samples of bone from four of these burials indicate that this occupation dates to between 7500 and 6300 years ago, during the Early Archaic period. Stylistic information from the artifacts suggests that some of the burials may be even older. [Slide 9-extent of cemetery] Based on the distribution of burials in the excavation units it is estimated that only about 25-30 percent of the cemetery area has been uncovered.

   The other area in which a block excavation was opened was on the west slope of the knoll. [Slide 10-site map w/exc. units] The deposits there were similar to those on the knoll-top with a few exceptions. [Slide 11-west slope profile] Zone 1 was thicker in the west-slope area and contained moderate numbers of artifacts dating to the Late Archaic and Late Prehistoric periods. Zone 2 was somewhat thinner than its counterpart on the knoll-top and in this area it produced occasional shells of marsh clams and oysters. A single extended burial found near the base of this zone is probably contemporary with the Late Archaic burials on the knoll-top. The deposits of Zone 3 were similar to those on the knoll-top, but the dart points recovered from this area appear to be somewhat later, dating to the Middle Archaic period. Beneath Zone 3 in this area was a yellowish brown sand, Zone 4, that rested on the eroded Pleistocene terrace deposits and produced little cultural material.
Intact cultural deposits were encountered in one other portion of the site, a small area of midden located about 70 m east of the knoll-top block excavation. [Slide 12-site map w/exc. units] The deposits in this area consisted of three zones. The uppermost was a dark brown silty sand 20-30 cm thick that contained artifacts of the Rockport Phase, including Rockport pottery and Perdiz arrow points in association with bison and deer bone. [Slide 13-Rockport phase artifacts] This component probably represents a seasonal hunting camp of a coastal Karankawan group. The second zone was some 80-90 cm thick and contained Archaic artifacts estimated to date between 6000 and 1000 years ago.

   The bottom zone was a black silty sand about 25 cm thick that rested directly on the Pleistocene terrace deposits. This lower stratum produced a small number of stone tools that appear to be associated with a Paleo-Indian occupation. [Slide 14-Paleo-Indian artifacts] These include two fragments of lanceolate dart points with careful parallel pressure flaking and a distinctive woodworking tool known as a Dalton adz. [Slide 15-Dalton artifacts]

   This slide gives you a schematic of what we think was the sequence of development of the principal deposits at the site. [Slide 16-schematic of site deposition] It begins about 10,000-12,000 years ago with the accumulation of the sandy Zone 3 deposits containing debris from Paleo-Indian period camps established on the Pleistocene terrace remnant. About 7000 years ago Early Archaic period groups buried their dead in graves dug into the earlier deposits. Between 5000 and 6000 years ago the site was apparently subjected to extensive sheet erosion, removing the ground surface from which the Early Archaic burials were dug as well as the upper portion of Zone 3. Zone 2 with its Middle Archaic through Late Prehistoric camp debris began to accumulate after 5000 years ago and continued up until about 600 years ago. The Zone 1 deposit on the knoll-top formed after Native American occupation of the site had ended.

   In addition to the archaeological remains that were the focus of our research, we collected sediment samples from cores and from the backhoe trenches excavated around the periphery of the site in order to obtain dateable material that will allow us to interpret the geologic history of the site. These samples have also produced well-preserved pollen for reconstructing the vegetation history of the site environs.
In summary, the Buckeye Knoll site contains important information for interpreting the prehistory of the Central Texas coast region and for understanding larger issues of Early Archaic life in the south-central U.S. [Slide 17-key research topics] The major research topics include:

1. Regional culture history. The site has produced one of the most complete records of human occupation of any archaeological site on the coastal prairie of Texas, representing some 10,000 to 12,000 years of culture history. Identifiable periods include the Paleo-Indian, Early Archaic, Middle Archaic, Late Archaic and Late Prehistoric. The vertical distributions of time-diagnostic dart points and other artifacts, particular in the Knoll Top and West Slope areas, show that the cultural deposits are intact and contain discrete, identifiable components. All of this offers a unique opportunity for increasing our understanding of long-term cultural development and change on the western Gulf coastal plain.

2. Environmental history and human ecology. Well-preserved and abundant animal bones from various deposits hold great potential for understanding the subsistence economies of the people who lived at Buckeye Knoll and how those patterns may have changed in response to shifts in climate and environmental factors. Flotation of the many soil samples taken from midden strata may provide information on economically important plant resources. Moreover, the good pollen preservation found in nearby floodplain sediments is expected to provide a model of environmental change with which to interpret changes in human adaptation during the long history of occupation at the site.

3. Early Archaic bioarchaeology. The Early Archaic cemetery at Buckeye Knoll contains one of the three largest samples of early human remains from North America, and represents some 10 percent of all known individuals of this age or older from the continent. As such, these materials hold unique potential for understanding early populations in terms of their health, diet and biological affinity. The report by Dr. Doran and his associates from Florida State University which is part of the packet of information that all of you received discusses in some detail the various types of analyses that could be conducted on the human remains and the information provided by each. Only 25-30 percent of the estimated cemetery area was excavated, and many more remains are undoubtedly present and should be preserved and protected in place.

   The quantity and variety of artifacts associated with the Early Archaic burials are striking and reflect an impressive level of aesthetic and technical development in material culture on the western Gulf coastal plain by 7000 years ago. Moreover, these materials appear to represent a previously unknown early culture pattern for this area. The presence of lanceolate dart points similar to late Paleo-Indian forms suggests a continuity in material-culture traditions and technology, while the ground-stone plummets and bannerstones and cherts imported from the Edwards Plateau of central Texas reflect far-ranging trade connections. Ornaments of shell indicate a concern for personal adornment and, along with pieces of asphaltum show that these early people were already exploiting the resources of the emergent Gulf shoreline. These items, the finely fashioned and labor-intensive quartzite "sinkers" and the large bifaces all suggest an emphasis on ideologically important (as opposed to strictly functional) objects. Caches of stone raw material and the placement of tool kits with the deceased suggest a concern for provisioning individuals for an afterlife. It may be possible to correlate the kinds of burial artifacts with the age and sex of individuals, an unprecedented opportunity for exploring social roles/status in such an early population.