Volume 33 No. 6, September 2013

President

Donna Otto

Vice-President

Scott Brosowske

Secretary

Stacy Brown

Treasurer

vacant

Publications

Rolla Shaller

Newsletter Editor

Jerry Leatherman

The Newsletter of the Panhandle Archaeological Society

“Blackwater Draw: The Adventures Continue”

PAS Field Trip, June 2013 Pages 8-12

Next PAS meeting: Wednesday, September 18, 7 P.M.,

Wildcat Bluff Nature Center, 2301 N. Soncy, Amarillo, TX.

Guest Speaker will be Joe D. Rogers.

“To catch the reader's attention, place an interesting

sentence or quote from the story here.”

Page 2 Ins ide…

Page 3

Pages 4-8

Page 9

PAS field trip to Blackwater Draw site in New Mexico.

Volume 33 No. 6, September 2013

“The 2013 Annual Texas Archeological Society

Field School at Hondo, Texas”

The Texas Archeological Society’s

52nd annual field school was once

again held near Hondo, Texas at

the Eagle Bluff site (41ME147).

The primary research goal of prin-

cipal investigator Tom Hester was

to improve an occupational se-

quence for this site. The site meas-

ures about 200 x 150 meters and

contains occupations of native cul-

tures spanning from 6500 BP to

the early 1700’s. Activities once

again included considerable num-

bers of excavation blocks, the kids’

units, ranch land surveys, and ex-

amination of a historic component

at Judge George Weldon Harper’s

historic “dog run” stone house

from the 1860’s. This presentation will provide a brief overview of some of the work con-

ducted at the TAS Field School.

Joe D. Rogers is a retired public school teacher that works as a part-time instructor at West Texas A&M in

History and Archaeology. He is a past president of both PAS and TAS. Current Research projects include

burned daub from the Jack Allen site and the Texas Panhandle in World War II.

Page 3 Volume 33 No. 6, September 2013

The September 18 meeting of the Panhandle Archeological

Society Guest Speaker will be Joe D. Rogers presenting:

Volume 33 No. 6, September 2013 Page 4

Summary of the Field Trip to the Blackwater Draw Museum and Site

By Paul Katz

On Wednesday, June 12, 2013, 13 members and guests of the Panhandle Archeological Society

took a field trip to the Blackwater Draw Museum and Site near Portales, NM. Blackwater Draw Local-

ity No. 1 is the type site for Clovis activities during the Early Paleoindian period.

Most of us met at the Wal-Mart in Canyon and caravanned to the museum. There we met up with

the rest of the participants and proceeded into the museum in full force. We were met by Mr. Matt

Hillsman, the Museum Curator, who provided an introduction to the museum and then stayed with

us throughout the tour in order to answer questions about the exhibits, the site, and New Mexico

prehistory. Matt was familiar to some of the PAS members because of his 1992 MA thesis from

ENMU which studied Alibates and other tool stones of the region.

Thanks and a hat tip to Rolla

Shaller for all the photos.

Continued on page 7

Volume 33 No. 6, September 2013 Page 5

BLACKWATER DRAW…CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8

Continued on page 8

While the museum exhibits naturally focus on the Paleoindian period, they are arranged chrono-

logically and continue through the Archaic and Late Prehistoric periods as well. At the conclusion of

the museum tour, we viewed a short film about the archaeology of the Blackwater Draw site, pro-

duced as another ENMU MA ‘thesis’.

It is only a short ride from the

museum to the site, and again we

were expected and met at the Visi-

tor Center by several ENMU field

school students. The field school

was spending three weeks working

at the site, and we timed our visit for

the middle of third week so that

most of what was planned had al-

ready been completed. One student

walked us from the Visitor Center to

the building that encloses one of the

bone beds, which has

been exposed and pre-

served for public viewing

and additional investiga-

tion. Here we met Mr.

George Crawford, the

Blackwater Draw site

manager, and he pointed

out the various strati-

graphic levels and ex-

plained what the students

were doing in different

parts and on different lev-

els of the excavation.

Blackwater Draw site building with stratigraphy area and building

over well to left.

Volume 33 No. 6, September 2013 Page 6

BLACKWATER DRAW…CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9

Other students were at

work just outside the mu-

seum, and there we met Dr.

David Kilby. Dr. Kilby is the

director of the field school, a

noted Paleoindian scholar,

and has been a speaker at a

PAS meeting. He and his stu-

dents had spent the three

weeks cleaning the profile of

a previous excavation, to bet-

ter identify and interpret the

stratigraphic units and to re-

cover a series of samples for

analysis and dating. We were

able to see at a single glance

the progression from Clovis,

through Folsom and Plano

Paleoindian occupations, to the Archaic period.

The original field trip itinerary

included a visit to the Clovis labora-

tory on the ENMU campus, in order

to see many of the artifacts that

have been recovered during dec-

ades of investigation at the site.

However, because the field school

had only two more days at the site

and things needed to be finished

by students and staff, George

Crawford promised to come to

Amarillo, bearing artifacts, and

speak at one of the PAS meetings.

Inside Blackwater Draw site building with George Crawford on right.

Stratigraphic profile area outside of the site building. Continued on page 9

Volume 33 No. 6, September 2013 Page 7

BLACKWATER DRAW…CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10

The field trip participants then proceeded to Oasis State Park, where we enjoyed a lunch together

before going our sepa-

rate ways. We all agreed

that the trip was informa-

tive and enjoyable.

Participants with PAS

included Alvin Lynn,

Anne Schoen, Beryl

Hughes, Bill Webb,

Elaine Maples, Jerry

Foster, Joe Faulken-

berry, Lisa Jackson,

Mike Dewey, Pat Foster,

Paul Katz, Richard Wig-

gin and Rolla Shaller.

Dr. David Kilby explains the stratigraphic profile.

More pictures on page 10

Volume 33 No. 6, September 2013 Page 8

Photos with this report are courtesy of

Paul Katz and Rolla Shaller.

Volume 33 No. 6, September 2013 Page 9

2013

Sept. 18 PAS Meeting 7:00 pm , Wild Cat Bluff Nature Center

Sept. 19-22 Material Culture of the Prairie, Plains and Plateau Larned, KS; For more

information www.mcppp.org or Ken Weidner 620-668-5249

Oct. 2-5 Plains Anthropological Conference, Loveland, CO.

Oct. 16 PAS Meeting, 7:00 pm Wild Cat Bluff Nature Center

Oct. 17-19 PaleoAmerican Odyssey, Santa Fe, NM.

Oct. 19 Fannin School History Fair

Oct. 25-27 Texas Archeological Society, Annual Meeting Del Rio, Texas

Nov. 20 PAS Meeting, 7:00 pm Wild Cat Bluff Nature Center

Dec. 14 PAS -Studer Lecture Series and Banquet, Panhandle Plains Historical Museum

2014

May 3 50th Annual Symposium of the Southwestern Federation of Archeological

Societies, Host: PAS @ Panhandle Plains Historical Museum