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CBBS Continues Search for Early Paleoindians in the Big Bend

Early Paleoindians (Clovis and Folsom cultures; 9500-8300 B.C.) are best known for their highly sophisticated stone technologies and their kill sites of mammoth and giant bison, respectively. They were highly mobile hunter-gatherers who traveled in small bands, often camping in areas that provided good local sources of high-quality toolstone and permanent waterholes that attracted game. They had technologically distinctive, portable stone tool kits and hunted their prey on foot, their principal weaponry consisting of atlatls and/or spears. Very little is known about their use of shelters, plant resources, or other important aspects of their lifeways.

The presence or absence of early Paleoindian cultures in the Big Bend proper has been, and continues to be, an important, long-standing research issue among archeologists. Clovis and Folsom remains have been known for many years to occur along the northern margins of the Big Bend, such as in the Van Horn and Toyah Basin areas, but very little evidence of their presence has been forthcoming from the Davis Mountains south into Chihuahua. This regardless of the fact that many areas throughout the Big Bend have been subjected to extensive archeological surveys over the years.

To this day only a single Clovis point is confirmed by professional archeologists to have been found in the Big Bend proper, and it appears to be an isolated find. Until very recently there were no confirmed Folsom finds in the Big Bend, although at least one major Folsom campsite (professionally investigated in the 1950s) is known to exist to the northwest in the vicinity of Van Horn. Within the past year a few finds of Folsom artifacts have occurred in the area and at least one Folsom artifact found years ago has been reported to CBBS archeologists.

Much of what we know about early Paleoindians in other regions is a result of investigations of their animal kill sites. Clovis hunters included mammoth (extinct by about 9000 B.C.) in their list of prey, and a number of bone beds of giant bison (extinct by about 6500 B.C.) can be attributed to Folsom hunters. For this reason, finds of mammoth or bison bone in the Big Bend tend to be carefully examined in pursuit of early Paleoindian evidence.

Two finds of mammoth-one near Marathon and the other in the Marfa Plain- have come under scrutiny by our staff archeologists of late. In both cases soil studies and minor excavations have been carried out in an attempt to ascertain the time and processes of deposition/accumulation of the bone, for although mammoth were in the region for at least 1.5 million years, they were actually prey for Clovis hunters for less than 500 years at the end of the last Ice Age. Our ability to recognize ancient soils that date specifically from the tenth millenium B.C. becomes critical in our search for the Clovis hunters.

The Marathon mammoth was investigated at intervals during January and February of 2000. Bones of what appeared to be a single, adult animal were scattered for some 15 m along the face of an arroyo bluff. Partially exposed bone elements included a very large tusk, a mandible with one molar intact, a fragment of pelvis, and a variety of fragments from long bones and ribs. Examination of soil exposures suggested to the author that the remains were too old to have any association with humans. We did, however, carefully expose the mandible with tooth and ramus intact, treat it with preservatives, and remove it to the University for teaching and exhibition purposes. It currently is housed in the Museum of the Big Bend.

After several trips to examine the Marfa mammoth, the author decided that some potential for a Clovis kill site existed, and it was determined that the site would come under investigation as a part of our joint Texas Archeological Society-Sul Ross State University archeological field school held in June 2000.

The Marfa mammoth site is exposed along an arroyo cutbank and is believed to include at least three animals-two adults and one juvenile. The animals appear to have died in the edge of a pond or marsh.

The field school investigation included site mapping, soils analysis, and excavation of strategic areas with exposed bone. No definitive evidence of human involvement with the mammoths was found, and it is likely that the animals suffered a natural death. However, some aspects of recovered data still suggests the possibility of a kill, so we are continuing to monitor the site and area in cooperation with the landowner.

While evidence of Clovis inhabitants in the Big Bend continues to evade us temporarily, a measure of success can be reported in locating Folsom materials. Three widely separated areas of the Big Bend proper have yielded definitive, if scanty, evidence of a Folsom presence over the past year.

In all cases the evidence consists of Folsom projectile points and the byproducts of point manufacture-the latter being suggestive of area campsites. All are surface finds, and none of the localities have as yet produced additional Folsom evidence. We can, however, now state emphatically that the Big Bend was indeed included in the movements of Folsom hunters and, given some time, we expect a similar finding to emerge concerning earlier Clovis peoples as well.

— R. Mallouf
from La Vista de la Frontera 2001 Vol. 14(1):1-2.