29th East Texas Archeological Conference

February 17, 2024

University of Texas at Tyler

Join us this Saturday for the 29th East Texas Archeological Conference at the University of Texas at Tyler. The East Texas Archeological Conference is hosted annually to bring together people interested in the archeology and cultural heritage of East Texas.

You can download the conference schedule and abstracts here.

You can download a free UTT parking pass here.

Location: Main Lobby and other rooms in the Soules College of Business at UT Tyler.

Hours: 9 AM until 4 PM. Registration begins at 8:30 AM.

Fee: $20 which includes lunch.

Hotel: Homewood Suites, 3104 Golden Road, Tyler, TX. 903-593-7880 and mention East Texas Archeology for conference rates of $116. Breakfast is included.

Organizers

Keith Eppich (TJC-The College of East Texas), Thomas Guderjan (UT Tyler), Colleen Hanratty (UT Tyler), Cory Sills (UT Tyler), Christy Simmons (UT Tyler), Tom Middlebrook, Mark Walters.

Sponsors

The Center for Social Science Research & Department of Social Sciences, University of Texas at Tyler.

Parking

Parking is available in the 2 lots adjacent to the Soules building (circled in map, below) and in the adjacent parking garage, which are colored grey in the map. Please print out a copy of the parking permit (download here) and place it in the driver’s window of your vehicle. Security will ticket vehicles without permits properly displayed. Copies will be available at the registration table if you are unable to print ahead of time.

Schedule

8:00-9:00 Registration- In Atrium

9:00-9:10 Opening Remarks

9:10-9:40 Tom Middlebrook and Morris K. Jackson. Archeological Research at the Gallant Farm in Western Nacogdoches County: 2010-2022

9:40-10:20 Tamra L. Walter. The 2023 -2024 TAS Field School Excavations in Nacogdoches, Texas: A Look Back and Forward.

10:20-10:50 Coffee Break

10:50-11:10 Nathaniel Asquith. OCCBP Ceramics Analysis.

11:10-11:30 Kaitlin Murphy. The Silent Storytellers of Fashion: Clothing Fasteners as Expressions of Economic Status, Gender, and Culture at Old Canaan Cemetery.

11:30-11:50 Abby Sink. A Stylistic Analysis of Coffin Hardware at Old Canaan Baptist Cemetery to Unravel Burial Chronology.

11:50-12:00 Questions for morning papers

12:00-1:00 Lunch TASN Meeting in breakout room.

1:00-1:40 Crystal Dozier. Where Did All The Little Mounds Go? Ancestral Caddo Landscape Erasure by Archaeology, Looting, and Modernity.

1:40-2:00 Henry Moy. Forgotten Resources: Vintage Museum Collections.

2:00-2:20 Becky Sheldon. An update on Texas Historical Commission efforts in East Texas.

2:20-2:40 Gerry Gibson, Thomas Speir, Bob Vernon, Daryl Ware. Water Crossings Project, Harrison County.

2:40-3:00 Coffee Break

3:00-3:20 Amy Broussard and Tad Britt. Pioneer Settlement Along the Red River: An Archaeological Investigation of a Mid-18th Century Colonial Homestead (16NA100) Grand Ecore, Louisiana

3:20-3:50 Randal Gilbert, Allen Knous, Ed Tabri, Bob Vernon. Preliminary Report: The Sturkie Earthworks Site

3:50-4:00 Closing Remarks

Abstracts

Nathaniel Asquith (Texas Tech University)

OCCBP Ceramics Analysis

Numerous mortuary artifacts were recovered from the 2023 Old Canaan excavations, including ceramic, class, shell, and metal objects. This presentation focuses on the ceramic fragments from objects left on grave surfaces following interment. Ceramic artifacts are important in a few key ways. First, they can allow for a stronger diagnostic understanding of the time period and economic means of the community. Second, ceramic grave goods provide a picture of the mortuary practices and beliefs held within a culture. This analysis involves a study of the varied forms of ceramic objects focusing on physical composition as well as their intended design and use. Third, a comparison with surface artifacts from other African American cemeteries will provide a greater context of Black funerary practices in the South following Emancipation. Ultimately, analyses of these mortuary artifacts outlines the kinds of ceramics left by communities and the significance they held within a local perspective.

Amy Broussard and Tad Britt (National Center for Preservation Technology and Training)

Pioneer Settlement Along the Red River: An Archaeological Investigation of a Mid-18th Century Colonial Homestead (16NA100) Grand Ecore, Louisiana

This presentation will focus on the material culture and historic accounts of an 18th century colonial homestead attributed to Anthanaze Demeziere, Texas Provisional Governor, 1779. Demeziere descended from French royalty, banished to Canada at 14 years of age, and his long list of achievements via his relationship regionally with the Natchitoches Tribes, French, and Spanish governments in what became Louisiana and Texas. The goal of this research was to investigate the homestead while applying innovative metal detecting strategies to yield more information than conventional methodologies. The results demonstrate new methods for integrating technology for artifact recovery and to recognizing the significance and contributions of this important colonial pioneer.

Crystal A. Dozier (Wichita State University)

Where Did All The Little Mounds Go? Ancestral Caddo Landscape Erasure by Archaeology, Looting, and Modernity

Invited Keynote Address

East Texas is home to a number of spectacular Ancestral Caddo sites that feature earthen mounds. Mound building was a central cultural and political feature of Caddo religious landscapes for thousands of years. While some of these places have stunningly survived, this talk explores how these landscapes have been altered, and in some places erased, through the historical processes of 20th century archaeology, widespread looting, and modern landscape use practices. The history of the Boxed Springs site (41UR30) serves as a prime example of how these processes have fundamentally altered the ability to recognize mound building activities, especially at smaller or older sites. As such, current estimates of the intensity of Early and Middle Caddo ceremonial and political activities are likely greatly underestimated. In recognition of the irreparable harm to Caddo archaeological locales, archaeologists should be extra cautious in approaching the study of earthen mounds. New remote sensing techniques, such as UAV-mounted LiDAR, are poised to provide greater resolution and understanding of these important Ancestral Caddo places.

Gerry Gibson, Thomas Speir, Bob Vernon, Daryl Ware

Water Crossings Project, Harrison County

Half of Harrison County’s southern boundary is the Sabine River, and half of its northern boundary is the historic Cypress Bayou-Caddo Lake steamboat route to Jefferson. Water crossings (fords, ferries, bridges and landings) provide solutions to travel route interruptions, and crossings at political boundaries, reflect political, social and economic conditions on both sides of the boundary.

The “Crossings Project” is a collaborative archeology and history research effort to identify, locate, map and document all historic boundary water-crossings and associated travel routes into and from Harrison County. Archival research, plus extensive application of historic maps and modern cartography and remote sensing — including LiDAR — were employed. The Project’s “master map” of over twenty historic crossings is presented — along with archeological summaries of three selected historic crossing sites.

Randal Gilbert, Esq., Allen Knous (UT Tyler), Edward Tabri (UT Tyler), Bob Vernon (TASN).

Preliminary Report: The Sturkie Earthworks Site

On the heavily-wooded eastern bluff above Lake Gladewater in Upshur County is an irregular earthworks quadrilateral with walls (“berms”) over one meter high and sides averaging thirty-eight meters in length. Speculation re the origin, purpose, and age of the earthworks includes French and Spanish colonial fortifications and 1930s oil-boom works.

Preliminary archeological findings are presented, along with a historical review of French and Spanish colonialism in the area as well as factors supporting or nullifying various speculative interpretations.

Henry Moy (Museum of the Red River)

Forgotten Resources: Vintage Museum Collections

A brief introduction to the potential value of “abandoned” collections found in local and regional museums. Idabel Oklahoma’s Museum of the Red River was founded in 1974 to serve as a repository for archaeological materials being recovered during the construction of a dam creating Broken Bow Lake. This project led to the expansion of Beavers Bend State Park to become a major Resort in McCurtain County, Oklahoma. In addition to creating exhibits showcasing the archaeology being done locally, the Museum conducted its own excavations under state and federal contracts. Results were published as required. However, generally unknown to the professional community are collections which the Museum received from private donors, some of which could be expected to provide valuable information to current projects in the region.

Tom Middlebrook (Texas Archeological Stewards Network) and Morris K. Jackson (Texas Archeological Stewards Netwok)

The authors organized archeological research at the 900-acre Gallant Farm on the east bank of the Angelina River following the discovery there of early 18th century European artifacts in 2010. This paper will summarize the artifacts and cultural features associated with the Ben Gallant site (41NA338), the Belle Gallant site (41NA346), and the Gallant Falls site (41NA344) prior to the Texas Archeological Field School in 2024. Additionally, we will evaluate our prior interpretation of the sites as being part of the 1716-1730 Mission N. S. de la Purisima Concepcion de los Hainais complex.

Kaitlin Murphy (Texas Tech University)

The Silent Storytellers of Fashion: Clothing Fasteners as Expressions of Economic Status, Gender, and Culture at Old Canaan Cemetery

Clothing fasteners in historical cemetery excavations show the unique expressions of the individual and of the larger community regarding gender and culture. The sample of buttons, a belt buckle, and cuff links found inside the graves of the historic Old Canaan Baptist Cemetery used from the 1870s-1938 speaks to the type of clothing in which the African American community chose to inter their dead. This presentation will report on the material type, attachment style, and element size from four graves and will compare this data to research on historical clothing and other excavations of historical sites and interments. The primary goal is to suggest conclusions about the clothing types worn at the time of interment that relate to gender and economic status of the families in this community, while also considering the intersectionality of race and sex of the buried members.

Abby Sink (Texas Tech University)

A Stylistic Analysis of Coffin Hardware at Old Canaan Baptist Cemetery to

Unravel Burial Chronology

Coffin hardware is a crucial temporal indicator for historic cemeteries, which can also

speak to the socioeconomic climate and taste of historic communities. In 2020, three graves were

excavated at the Old Canaan Baptist Cemetery to assess the level of preservation, but only coffin

hardware was exhumed. In 2023, eight graves were excavated uncovering an array of artifacts

that were photographed and documented and then reburied. With the community’s permission,

the coffin hardware was recovered and brought to Texas Tech University for analysis. Recovered

hardware elements include but are not limited to handles, thumbscrews, escutcheons, plaques,

and cap lifters from the late 19th century to the early 20th century. This study delves into the

intricacies of coffin hardware styles, proposing refined burial timelines. The objective is to

provide tailored insights into the eleven graves, encompassing factors like economic status,

religious ties, and potential gender representation for future research.

Tamra L. Walter (Texas Tech University)

The 2023 -2024 TAS Field School Excavations in Nacogdoches, Texas: A Look Back and Forward.

Invited Keynote Address

The 2023 TAS Field School investigated three colonial-era Caddo sites in Nacogdoches County this past summer. The Ben Gallant, Belle Gallant, and Gallant Falls (the proposed site of Mission Concepcion) sites are all located on private property in close proximity to one another.

Guided by extensive research previously conducted by Tom Middlebrook and his colleagues, large excavation blocks were opened at all three sites. Excavations at both the Ben Gallant and Belle Gallant sites focused on Caddo round houses identified by Middlebrook and his team prior to our arrival. Investigations at the Gallant Falls site focused on finding evidence that either confirms or negates the theory that Mission Concepcion was first established at that spot. A discussion of excavations at all three sites is provided along with an overview of previous investigations and the preliminary results from the 2023 field season. Building on our initial findings, a plan for this coming summer’s TAS field school at the same sites will also be presented. Specifically, goals, excavation plans, and research questions are reviewed.

Past Conferences:

26th Annual East Texas Archeology Conference: Saturday, February 23rd, 2019

Join us for the 26th annual East Texas Archeology Conference, Saturday, February 23rd, 2019! The conference will be held at the Ornelas Activity Center at The University of Texas at Tyler from 8AM until 4:30PM. The East Texas Archaeology Conference includes speakers from across East Texas and surrounding regions, presenting the latest in archaeological research. The conference is open to the public. (Please note that you do NOT need to preregister for the ETAC conference! You can register at the event starting at 8am on Saturday! The $20 registration fee includes lunch served on site.)

Keynote Speakers

We are pleased to announce the 26th annual East Texas Archeology Conference will focus on Paleoindians. We look forward to keynote presentations by Dr. Michael Waters, Dr. Michael Collins, and Dr. Amanda Evens. Join us on Saturday, February 23rd, 2019 for these keynote speakers plus many more presentations highlighting archaeological research of East Texas and surrounding regions.

Dr. Michael Waters: Forging a New Understanding of the Late Pleistocene Peopling of the Americas
Dr. Michael Collins: The Earliest Texans at Gault
Dr. Amanda Evans: Investigation of buried and submerged prehistoric archaeological landscapes off the Texas coast

2019 ETAC PROGRAM

8:00-9:00 AM Registration, coffee and light food

9:00-9:20 AM Maggie Moore and Arlo McKee: Burials and archeological big data

9:20-9:40 AM Ben Baaske: The Maya of northwestern Belize: A digital survey and 3D modelling report.

9:40-10:00 AM Tommy Hailey: Aerial Archaeology.

10:00-10:20 AM Coffee Break

10:20-10:40 AM Tom Middlebrook and C. Colleen Hanratty: A pilot study in the use of PXRF analysis of Caddo ceramics.

10:40:11:00 AM Sabrina H. Owen, Sahvannah K. Shavers, and George E. Avery: Archaeological investigations at a mid-20th century African American house site in Nacogdoches, Texas.

11:00-11:20 AM Dan M. Worrall, John B. Anderson, Don Dobesh, Rosemary Neyin, and Cary Burnley: Late Pleistocene through Holocene paleogeography of the Southeast Texas coast.

11:20-11:40 AM Dan M. Worrall, Linda Gorski, Cary Burnley: Charting the development of coastal southeast Texas cultures during a period of rising sea level: an application of paleogeographic maps and GIS-based archeological databases.

11:40-12:00 PM Wilson Crook III : New Clovis Discoveries from the Wood Springs (41B15) Site, Liberty County, Texas.

12:00 - 12:50 PM -- LUNCH -- SERVED ON SITE (from Poche Rice Café.)

Keynote Speakers

1:00-1:50 PM Dr. Amanda Evans:

Investigation of buried and submerged prehistoric archaeological landscapes off the Texas coast.

2:00-2:50 PM Dr. Michael Collins:

Earliest Texans at Gault.

3:00-3:50 PM Dr. Michael Waters:

Forging a new understanding of the Late Pleistocene peopling of the Americas.

ABSTRACTS

The Maya of northwestern Belize: A digital survey and 3D modelling report.

Ben Baaske, Center for Heritage Conservation, Texas A&M University.

Annual digital survey by the Center for Heritage Conservation at Texas A&M University with the Blue Creek Archaeological Project in northwestern Belize has been ongoing since 2008. This report discusses the breadth of “digital” artifacts generated during the 2018 season. The first six weeks of digital survey applied multi-image photogrammetry as a technique to produce daily, 3D-digital maps of excavations of architecture at Xno’ha and Tz’unun. 110 unique “maps” in the form of colorized point clouds were created: 69 maps at Xno’ha and 41 maps at Tz’unun. Structures and features excavated at both sites consisted of range structures, pyramidal mounds, chultuns, stelae, looter’s trenches, and a mask. The final two weeks restricted most multi-image photogrammetry to recording smaller artifacts recovered from Xno’ha, Tz’unun, Nojol Nah, and Blue Creek, while also applying a new hand-held laser (the Artec Space Spider) technique to other artifacts. In addition to recording artifacts, the final two weeks of digital survey also laser scanned the final excavation phases of architecture at Xno’ha and Tz’unun. 10 architectural structures and features were laser scanned. While this report aims to present a catalogue of digital survey and 3D modeling, the report is also another iteration in experimenting with usable formats for accessibility by researchers and the public.

KEYNOTE: The Earliest Texans At Gault.

Dr. Michael Collins, Founder and Chairman, Gault School of Archaeological Research and Research Professor, Texas State University.

The earliest occupations in the Americas were by diverse groups from various cultural origins who evidently contributed very little directly to the later, widespread Clovis manifestation. The local manifestation of this succession in Texas consists of components predating Clovis by as much as 6 or 7000 years.

New Clovis Discoveries from the Wood Springs (41B15) Site, Liberty County, Texas

Wilson W. (Dub) Crook, III , Houston Archeological Society.

Over the past three years, the Houston Archeological Society has been involved in a detail study of the Andy Kyle Archeological Collection currently curated at the Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center in Liberty, Texas. One of the more significant finds has been the discovery of a Clovis occupation at the Wood Springs site in central Liberty County. Nine artifacts of probable Clovis affinity were identified in the Kyle Collection. Recent exploration of the Wood Springs site by HAS members has recovered ten additional Clovis artifacts including three fluted points, two conical blade cores, and four Clovis blades. Of the 19 total Clovis artifacts studied, all but three appear to be constructed from Edwards chert. Trace element X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis and detailed blade measurements show the material may have a relationship to Clovis occupations elsewhere in Texas, including the Gault (41BL323) and Timber Fawn (41HR1165) Clovis sites.

KEYNOTE: Investigation of buried and submerged prehistoric archaeological landscapes off the Texas coast: Artifacts not included.

Dr. Amanda Evans, Principal Investigator, Coastal Environments. Inc.

Imagine, if you will, being responsible for identifying and protecting archaeological sites on the northwestern Gulf of Mexico outer continental shelf (OCS), an area that includes approximately 38,660,700 acres. Now imagine that those archaeological sites, once exposed as dry land during the last glacial maximum, have been slowly buried by sediment and transgressed by rising sea-levels over the last several thousand years. The people thought to be living on the formerly exposed landscape were highly mobile hunter gatherers, not expected to leave large, obvious signs of occupation easily detectable through seismic profiling, the primary tool available to archaeologists. Despite significant challenges, the story isn’t as bleak as it seems. Archaeologists have been working for over forty years to address the practical challenges of recovering archaeological data from offshore contexts, with the understanding that the data recovered could very well rewrite our understanding of early populations along the Gulf coast.

Burials and Archeological Big Data.

Maggie Moore and Arlo McKee, Texas Historical Commission.

How many recorded sites are there in East Texas with burials? Which ones are under threat by encroaching development, oil & gas industry, or looting? The Texas Archeological Sites Atlas would seem to be the best place to start answering such questions. The Atlas is jointly managed by the Texas Historical Commission (THC) and Texas Archeological Research Lab (TARL), and since its cutting-edge innovation in the 1990s, serves site form information digitally to the archeological community. However, there are only limited search functions built into the Atlas because the database retains data from over 130 distinct site forms as separate tables. THC is looking toward the future and exploring the next steps in further developing the utility of the Atlas to better serve research and resource management practices. We are currently exploring a test case using a NoSQL database, MongoDB, to provide an alternative organization of the Atlas data that can then be extracted, filtered, and queried to provide meaningful information to address research questions. This paper will discuss how this data structure can be useful for identifying known burial sites in East Texas to aid in resource management and protection, and briefly explores some of the other applications for this database organization.

Archaeological Investigations at a mid-20th Century African American House Site in Nacogdoches, Texas

Sabrina H. Owen, Sahvannah K. Shavers, and Dr. George E. Avery, Stephen F. Austin State University.

In the spring of 2018, the Stephen F. Austin State University (SFA) Archaeology Lab was asked to conduct archaeological investigations for property that was going to be donated to the City of Nacogdoches and used as an addition to Oak Grove Cemetery. The property had no standing structures and we were told that there had been no structures on the property. In the fourth shovel test that we dug, we hit a sewer line. After calling the City, the Water Department personnel got to the site, and they informed us that not one, but two structures had been on the property, and torn down in the early 1990s. We conducted a Ground Penetrating Radar survey and found another sewer line. The attachments for two waterlines were also observed. The site was recorded as the Sloane Site (41NA405), after the owner, John Sloane. The analysis of the artifacts is not complete, but several categories of artifacts will be discussed, as well as the possible evidence for folk spirituality.

KEYNOTE: Forging a New Understanding of the Late Pleistocene Peopling of the Americas

Dr. Michael Waters, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and Director of the Center for the Study of the First Americans at Texas A&M University.

Archaeological and genetic evidence show that the 80-year-old Clovis First model no longer explains the exploration and settlement of the Americas by humans at the end of the last Ice Age. Evidence from archaeological sites in North and South America are providing empirical evidence that people occupied the Americas by 15,000 years ago. Studies of modern and ancient genomes confirm this age estimate and tell us who these people were and where they came from. This archaeological and genetic evidence is rewriting our understanding of the First Americans.

Late Pleistocene through Holocene paleogeography of the Southeast Texas coast.

Dan M. Worrall, Harris County Historical Commission and Houston Archeological Society; John B. Anderson, Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences, Rice University; Don Dobesh and Rosemary Neyin, Compagnie Générale de Géophysique (CGG); Cary Burnley, Shell Oil (retired).

Using a seismic map of an unconformity caused by the sea level lowstand at the peak of the last ice age, numerous cores from the bays of Texas and SW Louisiana, and a refined sea level curve for Late Pleistocene through Holocene time, a set of paleogeographic maps have been created for the southeast Texas coast for ten periods from 22,000 calendar years before present (BP) to today. Sea level rose 125m during this time, causing dramatic changes in the coastal environment that were experienced by Native Americans. From 22,000 to about 15,000 BP (near the time of arrival of man at the Gault site), Texas rivers carried a much heavier sediment load than today, which was carried seaward in deeply incised river channels across a wide, subaerially-exposed coastal plain to the modern shelf edge. From 15,000 to 13,000 BP, rising sea level caused the coastline to begin a westward shift across the modern shelf, but the coastline was fairly straight and there were no substantial bays. By about 12,000 BP, the sediment-rich Brazos River had developed a thin shelf delta and its incised channels were mostly filled. Concurrently, the channels of the less sediment-rich, San Jacinto-Trinity- Sabine/Neches-Calcasieu-Mermentau incised river system – which then dissected a single drainage basin with a shared river outlet at the paleo-coastline – began to flood with seawater, producing a single bay at the shared former outlet. This marked the first time that rich marine life in brackish water bays might have attracted early Native Americans to settle in seasonal camps. By 10,000 BP, continuing sea level rise flooded the shelf past the trunk and the bay began to branch out into four distinct bays. By 7,000 BP (Early Archaic), four now-separate coastal bays and estuaries (Galveston, Sabine Lake, Calcasieu and Mermentau) began to assume their present positions and sizes, as sea level rise began to slow.

Charting the development of coastal southeast Texas cultures during a period of rising sea level: an application of paleogeographic maps and GIS-based archeological databases

Dan M. Worrall, Harris County Historical Commission and Houston Archeological Society; Linda Gorski, Houston Archeological Society; and Cary Burnley, Shell Oil (retired).

An extensive archaeological database created by Leland Patterson of the Houston Archaeological Society in 1996 has been connected via GIS technology to a set of new paleogeographic maps of the Texas coastline in order to chart the early development of the Native American people of coastal southeastern Texas. The Atakapans, whose tribal structure did not survive into modern times, lived in six coastal river basins that defined six or more separate bands in southeastern Texas and southwestern Louisiana. Their shared language is an isolate, not closely related to that of adjacent peoples. Ethnohistoric and archeologic data indicate that the westernmost Akokisa band lived on shellfish from Galveston Bay estuaries during the cold months, migrating to the prairie fringe surrounding the Piney Woods in warm months to hunt bison and deer – utilizing the tree-lined updip streams of the San Jacinto drainage basin to gather and harvest these animals. Archeological sites suggest more or less continual use of these updip streams for such hunting from the time of San Patrice culture (ca. 10,500-12,000 BP calendar years) to the early Historic period. In contrast, the coastal shell middens that comprise Akokisa winter quarters date only from the Late Archaic (ca. 4,000 to 1,900 BP) to the early Historic period. Paleogeographic reconstruction of the coastal zone shows that bay-head brackish water riverine estuaries similar to those of the modern Trinity and San Jacinto estuaries began to form at ca. 12,500 BP, when sea level was 50m lower than today, at the shared outlet of the then-combined San Jacinto, Trinity, Sabine/Neches, Calcasieu and Mermentau (SJTSNCM) river basins. That single early bay formed on the flooded incised channel of the shared drainage outlet, as sea level rose. Its landward head migrated northwestward across the modern continental shelf with continually rising sea level, and eventually broke up into a number of bays and estuaries along the flooded outlets of the now-separate San Jacinto, Trinity, Sabine/Neches, Calcasieu and Mermentau rivers. The winter quarters for ancestral Atakapa would likely have been along the route of this flooded incised channel and its drowned branches, as suggested by a cored possible midden (ca. 10,000 calendar years BP) offshore of the modern Sabine estuary. The six Historic period bands of the Atakapa may well have developed from a single source group along the outlet of the former combined SJTSNCM drainage basin, far offshore today.

Organizers

Dr. Thomas Guderjan, C. Colleen Hanratty, Dr. Cory Sills, Christy Simmons, Dr. Kelley Snowden

Center for Social Sciences Research, University of Texas at Tyler.

26th Annual East Texas Archeology Conference: Saturday, February 23rd, 2019

Join us for the 26th annual East Texas Archeology Conference, Saturday, February 23rd, 2019! The conference will be held at the Ornelas Activity Center at The University of Texas at Tyler from 8AM until 4:30PM. The East Texas Archaeology Conference includes speakers from across East Texas and surrounding regions, presenting the latest in archaeological research. The conference is open to the public. (Please note that you do NOT need to preregister for the ETAC conference! You can register at the event starting at 8am on Saturday! The $20 registration fee includes lunch served on site.)

Keynote Speakers

We are pleased to announce the 26th annual East Texas Archeology Conference will focus on Paleoindians. We look forward to keynote presentations by Dr. Michael Waters, Dr. Michael Collins, and Dr. Amanda Evens. Join us on Saturday, February 23rd, 2019 for these keynote speakers plus many more presentations highlighting archaeological research of East Texas and surrounding regions.

Dr. Michael Waters: Forging a New Understanding of the Late Pleistocene Peopling of the Americas
Dr. Michael Collins: The Earliest Texans at Gault
Dr. Amanda Evans: Investigation of buried and submerged prehistoric archaeological landscapes off the Texas coast