Texas Almanac, 1984-1985 Page: 57
[706] p. : ill. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this book.
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SCIENCE 57
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These three stones with apparent man-made features have raised questions about how Ion man has been in the
Western hemisphere. They were found in a gravel pit near Malakoff in Henderson County between 1929 and 1939.
(Photo courtesy of Texas Memorial Museum)
Enigmas In Texas ArchaeologyPiecing the past together from the artifacts left by
ancient man is never simple. Patterns do develop from
which theories prehistoric man's culture can be woven.
On occasion, however, some discoveries fit none of the
existing patterns and raise many questions the answers
to which are not apparent. Texas has several archae-
ological sites that raise as many questions as they
answer.
The so-called Lewisville Lake site in Denton County is
a case in point. In 1956, two amateur archaeologists -
King Harris and Wilson Crook, Jr. of Dallas - excavated a
prehistoric campsite on the shoreline of the lake, which
was under construction. A Clovis point was found, and a
radiocarbon dating of material from the dig indicated
the campsite was almost 40,000 years old. Most archae-
ologists think that early man came to the Western
Hemisphere no more than 20,000 to 25,000 years ago.
Shortly after Harris and Crook made their discov-
ery, the lake filled with water, covering the campsite.
The debate over man's longevity in the New World
raged. Quite often the site was used as evidence of a
much earlier arrival than previously thought.
A drought in the late 1970s lowered the water level in
the lake and uncovered the campsites for the first time
in two decades. The U.S. Corps of Engineers financed
another study of the area. Archaeologists from Smith-
sonian Institution in Washington and several universi-
ties excavated several of the hearth areas that had been
located.
It was determined that the material that had been
radiocarbon dated in the 1950s had been contaminated
with lignite, a low-grade coal. The age therefore had
been exaggerated. The site was probably 12,000 years
old, according to other evidence. But even if younger
than first thought, the early men who used the site were
still pioneers of sorts. The use of lignite as fuel in three
of the hearths makes the site the oldest in the New
World in which a coal was used as fuel. And some ar-
chaeologists think it may be the oldest in the world.
About 80 miles southeast of Lake Lewisville, near
Malakoff in Henderson County, another mystery devel-
oped between 1929 and 1939. Three large stones that
appear to have human faces carved on them were dis-
covered during the commercial excavation of gravelpits in the area. One of the huge stones, the lightest of
which weighs 63 pounds and the heaviest 135 pounds,
was found 22 feet below ground level, while the other
two were not quite so deep.
Only in the case of the stone found in 1939 was any
study made before the artifact was removed from the
ground. But if the stones were carved by humans and
were the same age as the stratum in which they were
found, they would have to be between 20,000-50,000
years old. And the debate on when early man came to
the Western Hemisphere would have more fuel. Two of
the stones and the replica of the third are available to
researchers at the Texas Memorial Museum on the Uni-
versity of Texas campus in Austin.
In 1982, one of the more curious - and, no doubt,
controversial - interpretations of rock art in Texas was
made. A picture of a series of vertical and horizontal
lines etched deeply into the sandstone face of a shallow
rock shelter in West Central Texas was sent to Dr. Barry
Fell of San Diego, Calif., for interpretation.
Dr. Fell is a marine biologist who has developed a
deep interest in epigraphy - the study of inscriptions.
And from his review of etchings on rock faces across
the United States has argued that European and Medi-
terranean peoples visited and traded in the New World
centuries before Columbus or Eric the Red made their
historic voyages. Dr. Fell's thesis is disputed by many
authorities, primarily because no artifacts represent-
ing the people he claimed were in the Western Hemis-
phere have been found. And some of his interpretations
and decipherments have been questioned.
Nevertheless, Dr. Fell's decipherment of the figure
pictured at the bottom of the page was this: "Whether it
be food, or other necessity, take it; in the cave kindle a
fire; this ogam (a form of ancient Celtic writing) autho-
rizes sojourn here." Similar markings can be found at
many sites in Texas. Authorities usually interpret them
as tool-sharpening marks. But seldom are the etchings
found in distinguishable patterns. So the question: An-
cient Celtics in Texas?
Texas archaeology is interesting enough when it
sticks to straight scientific investigation of prehistory.
But the enigmas raise questions that also are good fod-
derfordebateand speculation.This figure carved into a sandstone cliff in West Central Texas has been deciphered by one authority as a form of
ancient Celtic writing.
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Texas Almanac, 1984-1985, book, 1983; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth113817/m1/59/: accessed April 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.