Heritage, Volume 17, Number 4, Fall 1999 Page: 15
38 p. : ill. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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visits and hands-on participation are not
feasible or appropriate. Public education is
the strongest tool in nurturing archaeology
awareness and in forming preservation
alliances. The belief is that taxpayers
should know that every publicly-funded
archaeological project represents money
well spent.[' '0 '1
__^^^BB^BY NANCY A. KENMOTSU,
PAULA SALES, C. BRITT
BOUSMAN, AND CINDY TENNIS
Kenmotsu is supervisor of Archeological
Studies for Texas Department of
Transportation; Sales is an engineer
with TxDOT; Bousman is the assistant
director of the Center for Archaeological
Research at the University of Texas
at San Antonio; and Cindy Tennis is
project archaeologist, Mission Refugio
Project, Center for Archaeological Research,
UTSA.
"I am very grateful to Your Lordship for deigning
to make your vote conform with mine
(which is the same as the Indians) for the
Campsite of the Copanes, or the Ranch of the
Tithesman...For to disagree with the Indians
would mean the ruin of the new conversion.
And this is the spot where...I find the best conditions
for buildings, cattle, raising, sowing,
and the permanent settlement of the Indians"
(letter from Friar Manuel Julio Silva in November
1794 to Munoz, the Provincial Governor
of Texas, quoted in Oberste 1946: 154155).Texas has a rich, diverse past that extends
back 12,000 years. Much of that past
is contained in the state's archaeological
sites. However, a growing population, industrial
development, and intensive agriculture
put some of our most important
archaeological treasures at risk. Such was
the case for Mission Nuestra Senora del
Refugio, the last mission established in
Texas. Its tale underscores the dilemmas
frequently faced by federal and state agencies
whose mandate is to respond to the
public's needs for infrastructure improvements.Alex Krieger:Trailblazing Archaeologist
BY CURTIS TUNNELL
Alex Krieger is considered to have
been one of the best and brightest of
the pioneer Texas archaeologists. He
was born December 11, 1911, in Duluth,
Minnesota, to the family of Arthur
Henry Krieger. His paternal grandfather
immigrated from Kiel, Germany, with
his family of 11 children before the Civil
War and ran a trading post in Kiel, Wisconsin,
for the Winnebago Indians.
Krieger grew up hearing many stories
about the Winnebagos, although his
family moved to Southern California
when he was a boy.
After graduating from Pasadena
High School, he got a job in a logging
camp in Oregon where he worked on a
surveying team. As a joke, some of the
loggers dynamited a stump as Alex
walked past, and he was blown 50 feet
through the air. In the hospital, he lost
his hearing and suffered from a severe
infection that almost cost him his right
arm. After this experience, Krieger went
to Cal-Tech where he passed all the
exams in physics, chemistry, mathematics,
and calculus but was denied entrance
because of his withered arm. After
recovering his hearing, he took a job
surveying along the Rio Grande at El
Paso, where he regained his strength and
quickly learned to speak Spanish.
Krieger completed his freshman year
at Stanford University and hitchhiked
to New York City where he signed on
as a fireman in the engine
room of a freighter. This experience
drove him back to
the University of California
at Berkley where he majored
in anthropology, graduating
in 1936.
In 1939 Krieger was
tapped to salvage archaeological
sites that were threatened
by Grand Coulee Dam
on the Columbia River. He
lived on the Colville Indian
Reservation and before long
had located 150 important archaeological
sites.
Later in 1939, Krieger accepted
a job with the WPA
project in Austin, Texas. He
took a six-day bus trip acrosscountry and arrived in Austin in August,
thinking "... I'd just DIE from the heat."
A.T. Jackson picked Kreiger up at the
bus station, took him to the Little Campus
complex, and told him that he was
to build an archaeology lab that would
be headquarters for the WPA project at
the University of Texas.
Krieger worked in Texas for 16 years,
and his productivity was legendary. He
completed the report on the George C.
Davis Site for Perry Newell and published
many journal and newsletter articles.
One of his best known works is
the "Culture Complexes and Chronologies
of Northern Texas." He provided
much of the impetus for the famous
"Handbook of Texas Archeology", coauthored
with Dee Ann Suhm (Story)
and Edward B. Jelks, and worked on the
Midland Site with Fred Wendorf. Perhaps
Krieger's most important contribution
was the impact he had on the quality
of archaeological research being conducted
in the state. His insights and meticulous
research standards inspired a
generation of students and archaeologists
throughout the state. He also
worked tirelessly to document private
collections, develop rapport with amateur
archaeologists, and support the
Texas Archeological Society. Krieger
died at the age of 79.Below: Alex Krieger, center, consults with
fellow archaeologists on a field project in
West Texas.HERITAGE * 15 * FALL 1999
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Texas Historical Foundation. Heritage, Volume 17, Number 4, Fall 1999, periodical, Autumn 1999; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth45395/m1/15/: accessed May 9, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Historical Foundation.