Sul Ross students ‘dig' summer archaelogy class

ALPINE This summer, six Sul Ross State University students enrolled in an archaeology class and the group excavated in a rockshelter on the 02 Ranch, south of Alpine.

The purpose of the class was to provide students with the opportunity to get hands-on experience with archaeological work in the field, and the rockshelter proved to be a good training ground. Students spent the first summer session excavating, researching and recording data at the site, which has been named Tranquil Rockshelter.

Andy Cloud, senior project archaeologist at the Center for Big Bend Studies, taught the class. During the six-semester credit hour course, students stayed in the field from Monday to Friday, being immersed in archaeology each day in the rockshelter and field laboratory,and in the evenings with lectures and presentations.

"Located within an important ecotone-the juncture of the mountain foothills and lowland desert-the site has proven to be a very good archaeological laboratory," said Cloud.

Enrolled were: Kristen Tyson of Madisonville, Meredith Wheelock of Austin, Casey Riggs of Fort Stockton, Wade Hall of Austin, Caleb Waters of New Braunfels and Andrew Patterson of Midland.

The CBBS had tested the site in 2007, so the students were helping to recover additional data. Archaeological research typically consists of three different phases: surveying, testing and data recovery.

During the course the students were instructed in each phase.

During the survey phase, students walked the area near Tranquil Rockshelter in organized transects and recorded several new sites that were found. Formal 1X1 meter units are used to test sites and when deemed appropriate, the data recovery phase expands upon those excavations.

Most of the coursework for the class would be classified as data recovery.

During this effort the students helped to expand upon the three 2007 test units with an additional 10 units, meticulously recording discoveries they found while excavating.

Part of the rockshelter is completely dry and in this portion cultural items were found that are normally not preserved in open sites exposed to the elements.

Included amongst these materials were painted cordage, stitched gourd fragments, portions of arrow shafts, and woven fragments from sandals, baskets and other items.

The excavation has helped the students and researchers learn about the lifeways of the people who frequented the shelter as well as providing important information about the past environment.

The arrow points recovered indicate much of the occupation in the shelter occurred between ca. A.D. 1100-1500.

Cultural features documented include ash lenses, basin shaped pits lined with grass, and stone-lined hearths, all of which provide important clues about past activities at the site.

During the excavation, students exposed profiles of the stratigraphy or layering of the deposits in the walls of the units, which is often the archaeologist's best way to glean temporal and spatial relationships across a site.

Although the class does not count toward her graduate degree in history, Tyson sought to gain experience for the future.

For Wheelock, the class was a chance to learn more about archaeological terms and the history of the area. Patterson, who is also taking the class for fun, is trying to see what being an archeologist is all about.

Waters has worked at the CBBS for four years and is now getting a chance to see a source of the artifacts collected and studied.

Riggs is the only anthropology major enrolled. He transferred from Sul Ross to Texas A&M after four semesters at Sul Ross.

While at Sul Ross, Riggs also worked for the CBBS. Although a field school course is offered at A&M, he returned to Sul Ross because of his familiarity with this program.

The students stayed in the historic 02 Ranch house and have a lot of the conveniences of home, as opposed to brav­ing the elements in tents as is often done by center person­nel.

A field laboratory was set up in the ranch house which helped to round out the stu­dent's archaeological experience.

Center Project Archaeologist Sam Cason organized and oversaw the excavations at Tranquil and will be responsible for analyzing the findings and producing a report on the investigation.

The 2007 testing at the site indicated a high degree of preservation within the deposits and raised questions about what else lay buried there.

While the features and artifacts uncovered this summer have helped to answer some of those questions, other questions have been raised and the CBBS team is currently deciding if additional excavations at the site are warranted.

"There was so much information and archaeological features found, that's the reason we came back," Cason said. He added, "This is an exceptional opportunity afforded to us by the ranch owners, and these students have contributed to our knowledge of prehistory in the region."