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The Gault site

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By Chris Dyer Friday, 16 January 2009

The Gault Site, located northeast of Florence off FM 2843, is considered one of the premier archeological discoveries in North America. James E. Pearce, known as the Father of Texas archeology, excavated the site in 1929. Texas’ first professional archaeologist, Pearce also served as the chairman of the University of Texas’ anthropology department in the 1920s and was instrumental in founding the Texas Memorial Museum in Austin.

J.E. Pearce and his crew excavating at the Gault Site in 1929. Photos courtesy The Williamson Museum

Pearce-led excavations, spanning eight weeks at the Gault Site — named because of its original location on the farm of Henry and Jodie Gault — revealed a wealth of information. For the next 60 years, collectors and looters gained access to the site and focused their search for valuable artifacts on the upper deposits. For a while, archaeologists believed that all of the levels of human occupation at Gault had been destroyed.

Up until 1998 the location had been operated, on and off, as a commercial pay-to-dig site where anyone could dig, sometimes for as little as $10 a day. Property ownership changed hands and the pay-to-dig days were over. In 1990, a collector discovered two incised stones sandwiching a Clovis point. Luckily, the looters and collectors had left the site’s deeper layers containing Clovis deposits relatively undisturbed.

Clovis culture defines a period of thousands of years (from 9,000 to 13,500 years ago), and does not just define the people at Gault. The term encompasses all people using Clovis technology, first discovered in Clovis, N.M. The archaeologists at Gault are studying all the different patterns of human activity, which span many thousands of years, and comparing the data to other sites all over the continent to better understand the Clovis culture as a whole.

“The Gault School is interested in the larger question of the peopling of the Americas — who were the first peoples, what were they like and where did they come from?” Clark Wernecke, director of the Gault School of Archaeological Research in Austin, said. “Discoveries at Gault, right here in Central Texas, include 65 percent of all known excavated Clovis materials and play an important part in this discussion. If we were to discover artifacts below the Clovis strata, that part becomes even more important.”

Wernecke said an estimated 1.7 million artifacts, 600,000 of which are Clovis age, have been recovered from Gault.

Archeological evidence reveals that the most common food source at Gault was small amphibians and turtles, and people lived at the site for extended periods of time. This contradicts the idea that all people of the Clovis culture were nomadic and survived solely by following herds of mammoth and other large game across the continent. Remains of mammoth turn up at Gault, but not as frequently as evidence of a host of other food sources.

Archaeologists are focusing their efforts on excavating areas below the Clovis layer and are attempting to determine if Gault will yield evidence of people who lived in Central Texas prior to 13,500 years ago. Deep tests conducted at the site have repeatedly turned up evidence of pre-Clovis occupation.

The Gault Project team wants to construct an interpretive center at the site, complete with walking trails where people can learn about Central Texas’ history and environment.

The site is open by appointment, and Gault staff and volunteers give guided tours. To volunteer or schedule a tour or field trip, visit www.gaultschool.org.

Chris Dyer is the director of The Williamson Museum, 716 S. Austin Ave., Georgetown.

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Comments

9 Comments



farang January 16, 2009 Votes: +2	"Deep tests conducted at the site have repeatedly turned up evidence of pre-Clovis occupation. Interesting, I wonder what? Or rather, by whom? 13,500 years. That pushes it back to the very limit of known migration into the America's, doesn't it? report abuse vote down vote up


Richard Vázquez January 17, 2009 Votes: +1	There are sites in South America that challenge the Clovis model of migration as well, especially Monte Verde in Chile. http://is.gd/gf4w There are multiple models of migration to the Americas, which people don't like to discuss for some reason (probably because the media and school system seldom step outside of the primary one). I laugh a little when new challenges are discovered because the model seems to change from "They got here in X year and migrated south" to "They got here in X year and ran really, really fast south" report abuse vote down vote up


Keith Ward January 20, 2009 Votes: +0	I'd be very interested, too, in knowing what pre-Clovis evidence was found. To date, no one has turned up a pre-Clovis tool kit, points - anything that was CONCLUSIVELY human made - in North America prior to Clovis. Human copralites were found & DNA testing concludes that they predate Clovis, so it's not a question of whether humans were HERE before Clovis. It's a question of why no pre-Clovis human-made tools have yet been found when they're so abundant with the Clovis culture. (The Topper site has tool finds that are controversially considered human-made, but if they're that crude that you can't tell for sure, it's baffling - when you consider what humans were producing all over the world at that time, why would people who migrated from the Old World not bring their tool-making skills with them?) If most pre-Clovis tools were made out of wood or bone, maybe they would decay, but that's a stretch - would wood or bone tools be made without stone tools? So yes... I too would be very interested in knowing what pre-Clovis finds were made at Gault... report abuse vote down vote up


Charlie January 20, 2009 Votes: +1	"...To date, no one has turned up a pre-Clovis tool kit, points - anything that was CONCLUSIVELY human made - in North America prior to Clovis..." http://www.phpbb88.com/nohandaxesinus/viewforum.php?f=9&sid=8e310def261b8d63d1debe50056fb600&mforum=nohandaxesinus Enjoy! report abuse vote down vote up


Keith Ward January 24, 2009 Votes: +0	Charlie, I AM enjoying - thanks to you! Very much appreciate the link. I'll dive in... report abuse vote down vote up


HJS January 25, 2009 Votes: +1	The Gault site is incredible, and Collins and his crews have the opportunity to expand our understanding of Clovis. I co-lead a field school at Gault in 2000; we excavated the most prolific Clovis deposits to date, and these Clovis deposits were lying directly on bedrock in one location and overlying sterile gravels in another. Alluvial deposits in which the Gault team is working underlay Clovis across the creek from where we excavated. The Gault team is yet to publish what they are defining as pre-Clovis, and I am as curious as anyone as to what constitutes the material assemblage. Charlie is right; what constitutes a pre-Clovis assemblage? As for Richard's mention of Monte Verde, that is still an oddity; why were "structure" built in a peat bog? Why is there no chipping debitage if it was a habitation site? report abuse vote down vote up


Don Williams January 31, 2009 Votes: +0	Enjoyed the comments. Haven't seem the Gault site yet. I owned land a few miles away on high country with a football size dry lake bed. A portion had been cleared of trees over 20 years ago and the soil eroded. In a house size area we found over 40 stone tools of a earlier time. Not including multiple flint cores and arrowheads. seems like hundreds of chips from chipping flint. They were just lying on the eroded rocky surface and knew what they were before picking them up. War hatchets, corn cultivator tools, hippidion horse head fossil,extinct about 10,000 years ago. football size turtle head fossils,rocks indians used to mix war paint in. Arrow shaft straighters with combo shaft smoother on the side. Hammer stones and what was probably several sledge hammers some wedged at one end. Almost all of this was found on the highest ground and most in a area about 12 by 35 ft in size. When doing shallow digging 6 inches deep, the hundreds of flint chippings show why we found so many flint cores there. Most of these was found within a few hours of searching and we have seemed to collected most of visible stone tools of eroded surface. This area is between the brushy creek area and Gault. Should I say my wife and I are having fun. We only started this collection about a month ago. We are trying to learn all we can. report abuse vote down vote up


Don Williams February 06, 2009 Votes: -1	Since responding on 1 32 09 found something most interesting in the same area spoke of before. Appeared to be something shape like a animal that spread out and died on his belly. It was the position of the fossilized bones that alerted me. Two hind legs about 18 inchs long and two shorter legs or fins in front. There was a pile of bones between. About 5 feet above the legs was about a two foot long by 15 inch wide fossil that had the hide markings of a crocidile. Sorting thru the pile of rocks between area of front and back legs was found a 4 and half inch long, almost perfectly preserved fossilized human babys foot with ankle. Would you say this croc ate this child as the foot was where the middle of body of croc would have been. Just keeping you informed. report abuse vote down vote up


Rick July 16, 2009 Votes: +0	pretty Crazy find Don I have also found Clovis points in williamson county are you in bell county/ I would like to here an update with photos ,"Austin diggers : is a club with a web site you should start posting your news their allot of knowledgeable people view and post on that site report abuse vote down vote up