Date/Time:
Thursday, May 20th at 7:00 pm (Zoom doors open 6:30 pm)
Presentation Title:
“41KR754 – A New Multicomponent Site Containing Late Paleoindian Through Late Prehistoric Assemblages: Kerr County, Texas”
Speaker:
Steve Stoutamire
The next monthly meeting of the Houston Archeological Society will be held on Thursday, May 20th via ZOOM and YouTube Livestream. This month’s program will feature a presentation by Steve Stoutamire from the Hill Country Archeological Association who will speak on 41KR754 in Kerr County. Steve will also discuss the 2021 TAS Field School, hosted by HCAA, which will be held at a neighboring prehistoric site in Kerr County. HAS members will receive a link to the ZOOM meeting shortly. The business meeting will start at 7:00 but we will open the meeting to HAS members at 6:30 to offer everyone 30 minutes to socialize. The program will begin 7:15 on Zoom and will also be livestreamed to nonmembers starting at 7:15 p.m. on the HAS YouTube channel at https://youtu.be/PA_kJT1wuH8.
The Hill Country Archeology Association began investigations at 41KR754 in August, 2018 after an invitation by the owners, who had recognized ancient cultural material on the surface of a river terrace on their ranch. Initial visits by the HCAA focused on pedestrian surveys particularly in the area of two middens located within the site. These surface areas yielded a good density of chert tools and diagnostic dart points. With the encouragement of the owners to excavate and identify more cultural definition, the HCAA began controlled excavations in December, 2018.
Initial excavations revealed a robust assemblage of Middle Archaic through Late Prehistoric dart and arrow points along with various lithic tools, organics including bison bone, pottery, obsidian flakes and other apparent trade items. In July of 2019 the first Paleoindian point was found on the site after the landowner had dug a new ditch for a water line. The point was found in the soil heap which had come from the ditch and was identified as Saint Mary’s Hall. Operations then focused within that area of the site, recovering a total of 20 SMH, four Angostura and one possible Golondrina. One C14 date was obtained from bone closely associated with several of the SMH points and yielded a date of calibrated 10,248-10,193 YBP. Operations continue at the site as of April, 2021.
Steve Stoutamire is a retired petroleum geologist. He received a BA in Anthropology (1972) from Florida State University and an MS in Geology (1975) from Texas Tech University. During a 32-year career in the petroleum industry he held technical, business and managerial positions in both domestic and international operations. Since retirement in 2007, he and wife Nancy have lived near Kerrville, Texas. He is an active avocational archeologist and regularly works to educate the public through teaching classes and giving archeology lectures. He works with private landowners, by their invitation, to help them understand archeological sites on their property. He is also a member, past president, and current field committee chairman of the Hill Country Archeological Association, a member of the Texas Archeology Society, the Gault School of Archeological Research and the Center for The Study of First Americans. He serves as vice chairman of the board of the Gault School of Archeological Research at the University of Texas, Austin. He also serves as a Texas Archeology Steward for the Texas Historical Commission.
If you have any questions about this program, please contact HAS President, Linda Gorski.