Lecture Title: RECENT LUAS PROJECTS
Speakers: Chuck Hixson, Professional Archeologist and member of Llano Uplift Archeological Society, Lisa Weatherford, LUAS president, Jim Wukasch, LUAS Treasurer.
Location: Riverside Nature Center – 150 Francisco Lemos, Kerrville, Texas 78028
Abstract:
Nearly every third Saturday of the month, LUAS schedules a field trip, usually to survey on private ranches for archaeological sites. Occasionally we make return visits to the same site for more long-term investigation. Lisa will give an overview of recent LUAS field trips. Chuck will discuss the Wilson site, an aboriginal camp on the San Saba river that may date to the early historic period. Jim will talk on the Greenleaf Fisk cabin that LUAS recorded in Williamson County. Fisk was an important early Texas pioneer and public official.
Bio:
The quiet but steady force behind many of the Llano Uplift Archeological Society projects, like the Graham-Applegate Site study, is Chuck Hixson, an archeologist trained in the southwest but knowledgeable about the idiosyncrasies of central Texas prehistory. While attaining his B.A. and M.A. degrees in anthropology at the University of Texas at Austin, H
ixson developed a keen interest in southwestern pottery-making technology that developed into a thesis project (his topic was a study of the paint on Mogollon Black-on-White pottery). Today, he has transformed his technical knowledge into an art. Using open firing pits and aboriginal techniques, Hixson produces exquisitely thin-walled, bone-tempered vessels from clays he has collected from throughout the local area.
Several of his vessels are on display at the Nightengale Archeology Center in Kingsland, providing a startlingly graphic example of the artistic capabilities of the Late Prehistoric peoples in Texas. He also reproduces prehistoric Southwestern pottery of several different styles, including the fine Mimbres Black-on-White.