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Presenter
Dr. August “Gus” Costa
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Date
Saturday, July 18, 2026
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Time
12:30–2:00 pm
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Location
Riverside Nature Center
150 Francisco Lemos St, Kerrville, TX 78028 |
The Hill Country Archeological Association invites you to join us to hear Dr. August “Gus” Costa present on Seven Kills in 3,000 Years at the Nighthawk Bison Jump (Caprock Canyons State Park) at our general meeting on Saturday, July 18, 2026 at the Riverside Nature Center, in Kerrville, Texas. The doors open at 12:30pm with a short meeting at 1:00pm, followed by the presentation.
Presentation Title
Seven Kills in 3,000 Years at the Nighthawk Bison Jump (Caprock Canyons State Park)
The Presentation
Discoveries at the Nighthawk Bison Jump have paradigm-shifting implications for communal bison hunting practices among precontact people of the southern plains. Testing and data recovery at the Nighthawk State Archeological Landmark have provided 30 radiocarbon dates demonstrating that the hunting facility was used at least seven times between 3,500 and 300 cal BP. These dates situate the site as one of the oldest and longest-tenured Late Holocene bison jumps known. A kill by kill account of the multicomponent faunal assemblage and its taphonomy will be provided. The broader jumpscape and possible long term maintenance activities at this hunting facility will also be considered.
About the Speaker
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Dr. August “Gus” Costa is an independent consulting archaeologist that provides specialist support in geoarchaeology, artifact and faunal analysis. Gus earned a doctorate focusing on paleoanthropology at Indiana University, where he was a Fulbright and Leakey Foundation fellow conducting expeditions to India supported by the National Science Foundation. His academic work in India focused on the earliest human occupation of South Asia. Gus has more than 25 years’ experience in archeology and has carried out field and lab-based work in Asia, Africa and Europe, as well as numerous projects within the US.
Gus is an adjunct lecturer at Rice University where he has taught courses in geoarchaeology, paleontology, paleotechnology and Asian Prehistory. Gus has contributed to numerous cultural resource surveys and acted as a consulting geoarchaeologist and analyst for survey, testing and large data recovery projects. He has served as principal geoarchaeologist and faunal analyst for the Nighthawk Bison Jump Project since May of 2022. Dr. Costa is principal investigator for the ongoing salvage investigations at the Nighthawk Bison Jump in Caprock Canyons State Park.
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The Hill Country Archeological Association is a group of avocational and professional archeologists working together to study and preserve the Texas Hill Country’s prehistoric and historical heritage and to educate the public about archeology. Find out more at hcarcheology.org.