Gravel Pits and Arrowheads
To the Editor:
Gravel companies are now digging up thousands of acres of Fayette County for sand and gravel (and have been for decades) to truck to Houston and Austin to put down more concrete. What were once cotton and corn fields and cow pastures owned and used by several generations of descendants of German and Czech immigrant farmers are gone and are now mostly just big pits in the ground that are difficult to use for much of anything. In addition to destruction of the land (wildlife habitat and native plants) and water resources, a lot of history gets destroyed in the process.
The time line keeps getting pushed back by archeologists but it is now believed that humans got to the Western Hemisphere maybe as far back as 20,000 years ago when there was an ice bridge across the Bering Strait. “Megafauna” (very big land animals – wooly mammoths, giant ground sloths and huge long horn bison) went extinct in North America somewhere around the end of the Ice Age (probably around 13,000 years ago), maybe due to climate change or hunting by humans or both.
Those early humans of course left behind rock tools and arrow points all over the country, including over the entire state of Texas. These were Paleolithic people (Old Stone Age, a time of hunter-gatherers with nomadic lifestyles) here thousands of years before the Comanche, Kiowa, Lipan Apache and Karankawa tribes who the Spanish, Mexicans and early Anglo and German settlers in Texas battled.
Gravel companies don’t care much that they are obliterating a village or hunting camp site from around 1,000 or 2,000 BC. Landowners are stewards of what God created and should care. Even if you let a gravel company come on your land, please first consider asking for or getting an archeological assessment by a properly trained archeologist if you have seen evidence of any ancient peoples (flint chips or points) or prehistoric animals that may have inhabited it (petrified bones or teeth.)
The Texas Historical Commission’s Landowner Assistance Program is part of the Archeology Division and has staff archeologists for each of its regions in the State. THC’s Archeology Division ( https://thc.texas.gov/preserve/ archeology-texas) welcomes inquiries from landowners (Tel.: 512-463-6096; email: archeology@thc.texas.gov).
THC may be able to conduct surveys for a private landowner for no charge but simply to ensure preservation. If something significant is found, the State cannot take it or restrict the landowner’s right to use the property. It belongs to the owner of the property.
It is important that artifacts and objects found be properly identified and photographed and locations be accurately documented. Improper removal of artifacts from a site can make later study very difficult.
THC’s Archeological Stewardship Network program has trained archeological volunteers. They identify and properly record and monitor archeological sites for additional study by experts. Stewards can help landowners obtain protective designations for important sites, record private artifact collections and give talks to schools and preservation groups. They also assist THC staff archeologists on digs and surveys or carry out emergency or “salvage” excavations when an archeological resource is threatened with imminent destruction.
THC also regularly assists with private archeological surveys of land or can refer landowners or other interested persons to non-profit organizations which may be able to provide low or no cost services. The Texas Archeological Society ( https://www.txarch.org/ ), a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, has regional directors, who also can provide assistance and advice to private landowners in their regions. (Note: Money these organizations received from the federal government (National Endowment for the Humanities) for research and preservation in past years was terminated as of April 2, 2025.)
An easy to read but very informative “starter” (all ages) archeology book is Porch Talk, by John R. Erickson (author of Hank the Cowdog books) (Texas Tech University Press, 2022). It’s about the author’s experience with archeology digs on his ranch in the Texas Panhandle.
Humans are, by nature, curious animals. We don’t really know what all we can learn from ancient versions of us. Once an archeological site is destroyed, the information there is sadly lost forever.
Russell Friemel Fort Worth & Ellinger