The latest information and exhibits on Texas Beyond History, the virtual museum of Texas' cultural heritage. http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/index.html April 20, 2016 Caches and burials connect us in a very personal way to past events and the traditions of ancient cultures. In 1936, archeologists from The University of Texas working in the arid Lower Pecos canyonlands of southwest Texas uncovered what they described as "a find of unusual interest": a twined-fiber bag, filled with an array of more than 200 objects, and still securely fastened after more than 4000 years. Recent studies of this TARL collection, including technical analyses of stone and bone tools and radiocarbon assays of plant remains, are helping to unlock some of its secrets. http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/spotlights/hunterspouch/hunterspouch.html February 1, 2016 Geometric morphometric analysis of Clovis points from collections across the U.S. has brought to light interesting regional distinctions in the form, shape, and technology of this early artifact. In a new Spotlight feature, Dr. Heather Smith discusses her findings using an outline approach to landmark geometric morphometrics, which measures shape variation by calculating the relative positions of coordinate landmarks assigned to the perimeter of each artifact. Morphometric analysis is a quantitative method of measuring the form (size with shape) and shape (shape regardless of size) of objects that exist in two or three dimensions for comparative purposes. http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/spotlights/geomet-morphomet/geomet-morphomet.html September 15, 2015 A set of Plains Indian ledger drawings continues to mystify researchers more than 50 years after its acquisition by The University of Texas. Much of what is known about the Schild Ledger Book raises questions—from the identity and tribal affiliation of the artist or artists who created the drawings to the circumstances of the book coming into the possession of a family in Germany. Recording a way of life as it passed into history, these colorful and often complex depictions of battles, buffalo hunts, heroic deeds, and traditional customs have been variously ascribed to the Kiowa, Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Comanche. http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/spotlights/ledgerart/ledger-art.html December 1, 2014 Investigations at the Ransom and Sarah Williams farmstead in southwestern Travis County uncovered a wealth of information about this freedman family including more than 25,000 artifacts, remains of a cabin, rock walls, and corral, and a trove of historical records which bring the story to life. This 12-section exhibit details the evidence and the circumstances of its discovery along with features for greater understanding including reconstructed scenes, an interactive timeline of African-American history, audio/video interviews with researchers and members of the decsendant community, and a special section on turn-of-the-century black newspapers. http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/ransom/index.html January 3, 2013 Pine Tree Mound was the site of an important community within the Caddo World and home to a powerful ruler. Excavations revealed more than a dozen household components and a ceremonial precinct with three temple mounds. Pottery and other artifacts show connections between the Pine Tree people and their neighbors as well as more distant Mississippian mound-buiilding cultures. This 5-section exhibit includes a variety of interactive graphics illustrating the complex mound stratigraphy and a vividly illustrated ceramics section. http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/pine/index.html August 13, 2012 Hundreds of rock cairns, some marking the graves of Late Prehistoric people, lie atop the mesas and stream terraces near Abilene, Texas. Dating to about A.D. 800 to A.D. 1300, these mysterious features may relate to a time of interaction and violent conflict on the Plains, as different groups vied for resources and territory. This 6-section exhibit brings online a wealth of previously unpublished information and imagery from the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory in an attempt to synthesize results of early investiagtions and understand the meaning of the cairn phenomenon. http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/cairn/index.html December 5, 2011 This update to the Ceremonial Cave exhibit brings online latest TARL research on rare hafted darts from a shrine cave in southeastern New Mexico. CT scans of the darts provide a clear image of each chipped-stone point hidden within the haft which can be viewed with 3-dimensional details in a series of rotating "movies." The combination of projectile point form and chronometric age helps fine tune the dating of specific projectile point styles in the American Southwest and approximate a timeline for some of the events which took place at this sacred place some 2000 years ago. http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/ceremonial/hafted.html May 3, 2011 This 7-section exhibit looks at the generations of Caddo peoples and their Woodland period ancestors who lived in the area covered today by Lake Naconiche in East Texas. Excavations prior to the building of the reservoir explored a series of hamlets and small villages occupied by a little-known prehistoric culture called the Naconiche Caddo. http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/naconiche/index.html December 30, 2010 Roughly 11,000 years ago, a man and child were buried with an array of elaborate grave offerings inside a deeply recessed rockshelter in north-central Texas. This 7-section exhibit traces the story not only of this unique Paleoindian saga of life and death at the end of the Ice Age but that of a succession of later peoples who camped at the site well into the 20th century. http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/horn/index.html December 1, 2010 This 7-section exhibit details excavations in the Texas Panhandle that uncovered traces of late Archaic campsites as well as a rare Protohistoric encampment from the time when European explorers were moving across the Southern Plains. Native campers consumed buffalo but also broadened their diet with plants such as wild grass seeds. http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/landis/index.html August 3, 2010 In the mid-1700s Mission Dolores was a small frontier post along the Camino Real on the eastern fringe of New Spain. The mission attracted few of the Ais Indian residents for whom it was built, but it served as a successful wilderness settlement for half a century. This 11-section exhibit provides a wealth of detail to learn more about this little-known colonial settlement. /description> http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/dolores/index.html September 5, 2009 For thousands of years, people lived successfully along the Lower Bosque River in central Texas by hunting and gathering several key resources: deer, plant tubers, freshwater mussels, firewood, and tool stone. This exhibit details archeological excavations at sites prior to the impoundment of Waco Lake and vividly illustrates prehistoric lifeways in an interactive scene of the past. http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/waco/index.html June 10, 2009 This 5-section exhibit looks at the hunting and gathering peoples who made their home on the rugged Edwards Plateau for thousands of years. Evidence from this stream-side campsite has been analyzed using a variety of technical studies, including Instrumental Neutron Activation Analyses of prehistoric pottery to determine the source of clay and microscopic examination of tools to determine how they were used. In a gallery of technical sections, viewers learn about the "sciences that make history." http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/varga/index.html Fri, 3 March 2009 This latest installment of the multi-year Prehistoric Texas project includes 5 feature exhibits on major sites such as Mitchell Ridge, McFaddin Beach, and Fort St. Louis, plus dozens of "mini" exhibits, Natural Resource galleries, and K-12 resources. All are focused on the archeology and ethnohistory of the Texas coastal region that was home to hunting and gathering peoples for thousands of years and, beginning in the early 1500s, the scene of earliest encounters with European explorers. http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/coast/index.html Fri, 17 October 2008 This new 9-section exhibit employs many interactive features to explore La Salle's 17th-century shipwreck off the Texas coast and the extraordinary materials recovered, including the "mystery chest" and the remains of a French sailor. Excavations inside the cofferdam as well as in the conservation laboratory revealed a treasure-trove of information about the French colonization of North America. http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/belle/index.html Thur, 21 August 2008 This new 7-section exhibit describes hunting and gathering peoples who repeatedly visited this rockshelter and terrace site near the mouth of the Pecos River in the Lower Pecos Canyonlands for at least 10,000 years. Alternating layers of flood deposits and cultural debris at Arenosa Shelter were more than 42 feet thick, creating a textbook example of archeological and geological stratification. http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/arenosa/index.html Wed, 23 January 2008 description goes here http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/trans-p/index.html Wed, 23 January 2008 This new 12-section exhibit presents a story beginning around 800 years ago when village life was established at the river juncture the Spanish named La Junta de los Rios, an oasis in the Chihuahuan Desert. Throughout its long history La Junta has been a cultural junction on the southeastern frontier of the American Southwest, a crossroads for farmers and hunter-gatherers, traders and raiders, and Spanish colonists and native peoples. http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/junta/index.html Wed, 23 January 2008 description goes here http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/hueco/index.html Wed, 23 January 2008 description goes here http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/paso/index.html Wed, 23 January 2008 description goes here http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/madera/index.html Wed, 23 January 2008 description goes here http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/pilote/index.html Mon, 20 August June 2007 This new 10-section exhibit presents a new twist on the story of Texas native peoples given to us by Spaniard Cabeza de Vaca and his companions. Shipwrecked on the Texas Gulf Coast in 1528, their seven-year ordeal provided fascinating, albeit enigmatic, glimpses of native lifeways and the various odd-sounding foods they extracted from often harsh landscapes. Anthropologist and archeologist Alston V. Thoms of Texas A&M University draws on studies of traditional foods and cooking technologies to infer what the various unidentified roots, tubers, nuts, fruits, and fish may have been, how they were prepared, and much more. http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/cabeza-cooking/index.html Thur, 14 June 2007 In this new 10-section exhibit on the 18th-century capital of Spanish Texas, learn how historians, archeologists, and anthropologists are unraveling the still-unfolding story of Los Adaes. Special interactive sections allow for a detailed look at historic maps of Los Adaes and Spanish Texas, the excavation, artifacts recovered, and the people of Los Adaes. http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/adaes/index.html Wed, 2 May 2007 The Kids Section has been rewired and reworked! Check out the new awesome animations and activities including a entirely new section that teaches kids how to use TexasBeyondHistory.net to conduct research and write those research-papers like the pros! http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/kids/index.html Fri, 19 Jan 2007 Check out the new 6-section exhibit on the McKinney Roughs site, a remarkably well-preserved site that was frequented by prehistoric campers in the final stages of the Archaic period http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/mckinney/index.html Mon, 18 Sept 2006 This latest installment of the multi-year Prehistoric Texas project includes 12 feature exhibits on sites such as Richard Beene and Morhiss Mounds, plus 24 "mini" exhibits, Natural Resource galleries, and K-12 resources. All arefocused on the archeology of the savannas and woodlands of the South Texas Plains that were home to hunting and gathering peoples who maintained resilient and highly successful cultural traditions for thoudands of years. http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/st-plains/index.html Wed, 5 Apr 2006 A look at the South Texas Plains through the eyes of Spanish explorer Cabeza de Vaca. http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/cabeza-south/cdv_mainpage.html Mon, 27 Feb 2006 This gallery is intended as a teaching and research tool for those who seek to understand how ancient peoples used the plants typical of the Lower Pecos Canyonlands. http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/pecos/ethnobot.html Thu, 2 Feb 2006 Check out the new 8-section exhibit on the J.B. White site, a small campsite near Cameron in Milam County that preserves a wealth of information about Late Prehistoric peoples... http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/jbwhite/index.html