Research projects and initiatives.
Archeologist and Rock Art Specialist, Reeda Peel, assisted by skilled volunteers, formally documented seventeen rock art sites and informally documented six additional sites in the past eight years. Formal documentation requires establishing a string grid system of one meter squares over the surface containing the rock art. The grid is […]
For roughly 10 years, CBBS has been conducting a series of archaeological investigations on the Pinto Canyon Ranch (PCR), a remote and breathtaking setting in Presidio County. Alongside historical investigations, prehistoric studies include excavation at a variety of sites, abundant archaeological survey and reconnaissance, geomorphological survey, a suite of special […]
CBBS historian and Archaeologist David Keller conducted historical research and has written a book on Pinto Canyon and surrounding areas including Ruidosa, Chinati Hot Springs, Candelaria, as well as conducting archeological investigations on historic sites on Pinto Canyon ranch–from remote mining […]
Discovered in 2010, this multiple component site contains stratified deposits as old as c.a. 11,000 years. While there is a considerable surface assemblage, numerous features were discovered in deeply buried contexts, and each phase of investigation produces new discoveries. Preliminary highlights include:
The Searcher site was discovered in 2012 only about 2.5 miles away from the Genevieve Lykes-Duncan site on the O2 Ranch, deeply buried along Terlingua Creek. Two thermal features have been identified at the site thus far and one was radiocarbon dated to ca. 9,200 years ago. Recent salvage excavations […]
In conjunction with the Archives of the Big Bend, CBBS facilitated the collection and scanning of several hundred pages of original historic documents related to the history of La Sociedad Agricola de El Mulato. Also facilitated was a meeting between Oscar Rodriguez, Enrique Madrid, Guadalupe Perez, and donor Arnaldo Carrasco […]
CBBS conducted research on and oversaw restoration work of a mud mortared stone structure at a historic 1880s military camp. Fieldwork included a detailed recording of structure, surface survey, an aerial photogrammetric project, and monitoring during restoration efforts of main structure. The project was completed in the Fall of 2013. […]
This decade-long project, probably the largest surface survey in the state’s history, consisted of intensive survey of over 60,000 acres, the discovery and recording of over 1,500 archeological sites and the collection of over 2,300 artifacts. Artifacts, features, and sites were documented that had not been previously recorded in the […]
On September 8, the Museum of the Big Bend in partnership with the Center for Big Bend Studies and Humanities Texas, opened the highly anticipated exhibit, “Removing the Shroud of Mystery: Archaeology in the Big Bend.” Found across the vast Big Bend region of Texas are clues left behind that […]
Two large, side-by-side thermal features (each over 2 m in width) were excavated at a site on the Canon Ranch in June 2011. One of these contains a relatively dense pavement of stones, the other a looser pavement/stone-free center. The juxtaposition of these distinctively shaped features—within several meters of one […]
