An Archeological Survey and Site Reassessment at Evans Canyon Prescribe Burn Unit, Lake Meredith National Recreation Area, Moore and Potter Counties, Texas

The Center for Big Bend Studies of Sul Ross State University conducted an intensive archeological survey and site reassessment in July and August 2004 of the Evans Canyon Prescribed Burn Unit in Moore and Potter counties at Lake Meredith National Recreation Area. The project was conducted prior to a prescribed burn to satisfy federal requirements relative to Executive Order 11593 of 1971 and Sections 106 and 110 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966. Twenty-three sites were evaluated during the project, 12 new sites and 11 previously recorded. Sixteen of the sites have only prehistoric components, five sites have only historic components, and two sites contain both. Features documented consist of slab-lined architecture, hearths, boulder mortars, debitage concentrations, single-event knapping stations, possible cairn burials, a fire-cracked rock concentration, a quartzite cobble concentration, a lithic cache, a house remnant, historic dugouts, stone fence remnants, a cistern, and a trash dump. Due to a relatively low fuel load across most of the project area, the prescribed burn should not adversely affect the majority of the sites. The primary exception is the highly significant Ozier site (41M096) that is densely vegetated. Recommendations call for the area around this site to be either thinned of excessive vegetation or excluded from the burn. It is also recommended that sites 41M090 and 41M091 be reassessed following the burn and that archival research be conducted to verify the location of the Ozier Ranch site (41M098). No artifacts were collected during this investigation.