The Paradise Site: A Middle Archaic Campsite on the O2 Ranch, Presidio County, Texas

In the spring of 2004, personnel from the Center for Big Bend Studies, Sul Ross State University, conducted an archaeological investigation at the Paradise site (41PS914), a buried open campsite deposit on the O2 Ranch in eastern Presidio County, Texas. A 4,000-year-old living surface dating to the Middle Archaic period was defined and explored. Associated with the living surface were features and artifacts representing plant processing and lithic reduction activity areas, as well as a contracting stem dart point. These findings, along with those from soil, wood, and radiocarbon samples recovered during excavation, add significantly to the archaeological record for the Middle Archaic period in the Big Bend region. New insights have been gained into plant gathering and processing strategies practiced by prehistoric populations during a poorly documented paleoenvironmental transition from grassland to fully developed Chihuahuan Desert conditions.