2008
The John Z. and Exa Means Cache, discovered in 2002 by D. Craige Means and his sons, Samuel and Jesse, contains over 1,250 stone arrow points. Importantly, the discoverers contacted CBBS archaeologists about their find and allowed archaeological participation during excavation of a portion of the cache feature, thus ensuring the scientifically acceptable integrity of the find. The result is our first documented find of a mountaintop cache in the history of the Big Bend. The Means Cache, like the Livermore Cache, was placed by peoples of the Livermore phase, a term applied by archaeologists to a nomadic culture of hunters and gatherers who inhabited the Davis Mountains area from approximately A.D. 700—1300.
When studied together, the two caches provide amazing insights into the ritual practices and other lifeways of Livermore phase peoples—insights that can also help to resolve perplexing interpretive issues arising from the Livermore Cache’s lamentable history. The scientific and educational potentials of the exciting Means Cache discovery are further enhanced by a donation in August 2008, of the cache assemblage to Sul Ross State University by Alfred and Ruth Means. In making this donation, the Means family has saved a remarkable and infinitely important piece of Big Bend history in perpetuity. The cache is highlighted in the 2009 CBBS newsletter 2009 CBBS newsletter.
