Archeology & Geoarcheology of the Big Bend River Corridor

February 4 - 6 and 6 - 8

(2 separate Academies)

Presidio

Instructors: 
Tim Gibbs and
Charles Frederick

Registration Fee:
$200 plus TAS membership

CPE credits available

The 2027 Archeology and Geoarcheology of the Big Bend River Corridor Academy is an introduction to the landscape of Big Bend Ranch State Park, adjacent to the Rio Grande in Presidio County.  

We are offering two separate academies with the same curriculum for each session:

• Academy 1 will be Thursday late afternoon to Saturday morning (Feb. 4-6)
• Academy 2 will be Saturday late afternoon to Monday morning (Feb. 6-8)

We will discuss aspects of site presentation and formation, by examining sites preserved in Rio Grande alluvium, as well as rockshelters and open-air architectural remains. 

The academy emphasizes the collaborative work of archeology and geoarcheology and provides an overview of the history and prehistory of the region.

The course will highlight:

• Site patterns and alluvial processes in the openly meandering river reach immediately above the park where no buried sites are known from the inner valley, and all sites found by pedestrian survey are found on the crest of old alluvial fans that end at the “inner valley floodplain”
• The paradoxical preservation of archaeological sites in alluvium within the canyon confined reach of the river within the park…the most erosive of the two reaches, yet where Tim Gibbs has documented exquisite evidence of sites dating to the period immediately before and during Spanish contact
• Relative age assessments of old alluvial fan surfaces and pediments in this desert environment using various criteria such as elevation, presence and degree of rock coating such as desert varnish, silica glaze, and differential erosion of rocks like limestone.
• Rockshelter formation in non-calcareous volcanic rocks; rock shelter dynamics (how the shelters form, gradually widen and deepen, and eventually collapse, leading to the contradictory reality that older in situ deposits may lie beneath the slope out front of the shelter.

Lithics 201

April 17 - 18

University of Texas - TARL

Austin

Instructors:
Robert Lassen, Chris Ringstaff, and
Sergio Ayala

Registration Fee:
$125 plus TAS membership

CPE credits available

The 2027 Lithics 201 Academy is a two-day TAS event that offers an introduction to the identification, analysis, and interpretation of projectile point typology in Texas.

Classroom and hands-on laboratory sessions will be held at the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory (TARL) of the University of Texas at Austin, giving us access to a full range of projectile point collections from across Texas.

The inaugural Lithics 201 Academy will focus on Texas projectile point typology, an often-discussed, but rarely taught, aspect of lithic analysis. And it's easy to understand why: typology can be highly subjective, regionally specific, and it often causes more arguments than it resolves. 

We will start with broad-brush definitions and large-scale trends, then delve into each of the chronological sequences (Paleoindian, Archaic, Late Prehistoric, etc.), and discuss trends and variations across point types within each sequence.

Attention will also be given to variation across regions, including central Texas, south Texas, west Texas, east Texas, the Panhandle, and more. Activities will focus on analysis techniques, such as learning to identify stem shapes and flaking patterns.

Ceramics

April 24 - 25

University of North Texas

Denton

Instructors:

Allen Rutherford and
Christopher Goodmaster

Registration Fee:
$125 plus TAS membership

CPE credits available

The 2027 Ceramics Academy is a two-day academy that offers an introduction to the precontact ceramic traditions and technologies utilized by Indigenous people across what is now present-day Texas and adjacent regions.

This academy will be offered at the University of North Texas Gateway Center in Denton.

This course will introduce participants to the origins of ceramic technologies, decorative techniques, sherd analysis, classification and typology, and interpretation of ceramic assemblages.

We will cover ceramic technology, attribute identification, chronology, trade, subsistence, and cultural identity. We will explore regional ceramic typologies and associated archeological sites and cultures, with a focus on how archeologists use ceramic artifacts to interpret human behaviors, beliefs, human-environment interactions, and cultural influences.

There will be numerous opportunities for hands-on exercises such as identifying ceramic sherd attributes and types.