MAS Members
The January 7th meeting (this Thursday) with Dr. Katz as our speaker has been canceled and will be moved to our regularly scheduled meeting on February 4th at 7:30 pm. Sorry for any inconvenience.
MEETING NOTICE
SIBLEY NATURE CENTER
THURSDAY, February 4, 2010
New time 7:30
JANUARY PROGRAM: A MINE OF INFORMATION
Dr. Paul Katz
PRIAM, Panhandle, Texas
-- Abstract --
PRIAM, of Panhandle, Texas has recently completed the first professional archaeological excavation of a prehistoric quarry pit at Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument. Funding was provided by a grant from the Western National Parks Association.
Until now visitors to the monument have learned about flintknapping and local prehistory, and they have been shown the quarry pits on a guided tour. But there has been no scientific data available about how the pits were made or how the flint was extracted from them. This project investigated one of the 731 prehistoric quarry pits recorded after a 1998 fire burned the entire Monument. The pit selected for excavation represented one of the two primary pit shapes and sources of material. It was in good condition, had a quantity of debris associated around the pit edges, and was close to the Quarry Tour interpretive trail. The field crew consisted of the two PRIAM Principals and volunteers from the cadre of Monument tour guides and from the Panhandle Archeological Society. The excavation included the actual pit and the debris wall, but only one-half of the pit was excavated so that the vertical profile of the pit interior was preserved. The chipped stone debris recovered from in and around the pit was subjected to a rigorous technological analysis, seeking to identify the techniques applied, quarry tools employed, and perhaps even temporal periods of exploitation.
This paper will discuss the different techniques that prehistoric people employed to obtain the raw material to make their stone tools in the Monument and present the results of the quarry pit excavation.
DUES
Time to pay annual dues for September 2009 - May 2010.
Family membership $20, Single $15, Student $3
MAS treasurer – RICHARD ROSE
Membership: Midland Archeological Society membership consists of a monthly meeting with a program and opportunities to attend field trips,
do lab projects and surveys as well as notification of other archeological events in Texas and New Mexico.
