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Unless you are personally part of the exploration team at the 'Gault site' just recently, then you probably have no idea of the latest finds.
Doctor Clark Warneke hosted a special tour for the G.I.R. members day after the Temple show ( June 4th )
Got started at the parking lot pavilion.
We know all Doctors are rich and Dr Clark did not dissapoint as he pulled up in this slick GAULT CART
First order of understanding is a history of the property in the hands of modern owners. This is a
railroad car, a track crew living quarters, that was parked here in 1917 to be used as a Ranch building.
An Atalatl demo was excellent....the point was " to hell with stabbing a raging Mammoth in the tail...
back off about 200 feet and do the job ."
The true habitation of the area was in a long low dell that was heavily wooded, cool and the home of a
natural spring. Here the Doc leads his merry tribe down the trail
The tribe snaked all the way back to the top of the hill
There are rock outcrops along both sides of the general camps (plural) area. This rock face had a
scribed picture of a CHURCH. Interpretation was ..
either " this is a good place to get free food and gifts 
.
OR
.
"stay AWAY from this place at all costs " 
Some key points of interest are marked with descriptive markers depicting the scientific excavations AND a Mammoth butchering site where a Clovis point was found along with the Mammoth lower
mandible.
The next to last point of interest is "THE" excavation currently being worked. The details being
exposed are almost a physical experience...Right there in front of us is the location of the largest
consentration of Clovis age artifacts west of the Mississippi River AND 65% of ALL the Clovis age material in North America,,solid confirmation at 13,500 yrs old
Now the kicker....
In the one single, deepest square ( with the two white PVC drainage pipes protruding )...
A very fortunate 'test' exploration BELOW the Clovis level went slam into a more ancient fire pit...
The first dated charcoal easily came back with a habitation date of 16,000 + Yrs... Plus 2 new, unusually flaked pattern points. The culture BEFORE Clovis is pretty much non existant and so without a name...Dr Clark would like to have it named the CLARK CULTURE but may have to bend to just the FLORENCE CULTURE.
We are standing right over the OLDEST PROVEN HABITATION IN BOTH NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICA....right here in Central Texas 
The opening topic description of "NEW DIG SITE EVALUATED " is correct in that the sixteen thousand plus level is brand new...
For those few of us who follow these things...the obvious question now to be analized is....
" WHO WERE THESE REALLY ANCIENT PEOPLE ??? WHERE DID THEY STEM FROM ??? AND HOW DID THEY GET TO THE VERY HEART OF TEXAS.???
The point of interst last stop on the tour was the gift shop 
That is wild Hal ! If they were there 16000 years back, then I bet they were in other ares nearby as well Wasn't the Leanderthawl Lady found at the 1431 bridge excavation 13000 years plus ? She was found about 15 years ago just ouside of Cedar Park I believe. Thanks for Sharing that Hal... I ran into you again at the Temple show. You were on your way to CCC. Take Care.
Ahh, some inquireing minds 
Jay, the latest finds are probably too recent for proper papers to be tendered. I have no specific source info, must be something out there, try Google.
Paul, The missing link tween Clovis and Florence is indeed HUGE.. consider all the cultural changes that
has occured in N America since Columbus hit town and thats ONLY 500 yrs, so what were they doing in 2500 ?
I'm thinking that older and smaller pop u lations DO exist under camps that have produced early Archaic and older artifacts that are near proven ancient springs or waterways..thing is the most ancient camp may be only
ten foot square .... and ten foot UNDER other debris. So exactly where to dig ?
Kris, I remember you. That Leanderthal lady is correct, just good evidence of how many paleo people
were in Texas.
I checked with a high ranking Real Estate agent in the Austin area..Your stated price for that property with the midden camp on it is just right in line with ' normal ' land prices in the area. The Austin MegaPlex is a BOOM economy.. If the owner or sharp real estate agent wises up to the value of a property with an Indian camp on it , that quoted price will
REALLY skyrocket.
Sandy,..Definitely open to public tours. Dr Clark mentioned the number of school trips was escalating. Sorry but I dont have the exact contact
info right now, I'll look into it if nobody else finds it before me.
Hey Hal,
I closed on that Land on Monday with the camp. So I am the proud owner of a Early to mid Archaic camp in Williamson County. Those stones in my last post come out of there. We just put in a couple of trenches on the mound edges. When I say Tractor and Mound in the same sentence I feel like a kid walkin into a candy store. 
We got a few things to do yet.. but We will be allowing friendly diggers who arn't afraid to donate out for hand digs in comming weeks. I'll post a new topic soon.
Great story on the pre-Paleo in the area, feels funny saying that too.
Talk to ya soon.
As good luck would have it, In this area, there is a sterile layer seperating the Clovis from Florence 8 to 12 inches thick so there is no intermixing of cultures.
Under the walkway Dr Clark is standing on can be seen the characteristic black fire rock midden layer of the Archaic time. Just seeing a cross section of 16 thousand years of history is impressive.
The scholastic focus is intensely on Paleo and older so just in passing they mention that the extent of the fire rock midden is the largest in North America ,,,,,800 X 100 feet.
How bout this for "I wonder" ?....
Absolutely good luck that they found a significant Florence "camp" in that incredibly narrow excavation...The original find was less than a meter square.
Later people found the area at least 800 X 100 feet in size suitable for a " camp",,,, How much more Clovis & Florence evidence might be right there in that field ??
Try to compare the before & after pics,,thats almost 1 1/2 years of work..!
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