When the first documented European explorers stepped ashore on the Gulf Coast of Texas in 1528, they were greeted by distant descendants of cultures first described by modern academics as “Clovis” cultures, or Paleo-Indians. The time period that included the Paleo-Indians is referred to by archaeologists as the Pleistocene, or Ice Age and ranged from about 1.8 million to about 8000 BC. When a timeline is developed that considers evidence and artifacts based on first inhabitants in the Panhandle region there is no evidence that shows any culture predating the Paleo-Indians. There is a blank space in the time line between Texas Panhandle Clovis cultures and the earliest cultures found on other continents such as Asia, Europe and Africa. New discoveries however, claim to trace North American inhabitants to as far back as 30,000 to 15,000 BC, and this challenges the “Clovis first” theory. Evidence of occupation in the Texas Panhandle earlier than 9,200 BC is non-existent.

      On other continents like Europe, Anatomically Modern Homo sapiens (AMHS) can be dated to about 200,000 BC. The Clovis Complex can be dated in the Texas Panhandle as early as 9200 BC as evidenced by a mammoth kill site discovered along Horse Creek near the city of Miami in the Texas Panhandle. In 1933 remains of five human-processed mammoths were discovered. Found along with the mammoth remains were three Clovis points and a scraper, tools ubiquitous to Paleo-Indian culture. The mammoth and other Pleistocene epoch animals like the saber tooth tiger, camels and various types of horses were extinct by 8000 BC which marks the end of the Pleistocene period. Thus, the existence of Paleo-Indian remains at Miami nearly coincide with their earliest existence on the North American continent which is dated by the “Clovis first” theory at 11,200 BC. Revisions of the duration of Clovis place the early Paleo-Indian culture in a narrow time span ranging from 13,325 to 12,975 calendar years BP. This theory posits that the Clovis culture began to change and perhaps settle into a regional pattern of behavior.

      The traditional time line suggests migration by Paleo-Indian ancestors from pre-existing cultures that spread across North and South America from Asia across Beringia. The use of the fluted Clovis point tool was widespread. Many of these Clovis points have been found from the Pacific Northwest to the Atlantic Southeast. Most hunting points of this nature are found in the Central and South Plains. There is an abundance of collected artifacts and analytical records that show beyond a doubt that the Clovis cultures were the first recorded human inhabitants of the Texas Panhandle.

      The Clovis culture developed and evolved at various stages in time and in various ways, depending on numerous variables such as their ancestry, availability of game, the region and it’s climatic conditions. The end of the Ice Age brought massive extinction among large Pleistocene mammals and this must have certainly caused a change in the way the Paleo-Indians in the Texas Panhandle lived. The latest known prehistoric, or pre-Columbian, culture that existed in the Texas Panhandle is the Antelope Creek-phase culture dated between 1200 and 1500 AD. This culture is evidenced by remains found at the Alibates flint quarries Lake Meredith on the Canadian River, a central supply point for the distinctive flint, or chert, used in tools of various types. The Antelope Creek culture is known to have lived in large communities with permanent structures. They are considered to be semisedentary bison hunters who used horticultural technology, meaning that they planted and harvested seasonal crops. Similar examples that show the Antelope Creek-phase to be a typical culture can be found all along the Canadian River area. Archaeologists have excavated and recorded numerous sites. Another site, the first to be excavated in Texas history, is found near Perryton in Ochiltee County.

      The Buried City Complex 18 miles south east of Perryton was first excavated by T.L. Eyerly, a history and science teacher at the Canadian Academy, in 1907 and revealed a culture somewhat different than the contemporaneous Antelope Creek culture. Excavations conducted at the site in the late 1980’s by doctoral student David Hughes of the University of Oklahoma found the culture to resemble the Caddoan linguistic stock of the Mississipian Woodland region and to be related to the Pawnee or Wichita Indians. The Panhandle phase of prehistoric inhabitants is said to have ended because of radical climatic changes that prevented the cultivation of crops  and with the incursion of the nomadic Apacheans about 1500 AD. It is believed that the Antelope Creek-phase merged with the eastern cultures such as the Pawnees or Wichita’s. Logic may allow the conclusion that the Antelope Creek culture was aware of the existence of the Buried City complex.