Prehistory Visual Gallery
The First Americans
Visual Galleries
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Panhandle Prehistory
Introduction
by Randall Derrick
When the first documented European explorers stepped ashore on the
Gulf Coast of Texas in 1528, they were possibly 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 the 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 near 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.
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