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Our next regular meeting will be  Tuesday, March 19, 2024.  
Casa Chapala, 9041 Research Blvd. #100 (Hwy 183 and Burnet Rd.)

The March meeting will feature Leslie L. Bush (Macrobotanical Analysis) speaking on

Recent Projects in Texas Archaeobotany: Hueco Tanks, Karankawa Canoe, and Robertson County CRM

Plants identified from three recent archaeological projects show diverse food resources used by indigenous ancestors in Texas as well as the importance of objects of cultural patrimony for modern descendants.


At Hueco Tanks, an oasis in the Chihuahuan Desert, agave or agave family plants were the most common foods cooked in earth ovens from the Late Archaic through Historic periods. Fruit seeds and grains, including corn, were found as well. Spatial patterning in the woods used for fuel was also instructive.

 

A canoe currently on display at the Institute of Texan Cultures is believed to have been made by Karankawa ancestors. Modern descendants, now organized as the Karankawa Kadla, expressed an interest in knowing more about the canoe. With permission, a wood sample was removed and identified as cottonwood.

 

A cultural resources management project in Robertson County shed light on plants foods chosen by people living on the Post Oak Savannah from Late Archaic through Late Precolumbian times. Earth oven plants included camas and greenbriar, with grains, legumes, and possible medicinal plants also recovered along with many hickory and acorn nutshells.

Rock image from Hueco Tanks showing hunters with a net (above) and a camas plant on the banks on Onion Creek (above right). Photos courtesy of Leslie Bush

Leslie L. Bush, PhD, RPA (she/her) is a paleoethnobotanist, an archaeologist who specializes in identifying bits of plants preserved on archaeological sites, usually in the form of charcoal and occasionally as waterlogged or desiccated plant parts. Through her consulting practice, Macrobotanical Analysis, she has most recently examined Archaic and Woodland material from Louisa County, Iowa, a Huber Phase village near Chicago, and Mission Dolores, Texas.

The next regular meeting will be held on our usual schedule, the third Tuesday of the month at 7pm at Casa Chapala's Austin location, 9041 Research Blvd., Suite 100 (Hwy 183 and Burnet Rd.) Meetings are held on the third Tuesday of each month, except June and December. They are free and open to the public. For those who wish to come early, we gather around 5:45 PM for dinner, drinks, and fellowship. The short business meeting starts at 7:00 PM, followed by the guest speaker's presentation.

Upcoming

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Wondering what our programs are like? View the list of speakers and topics we've had since 2006. Or watch a few of our pandemic-era programs on our YouTube channel