CRHR Research Reports

Article Title

The Archaeology of Sam Rayburn Reservoir

Authors

Edward B. JelksFollow

Publication Date

2017

Abstract

This is an archeological study of the McGee Bend Reservoir (Sam Rayburn Reservoir) area of eastern Texas as revealed through the analysis of 14 sites that were excavated there between 1956 and 1962. The reservoir, currently under construction on the Angelina River near Jasper, will be some 50 miles long when completed in 1965, with major arms extending up Ayish and Attoyac bayous. The lake will be named for the late Sam Rayburn.

Most of the archeological work was done during extended field seasons in the fall months of 1956, 1957, and 1960; a brief season in the fall of 1962 completed the field investigations. The field programs for the first two years were carried out by the National Park Service which maintained an office and laboratory in Austin at the time. Excavations subsequent to 1957 were conducted by the Texas Archeological Salvage Project of the University of Texas. The writer, then an employee of the National Park Service, personally supervised the first two field seasons; field supervisor for the 1960 season was Lathel F. Duffield and, for the brief 1962 season, J. Dan Scurlock. The work at McGee Bend was a project of the nationwide Inter-agency Archeological Salvage Program, a program designed to salvage archaeological data endangered by the construction of dams and reservoirs.

Recommended Citation

Jelks, Edward B. (2017) "The Archaeology of Sam Rayburn Reservoir," CRHR Research Reports: Vol. 3 , Article 1.
Available at: https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/crhr_research_reports/vol3/iss1/1