Article Title

Houston Area Geoarcheology: A Framework for Archeological Investigation, Interpretation, and Cultural Resource Management in the Houston Highway District

Authors

James T. Abbott, Texas Department of TransportationFollow

Agency

TxDOT

DOI

https://doi.org/10.21112/ita.2001.1.20

Abstract

This report represents an examination of geoarcheological issues affecting a six county area in the vicinity of Houston, Texas. The study area includes Harris, Montgomery, Waller, Fort Bend, Brazoria, and Galveston counties (Figure 1), which collectively make up the Houston District, a regional administrative entity of the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). This study represents the first phase of a district-focused geoarcheological program being implemented at TxDOT, with similar studies of other districts to follow . It is intended to familiarize archeologists working in the region with relevant geoarcheological issues, thus serving as a resource for researchers involved in prospection, assessment, and interpretation of prehistoric archeological sites. Although the focus of investigation is on the six counties making up the Houston District, most of the issues addressed are equally applicable to adjacent areas of the upper Texas Gulf Coastal Plain.

Archeology is the study of human history and prehistory through the examination of artifacts and other types of refuse that are left behind as a result of human behavior. In many cases, these remains are buried within soils or sediments. For this reason, the collaboration between archeologists and geologists, geomorphologists, stratigraphers, pedologists, and other types of earth scientists is natural and has a long history (Butzer 1982:35-36). Nevertheless, the term geoarcheology, and the related term "archeological geology," are used in many different senses by various authors (e.g., Butzer 1975, 1982; Gladfelter 1977, 1981; Rapp et al. 1974; Renfrew 1976). Gladfelter (1981) identifies a number of lines of geoarcheological investigation, including regional and site-specific remote sensing investigations using geophysical or geochemical techniques; documentation and interpretation of site formation processes; ~ examination of site setting and landscape context; paleoenvironmental and paleotopographic reconstruction; and relative or absolute chronological assessment. Similarly, Butzer (1982:38) identifies five basic geoarcheological themes, each of which may be addressed at a variety of scales: (1) landscape context; (2) stratigraphic context; (3) site formation; (4) site modification; and (5) intentional and unintentional landscape modification. Other definitions of geoarcheology and archeological geology (e.g., Rapp et al. 1974; Renfrew 1976) are equally broad.

For this reason, it is appropriate to define the range of geoarcheological issues addressed in this report. The purpose of this report is to ( 1) outline the broad geologic, geomorphic, and pedologic character of the Houston District; (2) briefly summarize the modern climatic and biotic character and Late Quaternary paleoenvironmental history of the region; (3) summarize relevant depositional agents, depositional processes, and pedogenic processes, and the resulting morphological attributes of sediments laid down by those agents or affected by those processes; ( 4) summarize relevant disturbance processes and the resulting morphological attributes of affected soils and sediments; and (5) summarize what is known about the Late Quaternary stratigraphy of depositional systems in the region. The database used to address these issues includes extant regional and process literature, as well as new data that are reported here for the first time.

Licensing Statement

This is a work for hire produced for the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), which owns all rights, title, and interest in and to all data and other information developed for this project under its contract with the report producer. The report may be cited and brief passages from this publication may be reproduced without permission provided that credit is given to TxDOT and the firm that produced it. Permission to reprint an entire chapter, section, figures or tables must be obtained in advance from the Supervisor of the Archeological Studies Branch, Environmental Affairs Division, Texas Department of Transportation, 125 East 11th Street, Austin, Texas, 78701