Home > Research Projects and Centers > Center for Regional Heritage Research > Index of Texas Archaeology > Vol.
Article Title
Archeological Resource Survey At A Proposed Deep Borehole Drill Site Pecos County, Texas
Agency
Texas Historical Commission
Abstract
In May 2017, AmaTerra Environmental, Inc. (AmaTerra) conducted an archeological resource survey of a proposed deep borehole drill site in Pecos County, Texas. The project area was located on University of Texas land and included a 12,700-foot access road to be regraded, three potential powerline extensions measuring 6,000 to 6,500 feet each, and a 320-acre circular buffer zone surrounding the borehole, 20 rectangular acres of which were to be utilized as a lease area by the Department of Energy for the drill site. The total area surveyed for the project was 414 acres.
Following survey, the project was abandoned. This report is presented to the Texas Historical Commission to satisfy the requirements set forth in the Antiquities Code of Texas.
Archeological investigations, conducted under Texas Antiquities Permit No. 8007, consisted of a pedestrian survey and the manual excavation of three shovel tests within the Area of Potential Effect (APE). Field archeologists observed some landscape modifications resulting from construction of ranch roads, excavation of a small quarry, and a dam. Five new archeological sites (41PC817, 41PC818, 41PC819, 41PC820, and 41PC823) and one isolated find are located within the surveyed area. Sites 41PC820 and 41PC823 are recommended as not eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) or as State Antiquities Landmarks (SAL). Sites 41PC817, 41PC818, and 41PC819 are recommended as having unknown eligibility for listing in the NRHP or as SALs and requiring testing and further research to make a determination. Should impacts to these sites be proposed in the future, AmaTerra recommends testing and/or mitigation prior to construction. However, due to the cancellation of the proposed project, there is no APE, no undertaking, and no construction impacts are anticipated. All collected artifacts, and documents and photographs generated during this survey will be permanently curated at the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory in Austin.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Included in
American Material Culture Commons, Archaeological Anthropology Commons, Environmental Studies Commons, Other American Studies Commons, Other Arts and Humanities Commons, Other History of Art, Architecture, and Archaeology Commons, United States History Commons
Submission Location
Tell us how this article helped you.
