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Explorations and Archeological Investigations
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In this section:
Early Visits: 1849-1939
Rock Art Recording
Village Excavations
Water Features
Later Surveys
Bartlett-1854:caption
Add if there is room in the top section Usgeolog; A U.S. Geological survey photograph from 1909 shows a wagon making its way across the desert with Hueco Tanks rising in the background.
Jackson-hueco: caption
Text box: Estimating that there were some 2000 pictographs at Hueco Tanks following his 1930’s survey,Colonel M. L. Crimmins recommended that the state of Texas acquire the property in order to preserve them.
Sayles-camp;E.B. "Ted" Sayles' camp on January 1, 1932 at the outset of his ambitious archeological survey of Texas, which included a stop at Hueco Tanks.. Sayles is sitting and petting his dog Happy. The other man is his field assistant, John (Juan) Olguin. TARL archives.
Forest-and-lula-kirkland: caption
Kirkland-tmm-2261-142; Watercolor depictions of rock art at Hueco Tanks, one of 18 plates done by the artist for his 1967 book with William Newcomb, Rock Art of Texas Indians. TARL Archives.
Text box:Purchase of Hueco Tanks by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department in 1970 created a renewed interest in the rock art and archeology of the park.
EP2-c53;Centennial Museum researcher John Davis points out pictographs on a shelter wall to archeologist Jan Guy as ateam member takes a closeup shot. Davis, with members of the El Paso Archaeological Society and UTEPAnthropology Club, conducted a broad-scale rock art recording effort following the purchase of the property by TPWD in 1970. Photo by Darrell Creel, TARL Archives. Click to see full image.
Davis-sutherland-cover1997; Cover of rock art inventory report.
EN01_008:Archeologist Ron Ralph and TPWD team members record a red pictograph during survey, an ongoing effort to identify locations and status of rock art in the park. Photo courtesy Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
Sutherland-cover;Texas Parks and Wildlife produced a booklet by Kay Toness Sutherland incorporating Forest Kirkland’s watercolors and her interpretations of the of rock art at Hueco Tanks.
E022_03; Bob Mark of Rupestrian Cyberservices captures a tight shot of rock art under a boulder while Evelyn Billo (left) and a crew member hold reflective panels to improve lighting. Mark and Billo recorded more than 230 rock art panels, some of them previously unknown, and took more than 6000 photographs during their survey of Hueco Tanks for TPWD.
Our knowledge about Hueco Tanks and its people derives from a number of sources, chief among these archeological investigations and surveys conducted over the last 30 years. Some accounts and records, however, come to us fromvisitors who passed through the area in the mid-nineteenth century. Most of these are brief descriptions of the rocks, water, and rock art; some even include sketches or other depictions of the unusual combination of cultural and natural resources.
Archeologists and other researchers began visiting the site in the 1930s, but it was not until the 1970s that a systematic excavation was conducted, that being on a small Formative period village site at the base of the rocky hills. More recently, TPWD archeologists and photographers have conducted intensive surveys of the park to identify and document its cultural resources. Findings from much of this long-range program are still being analyzed. Add # of sites here and # or rock art locales.In this section we look briefly at accounts of early visitors and more fully into records of investigations to understand how the dynamic story of Hueco Tanks has come to be known.
The Early Visits, 1849-1939
The earliest published historical accounts of Hueco Tanks were written by a few of the many travelers who stopped at the site during the mid- to late 1800s. In 1849, Captain Randolph Marcy of the 5th U.S. Infantry remarked about the pictographs. Benjamin Butler Harris also visited Hueco Tanks in 1849 and described one of the rock art panels.
A more-detailed account was provided by John Russell Bartlett, Commissioner of the United States and Mexican Boundary Commission. Passing through Hueco Tanks in November 1850, he was so interested in the unusual spot that he determined to revisit it, although, as he noted, “it was also a favorite place of resort for the Apaches.” On the return visit to Waco (sic) Tanks several months later, Bartlett and his party camped near a natural cavern in the rocks where, as he noted in his journal, they found excellent water. described the resources of the siteand sketched some of them in his journal.These are included in his Personal Narrative of Explorations and Incidents in Texas, New Mexico, California, Sonora, and Chihuahua 1850-1853 published in 1854. add
Even at this early time, Bartlett noted defacingof the rock art:
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During the first three decades of the 20th century, Hueco Tanks began attracting more attention from scholars and visitors with a serious interest in the rock art. In 1921 Frank H. H. Roberts of the Smithsonian Institution Bureau of Ethnology briefly visited the site and pioneer Texas archeologist A. T. Jackson of the University of Texas at Austin made brief visits in 1927 and later in 1935, discussing the pictographs in his book, Picture-Writing of Texas Indians. Colonel M. L. Crimmins published descriptions and sketches of several dozen pictographs, and categorized them as symbolic, animalistic, or anthropomorphic. He estimated that there were about 2000 pictographs, and recommended that the state of Texas acquire Hueco Tanks in order to preserve them. Hueco Tanks was one of more than 400 sites that Donald Brand visited during his 1930-1931 survey of Chihuahua for his dissertation research at the University of California at Berkeley, and E. B. Sayles also visited Hueco Tanks during his statewide Gila Pueblo Survey, collecting a small quantity of sherds and a handful of stone artifacts.
The first attempt to conduct an archeological excavation at Hueco Tanks may have been made by A. M. Woolsey in March, 1936, but his notes indicate that his effort was unsuccessful: “A trip was made to Hueco tanks on Friday, March, but no new caves could be found near the tanks. Sixteen caves were visited Sat. but none of these were considered valuable enough to work.”
Rock Art Recording
ADD:Ht-tpwd-12; John Davis, left, and Tomand Cynthia Martin of the El Paso Archaeological Society pause during survey of the park’s rock art. A research associate at the Centennial Museum of the University of Texas at El Paso, Davis led members of the EPAS and UTEP Anthropology Club in inventorying the park’s rock art in 1970.
ADD: kaysutherland;Anthropologist Kay Toness Sutherland prepares to document a faint red pictograph in a shelter. A professor of anthropology at St. Edward’s University, Sutherland devoted many years to recording the rock art of Hueco Tanks and other southwest sites. Photo by Ron Ralph.
Add: Ruf-before-after; Pictograph symbol at Hueco Tanks shown before (left) and after (right) digital enhancement by Robert Mark to reveal images that were not visible to the naked eye
The first significant study of rock art at Hueco Tanks was accomplished by Forrest and Lula Kirkland, who spent 10 days there in the summer of 1939. Forrest Kirkland was an artist who made watercolor copies of hundreds of the pictographs. Among them were 89 masks which he discussed in a subsequent publication, noting their similarity and probable relationship with Hopi kachina masks of New Mexico. Many of Kirkland’s watercolors were published in The Rock Art of Texas Indians in 1967, with a comprehensive discussion and analysis of the pictographs by W. W. Newcomb Jr. Kirkland’s watercolors are a valuable record and continue to be used by rock art scholars to study the extent of deterioration of the pictographs since 1939.
Over the next 30 years, there wasvirtually no organized rock art recording or investigation at Hueco Tanks, mainly because the property was being used primarily for recreation and several land development enterprises. Purchase of Hueco Tanks by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department in 1970 created a renewed interest in the rock art and archeology of the park, particularly among members of the El Paso Archaeological Society (EPAS). Member John Davis was a research associate of the El Paso Centennial Museum, as well as advisor to the Anthropology Club at the University of Texas at El Paso. He proposed that the Anthropology Club inventory the rock art recorded by Kirkland 30 years earlier in order to assess its current condition and note the extent and cause of damage and/or destruction. Over 23 days from January through October 1972, members of the Anthropology Club and the Society—primarily Mike Bilbo, John and Marguerite Davis, Tom and Cynthia Martin, and Odin and Kay Toness—relocated and carefully inspected the rock art.
Their findings were published by the EPAS in 1974 (republished in 1997): A Rock Art Inventory at Hueco Tanks State Historical Park. They determined that approximately 25 percent (n = 302) of the figures recorded by Kirkland had been destroyed. Of the 75 percent (n = 896) of figures remaining, about 50 percent had been damaged. The causes of destruction ranged from name writing to soot from picnic and camp fires, to atural causes (spalling, sun and water damage). An unexpected result of the project was the location of approximately 300 unrecorded figures. Toness (later Sutherland), who became professor at St. Edwards University in Austin, began an intensive study to classify and analyze the pictographs at Hueco Tanks.
After 1974, a hiatus occurred in studies and published accounts of rock art at Hueco Tanks until the late 1980s when Texas Parks and Wildlife Department park ranger Dave Parker and archeologist Ron Ralph plotted all known rock art localities and archeological features on aerial photo mosaics. In subsequent years, Ralph also coordinated a group of TPWD employees and volunteers in recording pictographs at numerous locations and worked with Sutherland to determine methods for removal of graffiti from the art.
Advances in radiocarbon dating techniques led to the sampling of 15 pictographs at Hueco Tanks localities. Of these, seven yielded sufficient carbon for dating. Texas A&M chemist Marvin Rowe reported calibrated dates ranging from1350 ± 160 years B.P. to 740 ± 50 years B.P., compared to expected ages of 950 to 500 years B.P. Several problems, such as the unknown species of wood used for the charcoal, require that the dates be considered provisional rather than conclusive.
In 1999, TPWD began its most far-reaching rock art project, contracting with Robert Mark and Evelyn Billo of Rupestrian CyberServices to create a comprehensive digital database of all of the pictographs and petroglyphs at Hueco Tanks. The fieldwork involved recording GPS locations of 273 rock art panels, 34 of which were discovered during the project. Mark and Billo took more than 6,000 digital photographs of the rock art, which were then digitally enhanced by filtering different colors, revealing a number of images that were not visible to the naked eye. The images and locational information were entered in an ArcView database which will be used to relocate and monitor changes in the recorded rock art sites.
Village Excavations
Run across page:excavation;Excavations get underway on what turned out to be a small village site dating to circa A.D. 1100-1200. Photo courtesy Texas Parks and Wildlife.
Fig2-kegley;
Excavation plan at the Hueco Tanks village site, showing locations of houses, burials, and other features (adapted from Kegley 1982: Fig. 2).
These images are in folder under Investigations/Final/New:
Add Trench; Two trenches dug through the midden area helped investigators understand the nature of the deposits. Photo courtesy Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
AddCrew; Excavation crew poses at the village site. From left, Wagner, Broussard, Brooks, McNatt, and Kegley. Photo courtesy Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
Add Basin-metate;Excavation of one of the basin metates. Image courtesy of Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
Add Cleaning;A collared post hole in House 5 is brushed clean for closer viewing. Image courtesy of Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
Add Kegley1982-fig8; Plan of House 4 and section, showing adobe wall remnant, post holes and firepit. Drawing form Kegley 1982 (Figure 8).
Add : Kegley-cover-1982;Cover of the 1980 report of investigations at the Dona Ana village site by George Kegley.
The only large-scale archeological excavations in the park uncovered the remains of a small Jornada-Mogollon village. In 1972, members of the EPAS and the University of Texas at El Paso Anthropology Club recommended testing of an extensive midden east of North Mountain. Directed by TPWD archeologists George Kegley and Ron Ralph,subsequent excavations consisted of approximately 40 units measuring 5 by 5 ft which were excavated in 0.5 ft levels, for a total of 1,000 square ft. Two backhoe trenches were also dug. Most of the units were placed in blocks around three semi-subterranean pithouses. House 1 measured 2.9 x 2.3 m, and contained two postholes and a collared fire hearth. A piece of wood from one of the postholes yielded an uncorrected radiocarbon date of 800 BP ± 50 years (A.D. 1100 to 1200). Associated with the fire hearth were an ash lens, an El Paso Polychrome olla sherd, three stones, and bones from badger (Taxidea taxus) and pronghorn antelope (Antilocapra americana). House 2 measured 2.3 x 2.3 m, and its features consisted of a collared fire hearth, a 34 x 18 cm adobe block that may have served as a step, a possible collared posthole, an intrusive pit, and a burial. House 3 measured 2.6 x 3 m and included a collared fire hearth, two postholes, and two intrusive pits. The three intrusive pits appeared to be refuse deposits dating after abandonment of the houses, and contained dark grey ashy midden soil and bones of bison, deer, pronghorn antelope, grey fox, badger, jack rabbit, cottontail rabbit, pack rat, box turtle, and rattlesnake.
Four burials were found during the 1972 excavations. Burial 1 was an adult with an associated El Paso Polychrome olla sherd, and had been exposed by erosion in a small arroyo about 100 m east of House 1. Further analysis determined that the burial also contained bones of a juvenile. Burial 2was an adult with no associated artifacts, found in fill 15 cm above the floor of House 2. The burial was positioned on its back, with arms folded at the waist, legs drawn up, and head oriented to the west. Burial 3 was exposed by wind erosion on the surface approximately 30 m east of House 1 and was found on the last day of fieldwork. It was subsequently excavated by members of the El Paso Archaeological Society. The burial was an adult with a large sherd of El Paso Polychrome placed over the skull, and was oriented toward the north in a reclining position, with arms folded at the waist and legs drawn up but not tightly flexed. Burial 4also was exposed by wind erosion, approximately 5 m northwest of Burial 3. The burial was very poorly preserved, but it appeared to be an adult placed on its back, with the head oriented to the west and the legs tightly flexed; there were no associated artifacts or discernible burial pit.
At the beginning of the 1973 season, a magnetometer survey was conducted in the midden area investigated in 1972 to locate anomalies in the earth’s magnetic field that might be caused by subsurface cultural features such as pottery concentrations, burned pithouses, or fire hearths. Testing of five anomalies found three pithouses, a concentration of ceramics and lithics. The 1973 excavations covered approximately 75 square m (807 square ft), consisting of 75 units measuring 1 by 1 m or 1 by 2 m which were excavated in 15 cm levels. Most of the units (n = 54) were concentrated in blocks around the three semi-subterranean pithouses located by the magnetometer survey. House 4 measured 3.8 x 4.1 m and was not completely excavated; features included a collared fire hearth with associated circular pit, and two postholes. House 5 was in poor condition and was estimated to measure 3.1 x 4.1 m, encompassing two floors. Upper floor features were two postholes, a shallow basin with a metate and mano in situ, and an intrusive pit. Partial excavation of the lower floor exposed a fire pit and a posthole. House 6 measured 4.5 x 5.5 m and contained two large (50 cm diameter) postholes and 14 smaller ones, a fire pit, and a small shallow pit.
Artifacts recovered from the 1972-1973 excavations were dominated by ceramic sherds (n = 33,939). El Paso Polychrome sherds accounted for 95 percent (n = 32,382) of the ceramics recovered and analyses of the temper indicated that the sherds were made locally. Intrusive wares made up 5 percent (n = 1,557) of the ceramic sample, and Chupadero Black on White represented 81 per cent (n =1,268) of the intrusive types. Playas Red Incised comprised 8 per cent (n = 120), and the remaining 11 per cent (n = 169) was composed of (in decreasing order) Mimbres Black on White, an untyped corrugated ware, Three Rivers Red on Terracotta, Wingate Black on Red, Ramos Polychrome, and St. Johns Polychrome.