Another major scientific discovery has been made in the project, and is dated to the Neo-American stage. For forty years archaeologists have known that an area on the Elm Fork of the Trinity River, north of Dallas, contained large, man-made pits dating to the Neo-American stage. These were called Wylie focus pits, after a system of classification of [sites] used by archaeologists. These pits are truly large, some measuring up to 100 feet in diameter and up to 10 feet deep in the center ([Figure 7]). Moreover, these pits generally contain many human burials placed in the pit over a period of time. One pit even contained the skeleton of a young bear. All of these pits were excavated by hand with simple digging implements.
During the Richland project’s first season of work two of these pits were located and excavated. The discovery of these pits extended the known range of these unique cultural [features] over 100 miles from the region of their original occurrence.
At present, it is unclear what prehistoric culture constructed these monumental works or what their function may have been. It is safe to say, however, that these kinds of [sites] are unique to the north Texas area, and constitute a major point of archaeological interest. Work will be continuing on these sites in the next few years.
HISTORIC PAST
The archaeological story of people in this area during the last 150 years is no less exciting than its prehistoric counterpart. From the material remains, [sites], and structures that these people have left behind, we see a picture of the rapid taming of a frontier, its rural agricultural florescence at the turn of this century, and then its decline under adverse economic conditions. Much of the rural landscape still contains a significant percentage of early twentieth century structures in varying degrees of abandonment and preservation. The following sections briefly look at the archaeological record for the historic period in the RCAP area as we know it today. The archaeological record provides us with a tangible and materially rich picture of specific aspects of daily life. The record left behind by the area’s past inhabitants provides much detailed information about their dwellings, farms, personal belongings, daily activities and lifeways. Although we have only begun to decipher the information, some results are already available from the 194 [historic sites] tested and the several dozen individuals interviewed to date.
Before entering into a discussion of the historic period, let us step back from the results and answer several major questions. What important and unique qualities emerge from the historic archaeological record for this area? Does the record tell us the same story that it would for other areas? What insight does the record provide that is distinct and unique to this part of Texas?
Unfortunately, not much is available from other areas of the country for making comparisons to the study area, but from what is known a general picture can be formed. The rural communities in this area consisted mainly of farms from the mid-nineteenth century to the early twentieth century. The [sites] representing these former farms indicate that lifeways were amazingly stable and relatively unaffected by influences coming from urban cultures. Since 1940, however, much of the distinctive culture of this rural area, unfortunately, has succumbed to the same urban American values found over other broad regions. The archaeological record suggests that before mass transportation and electricity entered the local scene, this area would have ranked among the richest of late nineteenth century areas in terms of local folk cultures and rural lifeways. Today, much of the rural culture has been lost. An objective of the Richland Creek Archaeological Project has been to record some of this information through interviews with senior residents over the next several years.
Results of some of the work conducted in the study of past lifeways portray the area’s past residents as a group of people who often made efficient and wise use of their local natural resources. This is illustrated in one aspect of their building construction. As bottomland forests were cut and less wood was available locally, many individuals adopted the practice of recycling major elements of older structures into new ones. [Figure 8] is an example of recycling older beams. Reuse of older structures underscores a keen awareness of optimizing local resources. Undoubtedly, other examples of the efficient use of local resources will emerge as structures and [sites] are studied in greater detail.
Fig. 8. Twentieth century shed constructed with hand hewn and reused sills and joists. This is a prime example of the recycling of older building parts.