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Environmental and Archaeological Investigations at the Gibbons Creek Lignite Mine
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Location:
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Grimes County, Texas |
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Client:
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Texas Municipal Power Agency |
Prior to the Texas Municipal Power Agency (TMPA) opening the Gibbons Creek Lignite Mine in Grimes County, Texas, environmental and archaeological investigations were conducted by PBS&J to mitigate the impacts of the mining operations. More than 200 archaeological sites were recorded and the findings now comprise a state-of-the-art archaeology exhibit developed by PBS&J, and housed at the TMPA headquarters in Carlos, Texas.
People have inhabited Grimes County and the surrounding areas of east-central Texas for thousands of years. Some of the oldest artifacts recovered by PBS&J date to the Paleoindian period (about 10,000 B.C. to 7,000 B.C.) and include several spear points (a Pelican point and a Dalton point). These indicate that the earliest inhabitants of the area were hunters and gatherers, roaming the area and following the migrations of large game animals. Artifacts dating to the Archaic period (7,000 B.C. to A.D. 100) and the Late Prehistoric period (A.D. 100 to contact with the first European explorers) were also recovered. The artifact assemblage from both of these periods suggests that these people continued to hunt and forage much as they did in Paleoindian times. The exhibit also contains a section of timber from Peter's Cabin, a double-pen "dog trot" cabin built in 1850 by one of the early settlers in Grimes County, and still standing on mine property. The museum quality exhibit is open to the public and provides a unique opportunity to learn about and gain insight into the prehistoric and early historic cultures of Grimes County.
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