Grave concern

Commission chair: Ancient burial lies along road route

By Anita Miller

San Marcos — That humans have lived in the area around San Marcos Springs possibly as long as they’ve lived continuously anywhere in North America isn’t new information for most local residents.

But the early people here didn’t produce much in terms of buildings and, notably, no human remains have turned up in decades of delicate archaeological excavations at dozens of sites around town.

Now, the chair of the San Marcos Historic Preservation Commission (SMHPC) says she’s been told a human grave believed to be thousands of years old has been found along the route of the new road that will connect Wonder World Drive with Ranch Road 12.

But officials associated with the dig, which was approved by the city council in June, are staying mum, citing requirements of the Texas Antiquities Code that forbid them from releasing details about ongoing excavations that might lead to looting at the site.

“There is something there on the level of a national historic place,” said Jan Van Zandt of the SMHPC, who said the grave site is thought to be around 5,000 years old.

Notably, the site where Van Zandt says the grave was found had decades ago earned another distinction.

Professor Jim Garber of what was then Southwest Texas State University and his students had discovered what appeared to have been a structure supported by a center pole. According to a report by Texas State’s Center for Archaeological Studies (CAS) based on Garber’s work in the mid 1980s, the site “possesses the greatest unrealized potential for providing unique information about this period” in the local area.

When the city council approved the interlocal agreement with the CAS, the stated purpose was to “outline the required procedures for excavation of limited intact deposits and analysis of the existing and recovered data” from the site.

The study, which needed to be completed before the Wonder World Extension could be constructed, wouldn’t interrupt the city’s timetable, Assistant Director of Engineering Sabas Avila said at the June city council meeting, “unless we find a body.”

“We do not anticipate that this site was used as a burial ground but there is always that small possibility when you are dealing with any type of Native American areas,” Avila said back then.

The CAS report on Garber’s work also noted that he did not “fully analyze the materials he recovered and the site remained incompletely studied and documented.”

Some areas of it never will be, as the construction in 1989 of a watershed dam disturbed part of the site.

The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) had offered to do the excavation at no cost to the city but a supervisor with the department’s Environmental Affairs Division, Archaeological Studies Branch, said the agency is satisfied the CAS will do a good job.

Scott Pletka said TxDOT “felt it would be useful to do some geophysical prospecting work out there as another means of identifying the location of other sensitive features including things such as burials...before they do additional excavation where we thought there was a potential for burials to occur.”

When burials are discovered during archaeological digs in Texas very particular protocols come into place, including continual security at the site and notification of governmental authorities and in some cases, federally recognized Native American tribal groups.

Such burials fall into three categories; isolated, meaning the site could contain up to three prehistoric graves; an apparent prehistoric cemetery containing four or more graves; or historic cemeteries, defined as one or more graves with associated artifacts or features that help to tell its age.

Discovery of a single grave would prompt further excavation; an apparent prehistoric cemetery would as well, in addition to possibly amending the scope and budget for the project. An actual prehistoric cemetery would impact ongoing work even more.

For her part, Van Zandt wishes the city would allow TxDOT to do additional excavations. Acknowledging that no one wants to get “in the way of progress,” she said she believes the all the scrutiny that can be leveled at the site should be.

“We need to educate people in construction, city planners and all about the importance of what was here before and at least try to protect part of it. Maybe we can find out something that went on in San Marcos.”

amiller@sanmarcosrecord.com