A Cultural Resource Inventory of 550 Previously Surveyed Acres on Camp Swift, Bastrop County, Texas

From November 2011 to January 2012, the Center for Archaeological Research (CAR) of The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) conducted an intensive archaeological reconnaissance survey of 550 acres of previously surveyed land located on the Texas Military Forces’ (TXMF) Camp Swift Facility in north-central Bastrop County, Texas. The work was performed to fulfill contract requirements with the TXMF’s Adjutant General’s Office. The survey was conducted under the requirements of Section 106 and 110 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) of 1966. The survey was performed under interagency cooperation agreement TX11-ENV-09, with Dr. Steve Tomka, CAR Director, serving as Principal Investigator, Dr. Raymond Mauldin, CAR Assistant Director, serving as Project Manager, and Cynthia Moore Munoz serving as the Project Archaeologist. The work was conducted in advance of proposed improvements to the facility and in response to a large wildfire. The improvements will consist of an expansion of approximately 39 acres to an existing dropzone. Because the wildfire burned off most of the vegetation on 1,454 acres of the facility leaving high ground visibility, a resurvey of a portion of the area was also conducted. The goal of the pedestrian survey was to identify and document prehistoric and historic archaeological sites that may be impacted by the dropzone improvement or exposed and/or affected by the wildfire. This report summarizes the results of the fieldwork and provides recommendations regarding the management of cultural resources located on the project area. Pedestrian reconnaissance and 265 shovel tests were used to search for cultural resources on the 550 acre project area. Thirty-six isolated surface finds, including debitage, tools, a projectile point, a core, glass, ceramics, and a brick, were documented. Seven previously recorded sites were revisited. Ten new sites were identified during this survey. The CAR requested and was assigned trinomials (41BP859-868) for the sites. The TexSite records are on file at the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory (TARL). The ten new sites include two prehistoric surface scatters (41BP861 and 862), three prehistoric surface scatters with buried material (41BP859, 865, and 866), one buried prehistoric site with no visible surface scatter (41BP867), and four historic surface scatters (41BP860, 863, 864, and 868). Six of the ten sites (41BP860, 861, 862, 864, 867, and 868) were recommended by the CAR as not eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. The remaining four sites (41BP859, 863, 865, and 866) were assessed as unknown with further investigations recommended. Following laboratory processing and analysis, and in consultation with the TXMF’s Adjutant General’s Office, all sediment samples were discarded. This discard was in conformance with Texas Historical Commission (THC) guidelines. All remaining archaeological samples collected by the CAR, along with all associated artifacts, documents, notes, and photographs, were prepared for curation according to THC guidelines and are permanently curated at TARL at the University of Texas in Austin.