In the Gulf Coastal Prairie and Marsh region of Texas, historic archaeological
sites are often obscured by dense vegetation resulting in extremely limited surface
visibility. In an environment such as this, historic sites can only be detected by the
presence of above-ground features such as architectural remains and landscaping.
Although not standard among cultural resource management firms, the use of historical
aerial photography and informant interviews can be effective and efficient pre-field
strategies for locating sites in this region. Identification of such sites is further enhanced
by an in-depth understanding of the characteristic remains of pier and beam construction,
which was commonly utilized in 19th-century southeast Texas farmsteads.
Four 160-acre grants located in the Addicks Reservoir, Harris County, Texas
were used as a case study to test the effectiveness and efficiency of these pre-field
research strategies. Each of these tracts was associated with the mid 19th-century
establishment of the German immigrant community of Bear Creek, and each tract
contained the remnants of farmsteads where structures had often been removed or
relocated leaving little above-ground remains to be discovered using standard survey
techniques. A 1915 topographical map and a 1930 aerial photograph of the area were
employed together with accounts of former residents and descendants of former
residents that indicated locations of former farmsteads on each of these tracts.
Additional archival research, including U.S. Army Corps of Engineers acquisition files
for Addicks Reservoir, was conducted prior to a field Âground-truthing survey of the
properties. As a result, all six of the historic sites that appear on a 1930 aerial
photograph of the area were located and documented. One historic site that appeared on
a 1915 topographical map of the area but did not appear on the 1930 aerial photograph
was not located.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/3049 |
| Date | 12 April 2006 |
| Creators | Stahman, Andrea Renee |
| Contributors | Thoms, Alston |
| Publisher | Texas A&M University |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Book, Thesis, Electronic Thesis, text |
| Format | 11961484 bytes, electronic, application/pdf, born digital |
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