1. TODAY’S TRAVEL ROUTE GRAZING LAND (A) (B) FARMLAND Total Trip,
Texas Stone Quarry
Total Trip,
100 miles
one way!
(B)
FARMLAND
GRAZING LAND
(A)

2. What geologic goodies will we see on this drive!
TWO WAYS TO PLOT THIS TRIP
On a Highway Map!
On a State Geologic Map!
On Next Page
What geologic goodies will we see on this drive!

3. DETAILED VIEW ON THE GEOLOGIC MAP
Lake Flow Limestone
Austin Chalk
Waco
RIVERS
SEDIMENTS
Sand, clay, marl
Eagle Ford Shale
Georgetown Limestone
Gault Site
I-35 Highway
Keys Valley Marl
Pecan Gap Chalk
Balcones Fault System
Clay, Quartz, Calcite
Edwards Limestone
Clay & Gravel
Austin Chalk
Mudstone
Glen Rose Limestone
Austin

4. WHY IS THERE SO MUCH LIMESTONE?
As icecaps and glaciers have come and gone, sea level has risen and
fallen. During times of high sea level, Texas, along with much of the center of the USA, has been under a “shallow” sea. When that happens, corals, algae and other microscopic marine organisms flourish and then die, depositing their calcium rich skeletons on the
This is a snapshot in time from about 100 million years ago (mya)
sea floor. Over millions of years, those “skeletons” are buried, compressed, de-watered, turned to rock (limestone), then exposed at the surface. This gives us the limestone that we are seeing at the surface today! Geology Rocks!

5. ARCHAEOLOGY KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS
ANTHROPOLOGY
“the study of human beings and their ancestors through time and space and in relation to physical character, environmental and social relations, and culture”
Merriam
ARCHAEOLOGY
“the scientific study of material remains (as fossil relics, artifacts, and monuments) of past human life and activities”
Merriam
“In North America, archaeology is considered a sub-field of anthropology”

7. A VISIT TO THE “GAULT SITE”
The archaeological site commonly referred to as the “Gault Site” is in central Texas (near Florence) where a meter-thick (3.2-foot) Late Prehistoric and Archaic midden overlies a hard-packed, Paleo-Indian component
Components in evidence at the site include Late Prehistoric, Late Archaic, Early  Archaic, and  Paleo-Indian, Folsom and Clovis occupations
The “Gault Site” is actually composed of two different archaeological work areas: the Gault Archaeological Site & the Debra L. Friedkin Paleo-Indian site, better known as the Buttermilk Complex site. They are approx. 300 yds apart.
Clovis people had been thought to be the First Peoples of North America
The Gault Site is particularly well known for the large quantities of Clovis materials--more than 600,000 Clovis age artifacts have been recovered from excavations with only 3% of the total site area having been researched.
These 600,000 artifacts constitutes about 60% of all known Clovis artifacts recovered in North America, making Gault an unprecedented research collection
The Buttermilk Complex provided an impressive chronology of tools; oldest possibly dating to 15,500 years ago. Tools belonged to a much older people than “Clovis”; therefore known as “Pre-Clovis”!
Regardless of who was “first”, people had apparently been coming here for millennia to camp , hunt and make stone tools near the banks of the Buttermilk Creek

8. GAULT ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE
HISTORY OF THE
GAULT ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE
James E. Pearce, first professional archeologist in Texas, learned of the Gault Farm site & excavated there in (for 8 weeks)
Over the next 60 years, artifact collectors churned up the upper deposits over almost the entire site, but stopped digging when the dark rich midden soil played out, figuring that there was nothing below that layer…
In 1988 site became a “pay to dig” site where artifact collectors could come, pay a small fee, dig anywhere on the site, and carry away anything found
In 1990, an artifact collector dug deeper and found Clovis artifacts along with several unusual incised stones (first North American Art?), something never before found with Clovis materials
Learning of the find, Drs. Thomas R. Hester and Michael B. Collins of the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory carried out testing at Gault in 1991, just enough to confirm the collector's story
But the property owner at the time continued to let pay-to-dig artifact collectors dig up (destroy?) the site
Fortunately for archaeology, in 1998 the property changed hands and the new owners recognized the scientific importance of the site
Starting in 1998, a major excavation project were undertaken at Gault, led by Dr. Michael Collins (Texas State U., San Marcos) (Dr. D. Clark Wernecke is currently Executive Director, The Gault School of Archaeological Research)
By June of 2013 the excavations at Gault were substantially completed with Area 15 excavation reaching bedrock
An estimated 2.6 million artifacts, 600k identified as Clovis, from ca. 3% of the site have been collected. This is the largest Clovis site anywhere!

10. Waco Mammoth National Monument
What’s a Mammoth?
Evolution:
Mammoth
Mastadon
African Elephant
PALEOMASTADON
Species:
Mammoth species at Waco Site

11. MAMMOTH MAXIMUM GLACIATION HABITAT RANGE DURING LAST ICE AGE
Dotted lines on habitat map are estimated range of each mammoth species
MAMMOTH MAXIMUM GLACIATION HABITAT RANGE DURING LAST ICE AGE

12. The Waco Mammoth National Monument
Columbian Mammoth Characteristics:
13 feet
Height: feet
Weight: tons
Gestation: 22 months
Lifespan: ~ 80 years
Habitat: open savannah, range
Diet: vegetation (sedges, grasses_
Extinction: ~11,500 YBP
(climate change? human hunting?)
The Waco Mammoth National Monument
HISTORY
- two hikers found a large bone sticking from a ravine near the Bosque River
(McLennan County, Tx)
- Baylor Museum staff identified the bone as a femur from an extinct
Columbian mammoth
archeological excavations of the site uncovered fossils of 16 mammoths –
a nursery herd that appears to have died together in a flash flood
– additional discoveries of six mammoths, a western camel, dwarf
antelope, American alligator, giant tortoise, and tooth of a juvenile
saber-toothed cat 
2009 – erection of a climate-controlled dig shelter for public viewing & scientific study
2015 – Waco Site becomes part of the National Park System
Mammoth species can be identified from the number of enamel ridges (or lamellar plates) on their molars: primitive species had few ridges, and the number increased gradually as new species evolved to feed on more abrasive food items. The crowns of the teeth became deeper in height and the skulls became taller to accommodate this. At the same time, the skulls became shorter from front to back to minimise the weight of the head.[8][9] The short, tall skulls of woolly and Columbian mammoths are the culmination of this process.
Columbian mammoths had four functional molar teeth at a time, two in the upper jaw and two in the lower. About 23 cm (9.1 in) of the crown was within the jaw, and 2.5 cm (1 in) was above. The crown was pushed forward and up as it wore down, comparable to aconveyor belt. The teeth had separated ridges of enamel, which were covered in "prisms" directed towards the chewing surface. Wear-resistant, they were held together with cementum and dentin. A mammoth's molars were replaced five times over the animal's lifetime. The first molars were about the size of those of a human, 1.3 cm (0.51 in); the third were 15 cm (5.9 in) long, and the sixth were about 30 cm (1 ft) long and weighed 1.8 kg (4 lb). With each replacement, the molars grew larger and gained more ridges; the number of plates varied between individuals.[16][18] Growing 18 cm (7.1 in) of ridge took about 10.6 years.
TOUR
Our tour guide, Dava Butler, will lead us from the Welcome Center, down a 300 yard paved path to the Dig Shelter where the rmammoth fossils are in situ (in their original position).  During our tour, we will learn about the Ice Age, how these fossils were discovered, and why the Waco Mammoth Site is one of the most important paleontological sites in North America.