Hinojosa Site

Modified Bones and Shells

Animal bones, marine shells, and freshwater clam shells were fashioned into tools and ornaments. Four deer ulna (fore-arm bone) tools were recovered, three with blunt tips that appear to be flintknapping tools and one with a pointed and polished tip that is likely a basketry weaving tool. A bone needle fragment may be a sewing tool. Polished bone beads were made from the leg bones of large birds (turkeys or cranes, perhaps). The freshwater and marine shell fragments mainly seem to be ornaments such as beads and pendants and debris leftover from ornament-making. Although the marine shells fragments were not numerous they are one of several indications of coastal connections, which is not surprising since the coast is only a two-day walk away.

Ceramics

Bone-tempered earthenware pottery is also one of the hallmarks of Toyah culture. Over 700 pottery sherds were found at Hinojosa, but most were tiny fragments less than an inch across. Apart from several fragments of a ceramic pipe bowl and one piece of a figurine, all of the sherds are pieces of utilitarian pottery including water jars (ollas), bowls, and cylindrical jars. Interestingly, as much as a quarter of the pottery was decorated with either a red ocher wash (“fugitive red”) or asphaltum, although the latter may have also been used to mend cracks. Although sharing some traits (such as the asphaltum) with the coastal pottery known as Rockport ware, the Hinojosa ceramics are part of the bone-tempered pottery tradition shared by all Toyah sites.

The small figurine fragment is noteworthy. This thumb or cigar-shaped cylindrical fragment is smoothed and has tiny punctuates (holes) in the finished end. Ceramic figurines are rare in the region, but known from occasional finds in the Coastal Bend area.

Learn more by reading the report's ceramics section.

Animal Bones

The abundant “faunal evidence” – animal bones – sets the Hinojosa site apart from most prehistoric sites in the South Texas Plains. The faunal assemblage is one of the largest and best preserved collections from any archeological site in the region. These bones represent an incredible diversity of species and habitats – fishes, birds, amphibians, reptiles and mammals. Of these, mammals are by far the most common. Forty-five taxonomic groups (taxa) representing at least 31 different species were documented. This diverse array of animals shows that four ecological habitats were used: aquatic, well-drained prairie grassland, poorly drained grassland, and woodlands.

Two zooarcheologists (the specialists who study animal bones from archeological sites) studied the Hinojosa materials. Billy Davidson of Austin identified the bones from the 1975 work and Dr. D. Gentry Steele from Texas A&M identified those from the 1981 season. Learn more by studying the list of the identified faunal remains from the site report.

Here are a few of the big findings from the bones. The two most numerous groups of animals were hoofed animals (artiodactyls) and rabbits (lagomorphs). White-tailed deer were by far the most common bones, making it clear that this was the main prey. The bones of two other large artiodactyls, pronghorn antelopes and bison, were also fairly common, but were much less so than deer. All three of these species were well known from other Late Prehistoric sites in the region. More surprising was the finding of a fragment of the jawbone of a collared peccary (javelina), a species that some authorities believed had only entered the region during historic times. The peccary jawbone at Hinojosa was part of a very tight discard cluster of butchered animal bones, leaving no doubt that the species was present and hunted in the area at least 600 years ago.

While the hoofed animals provided the lion’s share of the meat, two species of rabbits were also common – black-tailed jackrabbits and desert cottontails as well as many even smaller mammals such as rats, voles and ground squirrels. The collective dietary importance of these creatures along with several kinds of snakes, turtles, frogs, birds, and fish may have been as important as the larger mammals, especially because these smaller animals could have been trapped, gathered, or hunted by children and women near to the camp. Big game hunting success is usually hard to predict, whereas small creatures are more numerous and easier to encounter.

The most common creature is actually the Rabdotus land snail, an invertebrate about the size of a thimble or a grape. Archeologists have debated whether snails were eaten by people or just attracted by camp debris, but the latter possibility has been laid to rest by several careful studies. Land snails were obviously a common food item as they occur by the hundreds and thousands in direct association with camping debris at many prehistoric sites. In fact, in unexplored areas of the South Texas Plains, the first clue that archeologists often have that an archeological site exists are visible concentrations of snails – white specks stand out on exposed ground.

Based on the excavated sample and known site area, the Hinojosa site is estimated to have contained well over 200,000 snails. And most were large adult specimens, not the mix of juvenile and adult snails that would be expected in a natural population. They were found scattered within the general debris, as dense patches, and in small, tight clusters. The small clusters could represent the discarded contents of individual containers (such as a gourd or earthenware bowl) of snail soup. Heat is necessary to release the small invertebrates (the snails) from their protective shells and it is reasonable to suggest that snails were components of soup or stews. The large numbers are somewhat deceptive, as takes many snails to amount to much food and snails rank as only a relatively minor food source.

Mussel shells (freshwater clam shells) were also found at the site in moderately large numbers, but never as dense accumulations. The clams are edible, but would have been a minor supplemental food source. Several ornaments (pendants) were found at Hinojosa that were fashioned from mussel shells. But the most important aspect of the site’s mussel shells is what they say about Chiltipin Creek. Several different species were present and these have very particular habitats. Harold Murray of Trinity University in San Antonio identified the mussels and reasoned that Chiltipin Creek had been a constantly running shallow stream, that possibly flowed from an artesian source (spring-fed) and had a muddy or muddy sand bottom.

Plant Remains

Plant remains are rarely preserved at open campsites, but many charred plant fragments were recovered at Hinojosa. Most of those that were recovered were pieces of wood charcoal representing fuel used for cooking and warmth fires. These generally small chunks were mainly spotted in the ground during the excavations and saved for identification and dating. Charcoal was concentrated in the cooking features (“rock/charcoal clusters”).

In addition, there were also a few charred seeds from edible plants recovered from feature “matrix” (fine sediment) samples and two sets of soil samples collected as columns. Two dozen 2-liter (1.8 quart) matrix and soil samples were processed using an experimental water separation (flotation) system at the CAR laboratory. Unfortunately, the results suffered from inexperience and inadequate analysis time. In hindsight, a more rigorous program of soil sampling and flotation would have almost certainly yielded more charred plant remains, especially seeds and perhaps nut and root fragments.

The plant remains were identified under the microscope – wood charcoal pieces are snapped to examine the growth rings and morphological patterns, which are distinctive for certain species. The wood charcoal and the charred seeds are identified by comparison to modern samples of known species. The “macrobotantical” work was done by Richard Holloway at Texas A&M.

The many wood charcoal fragments that were identified were overwhelming dominated by fragments of mesquite and acacia. Small fragments of these related trees are very difficult to tell apart and both are common in the region and local area. Some fragments were definitely mesquite and it is likely that this was the dominate fuel type. Other fuel woods identified in smaller numbers were hackberry and persimmon.

The charred seeds identified that are likely part of the diet were persimmon and chenopodium (goosefoot) and possibly sunflower. Chenopodium and sunflower have starchy seeds and both plants were domesticated in the Eastern Woodlands beginning as early as 1500 B.C. But the seeds from Hinojosa are probably from wild species. Persimmon fruit ripens in the fall and is tart, but edible. These three plants doubtlessly represent only a tiny fraction of the plants that were gathered and used for food and medicinal purposes and it is indeed regrettable that a more thorough job of searching for charred edible plant fragments was not accomplished.

Radiocarbon Dating

The large samples of well-preserved wood charcoal were ideal for radiocarbon dating. The conventional radiocarbon dating method used for the Hinojosa samples requires relatively large samples, which were obtained from four different features. Twelve samples were assayed. Unfortunately, the radiocarbon dating of the site was beset by problems, including laboratory processing errors and inconsistent results from split samples that should have yielded identical results.

One assay was rejected because of a processing error. Of the remaining 11 assays, 7 overlap between A.D. 1350-1400, which falls squarely within the time frame expected on the basis of the site’s many Toyah artifacts. The four other assays, including two that had paired samples dating to the expected time range, dated 300-700 years earlier. Although it is possible that these early dates reflect an otherwise undetected earlier period of site use, this is considered unlikely. Three of the early dates came from Feature 6, a very well preserved cooking facility, but the same feature yielded two dates that fall in the expected range. The likelihood that this cooking facility was used on two separate occasions 300-700 years apart is considered remote.

In the end, the radiocarbon dating problems were never fully resolved. These problems are carefully discussed in the report's radiocarbon assays section. In hindsight, it is unfortunate that the modern AMS radiocarbon dating technique was not widely available at the time the work was done. This technique allows a small, wood charcoal fragment of an identified species (or even tiny charred seeds) to be dated and has become the dating method of choice in archeology.

Other Special Studies: Phytoliths and Soils Chemistry

Two special studies were undertaken that may be of interest to students of archeology. One was an analysis of phytoliths, durable microscopic biosilica “copies” of plant cells that are formed by silica absorbed from groundwater. Opal phytoliths, as they are often called, have distinctive three-dimensional shapes unique to some plant species and families. They are extracted from soil samples using a laborious chemical separation process. This promising, but challenging line of research allows skilled analysts to reconstruct past environmental conditions. It has been successfully developed and applied in some parts of the world. Unfortunately, the pioneering research done in the 1980s in southern Texas by Ralph Robinson, then a graduate student at Texas A&M, has not yet been followed by other researchers. Robinson’s preliminary study of samples from the Hinojosa site was one of only several analyses that he completed before leaving the discipline. Thus, the results of the Hinojosa study are promising, but must be regarded as provisional.

The Hinojosa phytoliths included several different types of grasses including tall grasses, short grasses, and, most intriguingly, several genera of the Pooideae subfamily of grasses. Pooideae grasses are cool season grasses that thrive in relatively moist conditions. They are present in the region today, but are relatively uncommon. The presence of numerous Pooideae phytoliths in soil samples from the Toyah occupation zone at the Hinojosa site was interpreted as indicating that the prevailing climate was somewhat wetter and possibly cooler than today. To learn more, read the report’s phytolith study .

An experimental soils chemistry study was done of phosphate levels within and outside the intensively occupied area at the Hinojosa site. This work was done by Black as part of a two-semester graduate class in archaeometry taught at UTSA by a retired chemist, Donald R. Lewis. Archaeometry is the application of hard science techniques to archeological materials. Under Lewis’ supervision, Black analyzed the phosphate levels of soil samples from the site that were systematically collected within and outside of archeological features. Phosphate levels have long been known to be influenced by and often concentrated by human activities such as the accumulation of organic wastes as might be expected from plant and animal processing. The provisional results indicated that several of the cooking hearths at the site had very localized, very high concentrations of phosphate. Like the phytolith study, the results of the soils chemistry study were intriguing, but were followed by little additional research in the region. To learn more, read the report’s soils chemistry study .