Wilson-Leonard Site

This deeply stratified site in the Brushy Creek valley of southwestern Williamson County contains evidence from every prehistoric time period in Texas, the most complete single-site record of its kind for the southern periphery of the Great Plains. The Wilson-Leonard site (41WM235) evidences a succession of ancient peoples—from early Paleoindian Clovis cultures to Late Prehistoric Toyah folk—practiced a hunting and gathering lifeway throughout nearly 13,500 years. For the last 8,500 years of that time, campers at the site also used earth-oven cooking technology to cook bulbs from tuberous plants as well as other foods.

The site was excavated in the early 1980s by the Texas Department of Transportation in advance of construction of Ranch-to-Market Road 1431. Roughly ten years later, archeologists from the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory, led by Michael B. Collins, returned to the site to do further work. Using a host of new technology and research methods, the team gleaned significant new information on human ecology, chronology, and paleoenvironmental changes. Among the more significant findings of the TxDOT/TARL excavations are:

Recovery of an early human burial, one of the oldest and most complete in North America. The individual—a young female—was somewhere between 18 to 25 years at time of death. She was buried roughly 11,000 years ago (9000 B.C., or 9500 radio carbon years B.P.) in a shallow grave with a worn grinding-chopping tool placed at her side and a large limestone boulder above her, perhaps to hold a hide wrapping. Archeologists nicknamed her Leanne (or the "Leanderthal Lady"), in reference to the nearby town of Leander, Texas. (See Prehistory/Leanne's Burial for more detail.)
Documentation of a newly identified cultural component—that encompassing the Leanne burial—and including several limestone hearths, pits (possibly for storage or boiling foods with hot stones), and a variety of tools, including grinding stones and Archaic-style, corner notched stemmed projectile points referred to as Wilson. Evidence from the Wilson occupations wedged between two lanceolate point zones more typical of the Paleoindian indicate that the transformation to Archaic subsistence strategies was not a linear process. Different but contemporaneous lifeways were played out in various locations across the south-central U.S. as early Holocene peoples experimented with different technical and social strategies to cope with environmental changes.
Recovery of possible pre-Clovis evidence (a handful of chipped stone artifacts including modified flakes and a biface, possibly in secondary context) and a probable Clovis component comprising tools with strong Clovis technological affinities and dating to ca. 11,500 B.C.).
Indications of greater complexity and variability in Paleoindian projectile point styles than previously known. Based on statistical analysis of unfluted lanceolate forms from the site, a new type, St Mary's Hall, was proposed for points previously identified as Plainview.
Evidence recovered from an enigmatic "Bone Bed" component suggesting that Folsom and Plainview intervals may be more contemporary than sequential. The component appears similar to Folsom in terms of lithic technology (eg., ultra-thin bifaces) and association with bison, but it dated to approximately 11,400 to 11,000 B.C., earlier than Folsom, and contained a single unclassifiable, unfluted projectile point.
Documentation of a 11,000-year-long sequence of burned rock cooking features (more than 200), beginning with small cooking hearths with a few stones and shifting to larger, more complex hot-rock appliances. By 7,000 B.C., the site saw the development of fully developed earth ovens used for baking a variety of foods including camas (wild hyacinth) bulbs, a likely staple for Early Archaic campers.
Recovery of a variety of data toward a regional paleoenvironmental sequence (based on physical stratigraphy, macro- and microfauna, diatoms, ostracodes, plant remains and carbon isotopes).

References:

Collins, Michael B. (Assembler and Editor)
1998 Wilson-Leonard: An 11,000-year Archeological Record of Hunter-Gatherers in Central Texas (five volumes). Studies in Archeology 31. Texas Archeological Research Laboratory, The University of Texas at Austin, and Archeology Studies Program Report 10, Texas Department of Transportation, Environmental Affairs Division.

Collins, M.B., C. B. Bousman, P. Goldberg, P.R. Takac, J.C. Guy, J.L. Lanata, T.W. Stafford, and V.T. Holliday
1993 The Paleoindian Sequence at the Wilson-Leonard Site, Texas Current Research in the Pleistocene 10:10-12.

Masson, M.A. and M.B. Collins
1995 The Wilson-Leonard Site (41WM235). Cultural Resource Management News and Views 7(1):6-10.Texas Historical Commission, Texas.

For more information on the Paleoindian Wilson component, see:

Bousman, C. Britt, Michael B.Collins, Paul Goldberg, Thomas Stafford, Jan Guy, Barry W. Baker, D. Gentry Steele, Marvin Kay, Ann Kerr, Glen Fredlund, Phil Dering, Vance Holliday, Diane Wilson, Wulf Gose, Susan Dial, Paul Takac, Robin Balinsky, Marilyn Masson, and Joseph F. Powell
2002 The Palaeoindian-Archaic transition in North America: new evidence from Texas. Antiquity 76(2002): 980-90.

Aerial view of the Wilson-Leonard site (41WM235) during TxDOT excavations in the early 1980s. Situated at the juncture of Brushy and Spanish Oak creeks in southwestern Williamson County, the site provided access to water and a variety of food and fuel resources, making it a favored campsite for hundreds of groups throughout prehistory. TARL archives.

Tools of the Clovis culture. This array of chipped stone tools bears attributes of Clovis workmanship, including the tip of a projectile point (a), large, early-stage biface (b), and flake from a blade core (f). Photo from Collins et al., 1998 (Fig. 7-5).

One of the oldest and most complete human skeletons in the Western Hemisphere, the Wilson-Leonard burial known as "Leanne," or the "Leanderthal Lady," was found by TxDOT archeologists in 1982. A well-worn tool, used for grinding or chopping, and a limestone boulder—perhaps placed on the body as a marker or to secure a wrapping around the body—also were uncovered in the grave.

TARL archeologists at work at the site. Digging through more than 19 feet (6 meters) of valley fill, the excavators uncovered multiple layers of cultural deposits representing hundreds of encampments on the banks of Brushy Creek. White tags on the unit wall mark locations where samples were extracted for special analysis (eg., plant pollen identification) to help track environmental change through time.

Net sinkers (or possible bola stones) from chiefly Late Paleoindian contexts. An increase in fish and turtle remains during the time may indicate that these early peoples were using weighted nets to exploit aquatic animals. The grooved stone at bottom dates to the Early Archaic.

Grinding tools for food processing from chiefly Archaic deposits. Click to enlarge and see more examples.

Window to the past. This idealized stratigraphy chart depicts more than 13,000 years of cultural deposits in two contiguous sections of a wall in a Wilson-Leonard excavation block. Top portion shows increasing use of stone cooking features (black dots indicate stones) in Late Paleoindian/Early Archaic times (stratigraphic units II and IIIa) and massive accumulation of burned rocks (middens) in later Archaic times, as hot-rock-cooking in earth ovens burgeoned. Bottom section shows the Leanne burial dug in from the Wilson soil (Unit Isi[c]). Wavy vertical lines indicate soil formation.

Bone Bed point. The thin, unfluted projectile point found in the bison Bone Bed component could not be classified. Its fine workmanship is more similar to Plainview technology than Folsom.

Tools from the Late Paleoindian Wilson component, Unit Isi(c), including Wilson points (middle, left), corner-notched projectile points with thick, ground-edged stems. Stemmed projectile points during this time period (ca. 11,000 years ago) are rare in Texas. This cultural zone also encompassed the Leann burial.

St. Mary's Hall points. This Late Paleoindian, unfluted lanceolate style, while similar to Plainview, occurs later in the site deposits at circa 8000-9,500 B.C. (9900 to 8700 radiocarbon years B.P.)

Remains of an ancient oven. This large, burned rock basin (Feature 181) saw repeated use as a baking/cooking oven for large quantities of foods, including wild hyacinth bulbs (camas) during the Early Archaic period some 9,000 years ago (7,000 B.C.). More than 200 cooking features were documented at the site.

Cover of the first volume in the five-volume Wilson-Leonard report series, assembled and edited by Michael B. Collins, presents the research results of some 40 contributing authors. It was published in 1998 by TARL and TxDOT