DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Garza Points, out here in Garza County. Now, before we get into this, I want you to picture something. Thin.
Triangular. Precise. Arrow points no more than two to four centimeters long — and yet, if you were to hold one in your palm, you'd know right away that whoever made this thing knew exactly what they were doing.
Fine workmanship, they call it. Central basal notch. Deeply serrated edges.
This was not accidental. This was craft. These particular points were discovered right here, at a site designated 41GR40, during an archeological highway salvage dig in 1959.
The South Plains Archeological Society did that work, and what they pulled out of the ground earned those little points their name: Garza Points. Named right here. Found right here.
But the points themselves are just the beginning of the story, because they weren't alone in the ground. Around six hearths — cooking hearths, places where fires once burned and meals once happened — the dig turned up two hundred and thirty-eight stone and bone artifacts. You heard that right.
Two hundred and thirty-eight. Awls for piercing. Wolf teeth pendants, which I'd argue is about as Texas as it gets.
Tubular bone beads. Chipped stone knives. Scrapers.
Drills. Choppers. And three distinct types of arrow points, the Garza Points among them.
Six hearths. Two hundred and thirty-eight artifacts. The picture that paints isn't just of a campsite — it's of people.
Roving hunters, the marker calls them. The Garza People. Living and moving and eating and making things right here before 1500 A.D.
They were gone long before anyone thought to look. But when the South Plains Archeological Society finally did look, in 1959, the ground gave back everything it had been keeping — and the Garza People got their name on the map at last.
What the marker says
Thin, triangular arrow points 2 to 4 centimeters long. Of fine workmanship, with central basal notch and deeply serrated edges. Discovered and named here, site 41GR40, an archeological highway salvage dug in 1959 by South Plains Archeological Society. With these fine, thin arrow points, left near 6 hearths for cooking, were found 238 stone and bone artifacts: awls, wolf teeth pendants, tubular bone beads, chipped stone knives, scrapers, drills, choppers and 3 types of arrow points. The Garza People, roving hunters, lived here before 1500 A.D. (1965)