DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about this place — and it's a story that starts long, long before Texas had a name. Somewhere right around here, beneath your feet or awful close to it, there's a pile. Not just any pile — a prehistoric Indian refuse pile, built up from centuries of shellfish harvesting by early Indian groups.
Archeologists call it a shell midden, and that's a fancy way of saying: people sat here, ate clams, and left the evidence behind, season after season, generation after generation, until the pile grew into something that became the foundation for a large Indian campsite. Now the clams in question were rangia cuneata — the common rangia — a species that once turned up in abundant numbers in Galveston Bay. Hard to picture that kind of abundance today, but the shells don't lie.
They've been identified right here at this site, and they've been stacking up since before anyone was writing anything down. As that midden grew, so did the life around it. Stone tools and pottery have been uncovered here — evidence of later occupation, of people settling in, making things, using this spot as more than a quick meal stop.
Who were they exactly? The tribal origins of those earliest people cannot be determined. What the marker will tell you is that in historic times, both the Orcoquisac and the Karankawa once lived in this area.
Two peoples, this bay, this ground. Shell middens like this one used to line the streams feeding into Galveston Bay. Used to.
Storms have taken their share. Subsidence has done its quiet work. Natural erosion has worn others down to nothing.
And then there were mining operations — outfits that dug up the shells and crushed them for road construction projects — which finished off more than a few. So what you've got here is one of the best remaining examples of a prehistoric midden and campsite left in all of Harris County. The site has been afforded special protection as a State Archeological Landmark, because once something like this is gone, it is gone for good.
Centuries of meals, centuries of living, all of it pressed into the earth right here — and the earth, this time, held on.
What the marker says
In this vicinity are the remains of a prehistoric Indian refuse pile, comprised mainly of clam shells. Archeologists call such sites "shell middens." They are the result of centuries of shellfish harvesting by early Indian groups. shells found at this site have been identified as belonging to the rangia cuneata (common rangia) clam, a species once found in abundant numbers in Galveston Bay. As the shell midden grew in size over the years, it became the foundation for a large Indian campsite. Stone tools and pottery uncovered here are evidence of the later occupation. Although the tribal origins of the Indians cannot be determined, it is known that both Orcoquisac and Karankawa once lived in the area in historic times. Shell middens similar to this one were once more common along the streams feeding into the bay. Storms, subsidence, and natural erosion, however, have destroyed many, as have mining operations that used the shells for road construction projects. As a result, this is one of the best remaining examples of a prehistoric midden and campsite in Harris County. Because of its significance, the site has been afforded special protection as a State Archeological Landmark.