Pebbles in Archaeological Contexts: A Case Study from a West Texas Cave

ABSTRACT

The recovery of hundreds of unmodified polished pebbles from excavations at Spirit Eye Cave in West Texas provides an opportunity to analyze an underreported class of lithic artifact. When unmodified pebbles are recovered from large shelter sites in the Texas region, they are sometimes associated with a portable form of pebble art. Because of the small size and recovery of avian faunal elements from the cave, this analysis pursued the possibility of the pebbles representing gastroliths associated with the procurement of avian species. Diagnostic attributes of gastroliths from experimental studies in paleontology provide the criteria for assessment. The results indicate that local formation processes, rather than the procurement of avian species by prehistoric inhabitants, better explain the data set. The study also found more polished chert pebbles than any other lithic material and this is argued to represent human agency; a discussion of the implications for these results provides a range of interpretive possibilities.

KEYWORDS:

• Unmodified pebbles
• manuports
• gastroliths
• lithophagia
• urinary calculi
• bezoars

Acknowledgements

Jeff Fort and Kristina Van Dyke provided critical support for the excavation and access to Spirit Eye Cave. Susan Chisholm and Andy Cloud read early versions of the paper and provided critical comments and revisions. The junior author carried out the analysis of the pebbles; any admissions or errors that remain are solely the fault of the senior author.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Bryon Schroeder is a Project Archaeologist at the Center for Big Bend Studies and Adjunct Faculty in the Behavioral and Social Sciences Department at Sul Ross State University.

Taylor Greer is an Archaeologist at the Center for Big Bend Studies.