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Credits & Sources

The Ceremonial Cave exhibit was created by TBH Editor Susan Dial and TARL Director Darrell Creel. Sections are adapted in part from Ceremonial Cave: An Overview of Investigations and Contents by Creel and Caves of the Upper Gila and Hueco Areas in New Mexico and Texas by C.B. Cosgrove. TBH Web Developer Heather Smith developed the exhibit for the web.

X-ray computed tomography density maps of the hafted dart points were made at the High-Resolution X-ray Computed Tomography Facility in the Department of Geological Sciences in the Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin. TARL archeologist Ken Brown examined the hafted darts and provided insights on their construction.

Steven LeBlanc and Viva Fisher of the Peabody Museum at Harvard University facilitated the loan of artifacts from that institution for radiocarbon dating and CT scanning and provided additional imagery for use on this site.

The exhibit was funded through donations from the Texas Archeological Society, the Council of Texas Archeologists, Friends of TARL, and individual TBH supporters.

When this exhibit was initially created in 2001, Darrell Creel was the Director of the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory and Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Texas at Austin. Most of his research has been focused on the prehistoric Mimbres culture in southwestern New Mexico and the Caddo peoples of eastern Texas and includes use of ceramic compositional analysis to address questions of exchange, interaction, and migration, and use of near surface geophysical sensing technologies in archeological research. Creel received his Ph.D from the University of Arizona.

photo of Darrell Creel, left, working with students at the George C. Davis site
Darrell Creel, left, working with University of Texas students during field work in east Texas Enlarge image.

Print Sources

Alves, E.
1929   Caves of the El Paso District. Bulletin of the Texas Archeological and Paleontological Society 2:64-69.

Aveni, Anthony F. and Sharon L. Gibbs
1976   A New Approach to the Significance of the "Weighted" Spear Thrower. American Antiquity 41 (4): 510-517

Cosgrove, C.B.
1947   Caves of the Upper Gila and Hueco Areas in New Mexico and Texas. Papers of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology 24(2). Harvard University, Cambridge. Reprint, Kraus Reprint Corporation,1968.

Creel, Darrell G.
1997   Ceremonial Cave: An Overview of Investigations and Contents, Appendix A. In: The Hueco Mountain Cave and Shelter Survey: A Phase I Baseline Inventory in Maneuver Area 2D on Fort Bliss, Texas by Federico A. Almarez and Jeff D. Leach. Archaeological Technical Reports 10. Anthropology Research Center, The University of Texas at El Paso. Download report in PDF.

Dickson, D. Bruce
1985   The Atlatl Assessed: A Review of Recent Anthropological Approaches to Prehistoric North American Weaponry. Bulletin of the Texas Archeological Society 56: 1-38.

Ellis, Florence Hawley and Laurens Hammack
1968   The Inner Sanctum of Feather Cave, A Mogollon Sun and Earth Shrine Linking Mexico and the Southwest. American Antiquity 33(1): 25-44.

Jeancon, J. A.
1929    Archaeological Investigations in the Taos Valley, New Mexico. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections No. 81(12). Smithsonian Institute, Washington, D.C.

Hawthorne-Tagg, Lori, Deni J. Seymour, Robert J. Hall, Robert Martinez and Susan Ruth
1998    Traces of the Trails: The Spanish Salt Trail and Butterfield Trail on Fort Bliss, Doña Ana County New Mexico and El Paso County, Texas. Lone Mountain Archaeological Services Report 501 and Historic and Natural Resources Report 97-09, Cultural Researches Branch, U.S. Army Air Defense Artillery Center, Fort Bliss, Texas.

Howard, Calvin
1974   The Atlatl: Function and Performance. American Antiquity 39 (1): 102-104.

Patterson, L. W.
1977 Atlatl Function: Comments of Howard's Views. Plains Anthropologist 22 (76), Pt. 1: 159-160.

Roberts, F.H.H.
1929    Recent Archeological Developments in the Vicinity of El Paso, Texas. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collection 81(7).

Sayles, E.B.
1935   An Archeological Survey of Texas. Medallion Papers XVII. Gila Pueblo, Globe, Arizona.

Thomas, David Hurst
1978   Arrowheads and Atlatl Darts: How the Stones Got the Shaft. American Antiquity 43 (3): 457-472.

Links

Other TBH exhibits relevant to Jornada-Mogollon cultural history:

Firecracker Pueblo

Hueco Tanks

Madera Quemada