Hank's House 1

This exhibit was written by Douglas K. Boyd. Doug was raised in the small town of Tulia in the Texas Panhandle. He attended West Texas State University and took classes from Jack Hughes and later earned his Masters degree at Texas A&M. Since 1990 he has been a consulting archeologist for the Austin-based firm Prewitt and Associates, Inc., where Boyd is now Vice President. While his career has taken him all across Texas and beyond, the prehistory of the Texas Panhandle remains his passion.

Special thanks go to John and Kris Erickson, gracious hosts who allowed a bunch of archeologists to spend time on their ranch and begin studying the many archeological resources there. Although the work on their ranch has largely been a volunteer effort, the Ericksons have financed many of the special studies, including radiocarbon dates, provided food and lodging for the archeologists, donated supplies, and assisted with travel expenses.

TASN steward L. Douglas Wilkens, of Perryton, Texas, worked long and hard on the Hank's site project. Without his efforts, none of the work reported here could have been accomplished. The company Doug works for, BP, provided him with personal development funds that were put toward the logistical arrangements for the field investigations at Hank's site.

Brett Cruse, Panhandle regional archeologist for the Texas Historical Commission, provided assistance throughout the planning, fieldwork, and analysis phases. His and the THC's support of the archeological investigations in the West Pasture are always welcome.

The following individuals volunteered their time for the Hank's site excavations: Wes and Cindy Anderson, Doug Boyd, Lance Brussard, Brett Cruse, John and Kris Erickson, Mark Erickson, Mike Gilger, Mitch and Reba Jones, Alvin Lynn, Mark Mann, Teddy Lou Stickney, Doug Wilkens, and Reggie Wiseman.

A grant from the Texas Archeological Society's Donors Fund provided monies used for the macrobotanical studies by Dr. Phil Dering of Texas A&M University. A grant from the Friends of the Texas Historical Commission's Curtis D.Tunnell Memorial Grant Fund provided monies used to support the artifact cataloguing and analyses, as well as to help with expenses related to producing this web exhibit.

Finally, a personal note from Doug Boyd on the passing of two prominent people in Panhandle archeology—Reba Jones and Jack Hughes. A long-time avocational archeologist from Amarillo, Reba volunteered at the Hank's site excavations with her husband, Mitch. This was just one of the many times Reba donated her time and experience to an archeological endeavor. The days she spent at Hank's site in November of 2000 were among her last in the field, as she became ill soon afterwards. Reba passed away in June of 2002, but her many contributions to Panhandle archeology will long be remembered.

Jack "dean of Panhandle archeology" Hughes died on May 13, 2001. Our team learned about his death while we were finishing up the excavations at Hank's site. We talked about Jack that night, and his many contributions to Panhandle archeology. His archeological journey included almost half a century of work in the region, and he had influenced many students and professional and avocational archeologists along the way—us included. Jack was always a realist when it came to archeology, and I think he would be the first to admit that all of us who have dabbled in Panhandle archeology over the years are still a bunch of greenhorns with much to learn!

Print Sources

[This list includes many difficult-to-find scholarly and technical accounts. The *starred items may be of more general interest and more accessible.]

Baker, Ele A. and Jewel A. Baker
2000   Archaeological Excavations of Antelope Creek Ruins and Alibates Ruins, Panhandle Aspect: 1938-1941. Panhandle Archeological Society, No. 8, Canyon.

Baerreis, David A., and Reid A. Bryson
1965   Historical Climatology and the Southern Plains: A Preliminary Statement. Oklahoma Anthropological Society Bulletin 13:69-75.

1966   Dating the Panhandle Aspect Cultures. Oklahoma Anthropological Society Bulletin 14:105-116.

*Bell, Robert E.
1984   The Plains Villagers: The Washita River. In Prehistory of Oklahoma, edited by Robert E. Bell, pp. 307-324. Academic Press, New York.

Brooks, Robert L.
1989   Village Farming Societies. In From Clovis to Comanchero: Archeological Overview of the Southern Great Plains, by Jack L. Hofman, Robert L. Brooks, Joe S. Hays, Douglas W. Owsley, Richard L. Jantz, Murray K. Marks, and Mary H. Manhein, pp. 71-90. Research Series 35. Arkansas Archeological Survey, Fayetteville.

1994   Warfare on the Southern Plains. In Skeletal Biology in the Great Plains: Migration, Warfare, Health, and Subsistence, edited by Douglas W. Owsley and Richard L. Jantz, pp. 317-323. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C.

Brosowske, Scott
1999   OU Archeological Field School at the Odessa Yates Site. Oklahoma Archeological Survey Newsletter 19(1):2-4.

2000   Recent Investigations at Odessa Yates (34BV100): A Plains Village Site in the Oklahoma Panhandle. Oklahoma Archeological Survey Newsletter 20(2):1-2.

*Campbell, Robert G.
1976   The Panhandle Aspect of the Chaquaqua Plateau. University Graduate Studies 11. Texas Tech University, Lubbock.

*Drass, Richard R.
1997   Culture Change on the Eastern Margins of the Southern Plains. Studies in Oklahoma's Past 19, Oklahoma Archeological Survey, University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma Anthropological Society Memoir 7.

Drass, Richard R., and Peggy Flynn
1990   Temporal and Geographic Variations in Subsistence Practices for Plains Villagers in the Southern Plains. Plains Anthropologist 35(128):175-190.

Drass, Richard R., and Michael C. Moore
1987   The Linville II Site (34RM492) and Plains Village Manifestations in Far Western Oklahoma. Plains Anthropologist 32(118):404-418.

Duncan, Marjorie Ann
2002   Adaptation During the Antelope Creek Phase: A Diet Breadth and Site Catchment Analysis of the Subsistence Strategy at the Two Sisters Site. Unpublished PhD dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Oklahoma.

Duffield, Lathal Flay
1970   Some Panhandle Aspect Sites: Their Vertebrates and Paleoecology. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Wisconsin. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor.

Eyerly, T. L.
1907a   The Buried City of the Panhandle. Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science 21(1):219-228.

1907b   Archaeological Work in the Texas Panhandle. Bulletin of the Canadian Academy.

1912   The Buried City of the Panhandle. The Archeological Bulletin 3(1):1-5. Hico, Texas.

Flynn, Peggy
1984   An Analysis of the 1973 Test Excavations at the Zimms Site (34RM72). In Archeology of the Mixed Grass Prairie, Phase I: Quartermaster Creek, edited by Timothy G. Baugh, pp. 215-290. Archeological Resource Survey Report No. 20, Oklahoma Archeological Survey, Norman.

1986   Analysis of Test Excavations at the Zimms Site (34RM72), Western Oklahoma. In Current Trends in Southern Plains Archaeology, edited by Timothy G. Baugh, pp. 129-140. Plains Anthropologist 31(114, Pt. 2) Memoir 21.

Green, F. Earl
1986   Report on Archaeological Salvage in the Sanford Reservoir Area. Publication No. 4. Panhandle Archeological Society, Amarillo.

Gunnerson, James H.
1987   Archaeology of the High Plains. Cultural Resource Series 19. Bureau of Land Management, Denver.

Habicht-Mauche, Judith A., Alytia A. Levendosky, and Margaret J. Schoeninger
1994   Antelope Creek Phase Subsistence: The Bone Chemistry Evidence. In Skeletal Biology in the Great Plains: Migration, Warfare, Health, and Subsistence, edited by Douglas W. Owsley and Richard L. Jantz, pp. 291-304. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C.

Hall, Stephen A.
1988   Environment and Archaeology of the Central Osage Plain. Plains Anthropologist 33(120): 203-218.

Harrison, Billy R.
n.d.   The Allen Site: A Pit House in the Texas Panhandle. Unpublished ms. on file at the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum, Canyon, Texas. Written in ca. 1983.

Hofman, Jack L.
1984   The Plains Villagers: The Custer Phase. In Prehistory of Oklahoma, edited by Robert E. Bell, pp. 287-305. Academic Press, New York.

Holden, W. C.
1929   Some Recent Explorations and Excavations in Northwest Texas. Bulletin of the Texas Archeological and Paleontological Society 1:23-35.

Hughes, David T.
1991   Investigations of the Buried City, Ochiltree County, Texas: With an Emphasis on the Texas Archeological Society Field Schools of 1987 and 1988. Bulletin of the Texas Archeological Society 60:107-148.

Hughes, David T., and Alicia Hughes-Jones
1987   The Courson Archeological Projects: Final 1985 and Preliminary 1986  . Innovative Publishing, Perryton, Texas.

Hughes, Jack T.
1962   Lake Creek: A Woodland Site in the Texas Panhandle. Bulletin of the Texas Archeological Society 32:65-84.

1968   Prehistory of the Caddoan-Speaking Tribes. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Columbia University, New York.

*1991   Prehistoric Cultural Developments on the Texas High Plains. Bulletin of the Texas Archeological Society 60:1-55.

*Keeley, Lawrence H.
1997   War Before Civilization: The Myth of the Peaceful Savage. Oxford University Press, New York.

Krieger, Alex D.
1946   Culture Complexes and Chronology in Northern Texas with Extension of Puebloan Dating to the Mississippi Valley. University of Texas Publication No. 4640. Austin.

1978   The Southern Limits of Central Plains Culture Complexes. Proceedings of the Fifth Plains Conference for Archeology, assembled by John L. Champe, pp. 98-99. Reprint of 1949 Laboratory of Anthropology Note Book No. 1. University of Nebraska, Lincoln.

*LeBlanc, Steven A.
1999   Prehistoric Warfare in the American Southwest. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.

Lintz, Christopher
1978   Architecture and Radiocarbon Dating of the Antelope Creek Focus: A Test of Campbell's Model. Plains Anthropologist 23(82, Part I):319-328.

1982   An Overview of the Antelope Creek Focus. Transactions of the 17th Regional Archeological Symposium for Southeastern New Mexico and Western Texas, pp. 37-56.

*1984   The Plains Villagers: Antelope Creek. In Prehistory of Oklahoma, edited by Robert E. Bell, pp. 325-346. Academic Press, New York.

*1986   Architecture and Community Variability within the Antelope Creek Phase of the Texas Panhandle. Studies in Oklahoma's Past No. 14. Oklahoma Archeological Survey, Norman.

1991   Texas Panhandle-Pueblo Interactions from the Thirteenth through the Sixteenth Century. In Farmers, Hunters, and Colonists: Interaction between the Southwest and the Southern Plains, edited by Katherine Spielmann, pp. 89-106. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.

Shaeffer, James B.
1965   Salvage Archaeology in Oklahoma, Volume I, Papers of the Oklahoma Archaeological Salvage Project, Numbers 8 to 15. Bulletin of the Oklahoma Anthropological Society 13:77-151.

Studer, Floyd V.
1931   Archeological Survey of the North Panhandle of Texas. Bulletin of the Texas Archeological and Paleontological Society 3:73-75.

1955 Archeology of the Texas Panhandle. Panhandle-Plains Historical Review 28:87-95.

Vehik, Susan C.
1984   The Woodland Occupations. In Prehistory of Oklahoma, edited by Robert E. Bell, pp. 175-197. Academic Press, Orlando.

1990   Late Prehistoric Plains Trade and Economic Specialization. Plains Anthropologist 35(128):125-145.

Wedel, Waldo R.
*1961   Prehistoric Man on the Great Plains. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.

*1986   Central Plains Prehistory: Holocene Environments and Culture Change in the Republican River Basin. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln.

Wilson, Gilbert L.
1934   The Hidatsa Earthlodge. The American Museum of Natural History, New York.

Links

NEW 2022 Porch Talk: A Conversation About Archaeology in the Texas Panhandle
A book aimed at school chilren was written by TBH Plains Village exhibit contributers John Erickson (author of the Hank the Cowdog book series) and archeologist Doug Boyd. When John Erickson saved up and purchased a tract of Panhandle property near Perryton, it set off a chain of discovery. Who lived in Texas over a thousand years ago? In Porch Talk, John Erickson and his archaeologist friend Doug Boyd investigate this question while explaining the art and science of archaeology for middle school readers. The book also features some other real life Texas archeologists. Teachers will be interested in an associated Educator's Guide that has eight social studies lesson plans available! Find the book and free Educator's Guide at Texas Tech University Press and the guide plus accompanying instructional videos through Plains Archeological Research.

http://www.hankthecowdog.com/author
Meet the landowner and author, John Erickson, and learn more about Hank the Cow Dog, who inspired the name Hank's House.

Hank's House 2: A Puzzle Wrapped in Mystery
Read the Texas Beyond History companion exhibit to learn about the bigger picture of how Hank's house fits into what is known about the Plains villagers of the Texas Panhandle.