Completed Archaeological Research Project
Simms Creek (41LM113)
The Simms Creek site (41LM113) lies on a low terrace of a small creek in the Lampasas Cut Plain. Once thought to represent an early Late Prehistoric camp – or even a bison jump – predating the Toyah phase, radiocarbon dates on hearth charcoal indicate a historic date sometime between 1660 and 1780. The very large animal bones that were initially identified as cattle are now known through DNA testing to belong to bison.
The artifact assemblage contains elements of the Toyah toolkit with bone-tempered pottery and tear-drop end scrapers, but as with the Wilson site (41SS186) 20 miles to the west, the site lacks Perdiz points. The arrow point could be typed as Alba or Bonham, types thought to have gone out of use around AD 1250.
LUAS had planned to return to the site to continue the excavation but a change in ownership prevented further access to the property. Fortunately enough information has been collected from the site for a meaningful article to be written, which appeared in the 2019 Bulletin of the Texas Archeological Society (Vol. 90).
