POLLEN, PHYTOLlTH, AND MACROFLORAL ANALYSIS AT THE HUECO TANKS STATE HISTORIC SITE, 41EP2, TEXAS

Pollen and macrofloral samples were collected from areas of midden deposits at the Hueco
Tanks State Historic Site, 41EP2, in west Texas. The site was divided into 29 archaeological
localities to provide convenient units for analysis and management. Time-diagnostic artifacts from
these localities indicate that Hueco Tanks was occupied primarily during the Formative period (A.D.
200-1450), although one Paleoindian (10,000 to 6000 B.C.), several Archaic (6000 B.C. to A.D.
200), and a few Historic occupations (1850s-1950s) also were present. The site contains 11
prehistoric water control structures, over 160 rockshelters, numerous bedrock mortars and bedrock
metates, an abundance of rock art, 125 burned rock features, and nine human burials. Pollen and
macrofloral analyses are used to provide information to help answer questions of settlement and
subsistence, including (1) gathering information on diet through time, (2) estimating the degree of
sedentism, and (3) exploring the role of agriculture. In addition, one corn cob was examined for
phytoliths to obtain a numeric signature that will be comparable to a growing data base of shape
factors designed to provide information concerning race of maize.