Gault Site
Gault Archaeological Site (41BL323) · Gault Pre-Clovis Site
Pre-Clovis to Clovis (16,000–12,700 BCE)·Pre-Clovis (Gault Assemblage) → Clovis·🇺🇸 Texas, Williamson County, United States
About
About Gault Site
Pre-Clovis workshop and stratified camp (16,000–12,700 BCE) on Buttermilk Creek tributary near Florence, producing the first credible pre-Clovis cultural horizon in North America (Gault Assemblage). Excavated 1929–2014 (J. E. Pearce, M. Collins, T. Williams) after pay-to-dig looting destroyed 80% of site; surviving 2 ha yielded 600,000 artifacts, 100 engraved stones, and 11 pre-Clovis radiocarbon dates 16,000–14,000 BP with Western Stemmed points below Clovis. Proves 3,000-year pre-Clovis occupation; 2015 Science paper.
Why it mattersStrongest pre-Clovis stratified site north of Mexico; 11 dates prove 16,000 BP occupation 3 kyr before Clovis.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Who made Gault Assemblage — distinct culture or ancestral Clovis?
- 02Meaning of 100 engraved stones (geometric vs early art)
Theories
- 01Gault as Western Stemmed pre-Clovis homeland spreading to Gault–Friedkin corridor
- 02Engraved stones as symbolic marking of reliable chert source
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.16,000–12,700 BCE (Gault Assemblage to Clovis)
- Period
- Pre-Clovis to Clovis (16,000–12,700 BCE)
- Culture
- Pre-Clovis (Gault Assemblage) → Clovis
- Builders
- Pre-Clovis foragers (Gault culture)
- Purpose
- Chert quarry-workshop with stratified camps and symbolic engraved stones
- Abandoned
- c.12,700 BCE (Clovis transition)
- Rediscovered
- 1929 Pearce; re-excavated 1991–2014 Collins/Williams
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
c.16,000 BCE
Initial Gault Assemblage occupation (pre-Clovis horizon)
c.13,000 BCE
Clovis overprint with fluted points
1980s
Pay-to-dig looting destroys ~80% of site
2011–2015
Collins/Williams pre-Clovis publication in Science
On the ground
Structures & features
30.7000° N · 97.6500° W · 210 m · 2 mapped features
Pre-Clovis horizon (Area 8)
feature16,000–14,000 BP lithic horizon with Western Stemmed points below Clovis, 2.5 m deep
30.7010° N · 97.6490° WEngraved stone cluster
rock art100 limestone slabs with hatched and cross-hatched engravings in pre-Clovis level
30.6989° N · 97.6508° W