Petroglyphs...........in Texas................


TONK CREEK PETROGLYPH SITE RESURVEY, MC LENNAN COUNTY, TEXAS William A. Atlee Abstract More than 100 petroglyphs were incised into the limestone bed of Tonk Creek near Crawford in western McLennan County, Texas by Native Americans. Over ten percent are interesting human figures. The site was first recorded by the author in 1956; however, in 1976 the Central Texas Archeological Society (CTAS) initiated a Bicentennial project to reinvestigate the site. Rainfall during the preceding twenty years had removed alluvial cover, which had concealed as many additional petroglyphs as had been originally recorded. Although an attempt was made by the CTAS to remap the entire site, most unfortunately, project results were never published nor purpose achieved. With some necessary qualifications and needed explanations, this paper attempts to report the 1976 discoveries, their relationship to previously known local petroglyphs, and to encourage further study of a significant Texas petroglyph site after the passage of over three and a half decades. Introduction The Tonk Creek petroglyph site at Crawford, McLennan County, Texas was discovered and recorded by William A. Atlee in 1955 during severe drought conditions. Atlee was a geology student and member of the Central Texas Archeological Society (CTAS) at the time. The original report, 1956 Central Texas Archeology (CTA) Bull. 7, documented the location of fifty-one petroglyphs inscribed on the horizontal surface of the then exposed Lower Cretaceous Edwards limestone creek bed. The site, located northwest and upstream of the waterfall in the City of Crawford’s Tonkawa Park, was originally assigned site number 39B76, subsequently changed to 41ML118. Although locally concentrated, the petroglyphs are scattered along the creek bed for a distance of over two hundred feet beginning about 100 yards above the waterfall. In October 1976, the Central Texas Archeological Society of Waco undertook a Bicentennial project to revisit the site, compile and illustrate the petroglyphs and stimulate public awareness and appreciation of Central Texas prehistory. The results of the 1976 project were very positive. Following the drought of the 1950’s which had allowed the original discovery and documentation of numerous petroglyphs, subsequent rains over the following two decades had removed alluvial deposits in the creek bed, which had concealed an additional fifty or more petroglyphs. Re-investigation of the site had doubled the number of known petroglyphs. Al Redder, Ralph Vinson, et al, Archeological Journal of the Texas Prairie-Savannah 3(1) 9 remapped and photographed the entire site; however, documentation of the new petroglyphs was never published. Of nine CTAS members originally involved in the site resurvey, only two, Al Redder and Jean Green, are currently alive. Ralph Vinson continued a personal interest in the interpretation and meaning of the petroglyphs for several more decades until his death in 2009. During Vinson’s later years, as he obsessively researched the meaning and interpretation of the petroglyphs, he collaborated with David Lintz, now Director of the Improved Order of Red Men Museum and Library in Waco, to publish his findings. Upon Vinson’s death in July 2009, updated maps of the Tonk Creek petroglyph site and his comparative research and speculation with regard to the interpretation of the petroglyphic symbols were passed on to Lintz by Vinson’s widow in early 2010. This report is derived primarily from Vinson’s two base maps (modified into Figures 1 and 2) and photographs, and the author’s 1955 personal, oriented map and photographs of the upstream portion of the site. Purpose The primary purpose of this paper is to finally publish and make publicly available mapping of the petroglyphs discovered by the CTAS 1976 resurvey of site 41ML118, and their relationship to the previously mapped petroglyphs. We never saw them, nor did we ever hear them speak; and they will never know that now we seek to know them. The author also hopes to encourage professional mapping and additional research of the site. Lintz’s plans are possibly to publish a separate paper on Ralph Vinson’s personal research regarding his interpretation of the symbols’ meanings, comparison of the Tonk Creek petroglyphs to other petroglyph and pictograph sites in Texas and the Southwest, possible trade routes, and possible relationships of Mesoamerican civilizations with this and other selected sites. Site Location The Tonk Creek petroglyph site is located approximately 17 miles due west of Waco and immediately north of the town of Crawford, McLennan County, Texas at an altitude of 650 feet above sea level. Tonk Creek originates in northeastern Coryell County and intermittently flows northeastward to its confluence with the Middle Bosque River, two and one half miles east of Crawford. Currently identified petroglyphs begin approximately one hundred yards northwest, upstream, above an approximately nine foot high waterfall in what was once the City of Crawford’s Tonkawa Park. The majority of the glyphs occur within a distance of approximately one hundred and twenty feet, with most incised into the hard surface of a Lower Cretaceous Edwards limestone bed or layer, which is elevated about ten centimeters above adjacent stream channels. The edge of this elevated feature is shown as solid lines on Figures 1 and 2, between which most of the glyphs occur. Nearby Glyph Site and Bluff Shelters Archeological Journal of the Texas Prairie-Savannah 3(1) 10 There is another area of petroglyphs atop the limestone bluff on the southwest side of Tonk Creek, a short distance below the waterfall, and above a nearby shelter at the base of the bluff. Unlike the glyphs in the creek bed above the falls, these are all linear. There are approximately sixty straight grooves made with an abrading or scraping motion, probably from sharpening wood or bone implements. There is also a dendritic, linear glyph over five feet long, that Sam Horn (1935) thought closely resembled the local river and stream system. These were the only petroglyphs known to exist in north central Texas at the time. Beginning just below the waterfall and extending downstream are eight bluff shelters of varying size. Several were probably habitable, with one being quite large, and containing multiple burials and numerous stratified artifacts. (Perkins, J. L.:1956) The shelters occur near the base of a northeast facing limestone bluff that reaches elevations in excess of fifty feet above the bed of Tonk Creek, which lies before them. Evolution of 1976 and 2012 Site Mapping In the summer of 2012, Al Redder was kind enough to revisit the site with David Lintz and describe the manner in which the petroglyphs were mapped during the 1976 CTAS Bicentennial project. Redder located the nail in an elm tree on the northeast bank of Tonk Creek from which he had directed a bearing of S 30˚W to an approximately two foot long iron rebar stake, (not located) across the creek. From this N30˚E/S30˚W reference line was established a vertical grid line at “1”on Vinson’s grid across the creek (Figure 1) and a horizontal baseline, locally running up and down stream, bearing N60˚W. From the original S30˚W/N30˚E survey line, a horizontal and vertical, five foot square, blue chalk line grid was ”popped” onto the dry surface of the limestone creek bed, which had been swept clean of residual alluvial deposits. The individual glyphs were highlighted with chalk, and Redder made a 35 mm slide photo of each 5 foot square, displaying a north arrow from atop an eastward facing ladder (Redder, personal communication). Following the establishment of the five foot square grid and Redder’s photographing the site, a 2.5 foot square grid base map was made by Ralph Vinson on which to record the individual petroglyph locations. It was on the 2.5 x 2.5 foot grid (Figures 1 and 2) that Vinson individually attempted to sketch each petroglyph within the appropriate square. Unfortunately, his sketches, compared to oriented 1955 and later photographs were crude and sometimes inaccurately placed or oriented within the grid. Apparently Vinson became more focused on interpretation of the meaning of each petroglyph rather than the original 1976 project objective to “study, promote the conservation of, and make the public appreciative of this precious bit of the prehistory of Central Texas.” In the early 1980s, Vinson met David Lintz, then an employee at the Baylor University Strecker Museum, who had initiated excavation at the Waco Mammoth Site following its discovery in 1978. Vinson then, for the next two decades, focused his intellectual curiosity and time as a Baylor University museum volunteer and on excavation of the mammoth site. In July 2000, a naming gift was pledged to Baylor University and in May 2004 the Mayborn Museum Complex replaced the historic Strecker Museum and was opened to the public. The Baylor University Mayborn Archeological Journal of the Texas Prairie-Savannah 3(1) 11 Museum, in June 2009, honored Vinson for his over 14,000 known hours of volunteer work at the mammoth site and additional hours served at the museum. Unfortunately, his advancement of the 1976 CTAS Tonk Creek petroglyph project fell dormant during this period. In the late 1990s, however, Vinson provided his Tonk Creek petroglyph site maps, photos, and personal research notes to the Strecker Museum to be formatted by Lintz into the Occasional Papers of the Strecker Museum No. 6. Organization of a publishable manuscript and exhibits began in March 1999 and proceeded until December of 2003 when the Strecker Museum became the Mayborn Museum. However, a publishable manuscript was never generated due to Vinson’s ongoing research into expanding areas of interest (Lintz, personal communication). Archeological Journal of the Texas Prairie-Savannah 3(1) 12 The two gridded maps on which Vinson sketched the location of petroglyphs measure 28 inches long and 20 inches high with neither a scale nor a north arrow. Inadequate attention was given to precise location, spacial relationships, and in some locations, orientation of groups of glyphs. For example, the author noted that the human figures and surrounding symbols (Figure 3a, b, c) located between vertical grid coordinates H-I and between horizontal coordinates 4-6 should be rotated approximately 45˚ counterclockwise, as shown in the author’s 1956 photographs, map with north arrows, and site reconfirmation. Archeological Journal of the Texas Prairie-Savannah 3(1) 13 In 2010, the author learned of the existence of Vinson’s maps at the Red Men Museum and Library in Waco. Following several visits to review and discuss the material with David Lintz, it was decided that an attempt should be made to finalize a map of the Tonk Creek petroglyph site as currently defined. Lintz graciously supported the idea and loaned Vinson’s two gridded sketch maps and a photographic montage of the site, which had been constructed at the Mayborn Museum in an attempt to derive a publishable exhibit. Unfortunately, the photographs, displaying a one foot ruler, used to construct the montage were taken from varying distances from the glyphs photographed, resulting in scale variations as great as 100%. Also, some chalked-in glyphs were unclear or indistinguishable, photos of several areas were missing and locally some of the photos were incorrectly oriented. Therefore, the montage only served to reference the photographic configuration of individual symbols and to adjust their size to a common scale. It was finally decided to use copies of Vinson’s original two gridded sketch maps, imperfect as they were, to construct maps reduced by two thirds for Figures 1 and 2 herein. Each of Vinson’s glyph sketches, its orientation, and relationship to adjacent glyphs were compared to all available photographs. Vinson’s sketches were then, removed and replaced with linear depictions of an actual photograph where available. Utilization of Al Redder’s 1976 photographic documentation would have been very beneficial, however, several years ago Redder donated his 35 mm photographic slides and notes to the Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C. when they came to collect his Horn Shelter site data and artifacts. And, although he has a duplicate set of slides, he has been unable to relocate them (Redder, personal communication). Archeological Journal of the Texas Prairie-Savannah 3(1) 14 The Tonk Creek petroglyphs may be roughly grouped into a number of different categories for comparison. Numerous, interesting human figures are scattered across the site. Figure 4 displays the more detailed human glyphs, some of which exhibit a headdress, possible associated symbols, and phallic or sub-figure markings. More obvious categories include depictions of human figures, animal and bird figures and tracks, numerous vertical linear features with a varying number of shorter, horizontal cross lines or either open or solid rounded features, which one might imagine penetrated or “skewered” thereon (Figure 5 ). Note that many display a representation of fingers and toes. There are also at least four circular glyphs, two of which have an interior line or lines across the circle, and two with lines radiating outward from the central circle Archeological Journal of the Texas Prairie-Savannah 3(1) 15 (Figure 5). Another repeated category is linear and curved rows of round incisions or “dots.” The meaning of the design of the rows of dots and their number also remains open to speculation. One fact, however, is certain—the inscriptions of the petroglyphs on the creek bed were made during periods of drought, which might suggest that the westfacing “thunderbird” figure upstream may have been a supplication for rainfall if such mythology existed at that point in time. Estimated Age Several of the bluff shelters a short distance downstream from the Tonk Creek petroglyphs contained burials and artifacts useful in determining approximate periods of local prehistoric habitation. Three of nine types of atlatl dart points found range from 1000 AD to 6000 years BP. Five types go back 5000 years BP and six of nine types range back to 4000 BP. Considering a plot of overlapping ranges of occurrence of the recorded dart points, one might realistically conclude that the earliest archaic occupancy of the area occurred over 4000 years BP with possible occurrences until about 1000 AD. Four arrow point types from the bluff shelters suggest Late Prehistoric stage occupancy from approximately 1000 to 1500 AD. The bluff shelters and adjacent area were probably also intermittently utilized as a campsite by Native Americans during the past 500 years, until historic times. Whether the Tonkawa tribe of Native Americans ever, in fact, inhabited the immediate area is unknown to the writer. The Tonk Creek petroglyphs could certainly pre-date any possible historic Tonkawa occupancy in the area. Conclusions Intermittently, for at least four or five millennia, nomadic inhabitants of central Texas have found the area surrounding the now “Tonk Creek Petroglyph Site 41ML118” a very desirable location to inhabit, hunt, procreate, and survive. At some point in time, or at various times, Native American inhabitants, inscribed glyphs of their desire into the limestone floor of what is now known as Tonk Creek, so named by modern Anglos for one of the most recently known Native American tribes that historically ranged throughout the area. No doubt the glyphs were carved, pecked or somehow abraded into the hard limestone while it was exposed during periods of drought. Any symbol may have multiple meanings based upon the culture of the originator of the symbol and its context. As stated by the author in 1956, “The significance or meaning of these symbols is purely speculative. However, it may be assumed that they had either religious, social, or personal import for the people who inscribed them.” But, one must admit that speculation, assumptions, suppositions, and hypothesizing regarding the meaning and significance of any symbol could result in constructive argument and ongoing investigations and research. In the mid 1950s, the author noted the probability of additional glyphs being obscured beneath alluvial overburden. Some twenty years later rainfall had removed and revealed numerous additional symbols. And now, Al Redder (personal communication) advised that he is confident that even more petroglyphs remain obscured beneath alluvial deposits adjacent to glyphs discovered during the 1976 CTAS resurvey of the Tonk Creek site. Archeological Journal of the Texas Prairie-Savannah 3(1) 16 The Tonk Creek Petroglyph Site is, undoubtedly, an archaeological treasure of, as yet, undefined dimension and imprecise documentation. Therefore, the author would hope that the information presented herein will stimulate and encourage some archaeological group with appropriate manpower, experience, shovels, and motivation to clear, correctly grid, photograph, and accurately map the entire Tonk Creek Petroglyph area for the benefit of future generations. Acknowledgements The author thanks David Lintz, Director of the Improved Order of Red Men Museum and Library, Waco, Texas for proofreading the original manuscript and providing information regarding his lengthy involvement with helping Ralph Vinson advance his personal studies of the Tonk Creek petroglyph site and access to Vinson’s gridded site maps and photographs. Al Redder of Waco also shared his recollections of the history of 1976 CTAS activities at the site and the manner in which a map grip was established. Also recognized for their participation in the CTAS Bicentennial Project are now deceased members: Richmond Bronough, R. B. Green, Tommy Laurence, Don Poston, Frank H. Watt, Dr. Walter Williams, and, of course, Ralph Vinson. And last, but not least, I thank Linda, my wife of over fifty-four years, for her typing of the manuscript and support. References Cited Atlee, Wm. A. 1956 Petroglyphs on Tonk Creek. Central Texas Archeologist 7:52-55. Horne, Sam 1935 Petroglyphs (Tonk Creek). Central Texas Archeological Society 1:15, 30-31. Mason, J. K. 1936 A Central Texas Multiple Metate. Central Texas Archeological Society 2:80. Perkins, J. L. 1956 Ton Creek Shelter. Central Texas Archeologist 7:41-47. Vinson, R. D. ND The Petroglyphs of Tonk Creek and Possible Relationship with Other Rock Art Sites in Texas and the Southwest. Occasional Papers of the Strecker Museum - No. 6 Baylor University, Waco, Texas; (2003) incomplete/unpublished MS, figures and photos at Improved Order of Red Men Museum and Library, Waco Texas