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Natural Bridge Caverns
Natural Bridge Caverns

Natural Bridge Caverns Time Line and Texas Archaeology Quick Facts

(Sept. 12, 2003)--For more information about Natural Bridge Caverns, contact Brad Wuest at 210-651-6101 or Karen Adams at 210-844-8973.

NATURAL BRIDGE CAVERNS TIME LINE

1960: The main cavern system was first discovered by four cavers from St. Mary’s University in San Antonio while exploring the area. Today, the world-class attraction hosts more than 250,000 visitors annually.

1963-64: Development-related excavations took place at the caverns to enlarge the entrance, provide a walkway and develop a trail system inside the cavern. At this time, a number of prehistoric artifacts, including projectile points, animal bones and debris from stone tools were found.

1963-1964: Staff from the Texas Memorial Museum and the Vertebrate Paleontology Laboratory of the University of Texas-Austin visited the site and surface-collected a sample of faunal remains uncovered by the construction. Specimens belonged to species that became extinct near the end of the Pleistocene era (12,000 years ago), but a complete analysis could not be conducted due to the disturbed nature of the samples. The samples are currently in storage in Austin.

1964: Some of the samples, such as projectile points, stone tools and an American Black Bear jaw bone were collected during trail excavations and were later classified by a local archaeologist. The spear points and tool specimens ranged in age from 600-5,000 years old. The samples are on display in the NBC Visitor Center.

1964: Opening day to the general public was July 3, 1964. On Aug. 5, 1964, Governor John Connally christened NBC as "A Jewel in the Crown of Texas' Attractions."

1967: The Texas Historical Commission designated Natural Bridge Caverns as a State Historical Site in ceremonies Dec. 7, 1967.

1971: NBC was designated as a National Natural Landmark by the Department of the Interior.

1963-2003: Other prehistoric artifacts collected during cavern development were placed in a wooden crate and stored for the 40 years with the landowner.

2003: In June, researchers from the UTSA Center for Archaeological Research visited NBC to discuss the feasibility of the current project. UTSA archaeologists inspected the framed projectile points to identify types and age range represented in this sample. The framed collection exhibits specimens ranging in age from 500 to 8,000 years old. CAR examined the artifacts in the wooden crate at the university laboratory. Inside the crate was debris from flaked tools such as hide scrapers, knives, drill fragments of projectile points, crystal fragments and 30-40 animal bones including vertebrae, rib fragments and metapodials of deer-sized animals, numerous bone splinters and rodent skeletal elements.

TEXAS ARCHAEOLOGY QUICK FACTS

  • Range and age of materials already found on-site are documented as being 500-7,000 years old. Few professionally excavated archaeological sites in Texas have deposits older than 7,500 years.
  • Caves and sinkholes provide an ideal area to conduct archeology because their sheltered environment preserves remains that do not normally survive the elements like that of open-air archaeological sites.
  • The excellent preservation conditions lead to the recovery of large numbers of animal bones; these bones will provide archaeologists with a unique opportunity to reconstruct the diet of prehistoric peoples that lived at the site.
  • Mastodons and mammoths have been extinct for some 12,000 years, but it is likely that some of the bones recovered from the caverns may be of animals that were contemporaries of these prehistoric beasts. Many small-bodied animals are very susceptible to changing climatic conditions and some species have become extinct since the end of the Pleistocene era. Such species tolerate only a very narrow range of climatic conditions and encountering their remains will give a good indication of what conditions prevailed during a specific time period.
  • Prehistoric human populations faced dramatic challenges 10,000-12,000 years ago, as the animal and plant species they relied on were rapidly becoming extinct or changing. The recovery of the bones of animals and the pollen and charred remains of plants allows archaeologists to reconstruct not only changes in climate, but also changes in the subsistence (food-getting) strategies of prehistoric peoples.

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