Ft. Hood Metate Use Analysis Revealing!

[Arrowheadology Staff]

A metate discovered in Texas on the Fort Hood base reveals secrets of its ancient use. Fort Hood covers a lot central Texas land rich in artifacts.

An acid test performed on a metate identifies acorns, wild onions garlic, hyacinth and camis were present in the stone of the metate. Charred nut shells believed to be pecans and walnuts were also present.

Digging the past: Hood works to preserve history
by Bryan Kirk
Published: June 14, 2009

Off the beaten path, and only a few yards from a deeply rutted tank track, Griffith and Hatfield had staked a handful of tiny white and red flags to make a series of shallow digs for artifacts, and into the lives of an ancient people.

Under a canvas canopy, Hatfield had staked several grid squares outlined with twine that stretched 1 yard wide by 3 yards long.

Using a small shovel and a brush, she’d been digging carefully with Griffith, meticulously sifting mounds of sandy soil through a screen.

What they’d uncovered was what’s commonly known in archaeological circles as a rock oven or a roasting pit that ancient people used to cook wild onions, plants and game. It dates from 200 to 1,500 years ago.

In one small square, Hatfield had uncovered only a small part of the oven and hoped to collect some ancient plant materials to determine what was cooked.

“From this one we’ve taken several samples of soil,” Hatfield said.

They also have collected some rock samples to see if residue can be collected from those, Hatfield said.

“We are in the beginning stages of examining all of this,” she said.

Researchers have not just found the large roasting oven, but also stone chips that may have been used to fashion spear points and arrow heads.

Of course, a lot of the discoveries might have remained long buried if it were not for technology.

Aside from shallow digs with tiny shovels, archaeologists use imaging technology to find anomalies.

“What they did is come out here and put a grid over this whole area,” Wood said. “They ran ground-penetrating radar to figure out where these clusters of rocks are, to kind of hone down where we were going to put our focus. Otherwise you are coming out here with a probe or a shovel to see what’s out here.”

Once those anomalies are found, archaeologists get to work digging, and sifting through time itself.

Griffith shoveled a small amount of sandy soil and watched the fine remnants fall back to the earth.

What was left were fragments of rocks that intrigued Griffith.

That’s because the burned rocks that fashioned the oven, when you strike them together will emit a sulfuric scent, much like a match being struck.

Thousands of years ago, prehistoric cultures learned that heated rocks could be used to bake foods, specifically bulbs or fibrous plants.

These were usually cooked at least overnight and sometimes for several days before they could be eaten.

Rocks, heated within a pit and covered by layers of plants and insulating earth, can hold heat for up to 48 hours, and that is why these ovens were so effective. The larger and more numerous the rocks, the more slowly they will dissipate heat and the longer they will stay hot enough to cook the food.


Check out the full story and photos here.