Community Historical Archaeology Project with Schools (CHAPS) Publications

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  85th Texas Legislature, Regular Session, House Resolution 479

  Ryan Guillen

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  Atwood acres: a porción of Edinburg

  , Margaret E. Dorsey, Janette Garcia, and Roseann Bacha-Garza

  This is the UTPA CHAPS Program's third book telling the story of the origins of Edinburg and the beginnings of the institution that is The University of Texas-Pan American.

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  Author Interview--Roseann Bacha-Garza (Editor), Christopher L. Miller (Editor), Russell K. Skowronek (Editor) (The Civil War on the Rio Grande, 1846-1876) 2/2

  Interview with the editors of The Civil War on the Rio Grande, Roseann Bacha-Garza (Editor), Christopher L. Miller (Editor), Russell K. Skowronek.

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  Bair Farms: a porción of Edinburg

  The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Community Historical Archaeology Project with Schools Program (CHAPS), Juan L. Gonzalez, Ismael Aleman, and Roseann Bacha-Garza

  Among the early arrivals to the town of Edinburg was the Bair family of College Springs, Iowa. In 1920 they joined others, including the Heacocks who had arrived in 1913 and made the Rio Grande Valley their home. The families who were bonded together in the marriage of Dorothy Heacock and Lee Martin Bair were entrepreneurs in retail hardware and agriculture. They experienced droughts, hurricanes, and freezes with their attendant economic shortcomings which changed and often shortened lives. Their son Dwayne Bair would lead a life that included farming, citrus production, and banking. This is his story but also one of many others that called the Rio Grande Valley home.

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  Characteristics and genesis of El Sauz chert, an important prehistoric lithic resource in south Texas

  Juan L. Gonzalez, James R. Hinthorne, Russell K. Skowronek, Thomas Eubanks, and Don Kumpe

  Stone tools ranging in age from Early Archaic (3500–6000 B.C.) to Late Prehistoric (A.D. 700 to historic times), made of a distinctive light gray but sometimes colorful chert, have been identified in private collections in south Texas for at least 50 years. The source of this stone, known in the archeological literature as “El Sauz chert,” are two small bedrock outcrops in Starr County associated with altered rhyolitic ash of the Catahoula Formation. Physical characteristics, field evidence and major element chemical composition are used to infer an in situ origin of the chert associated with the devitrification of the volcanic ash and the remobilization of silica by ground and meteoric water. Distinctive characteristics of El Sauz chert include abundant vugs, opalized veins, smeared colorations, high aluminum content, and pale yellowish-green fluorescence under short-wave ultraviolet light. These geologically distinctive characteristics distinguish this material from other cherts and, as a result, have important implications for archaeologists interested in prehistoric exchange and resource procurement.

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  Deflation Troughs, Water, and Prehistoric Occupation on the Margins of the South Texas Sand Sheet

  Juan L. Gonzalez, Russell K. Skowronek, and Bobbie L. Lovett

  Within the South Texas Plains, the area broadly defined by the Rio Grande to the south and the Nueces River to the north, a distance of ca. 175 km, evidence of open human occupation is remarkably abundant. Because it is predominantly a region of loose, sandy soils and active and relict sand dunes where wind processes dominate, the area is known as the South Texas Sand Sheet (STSS). There is no running water within the STSS and all streams are ephemeral. Existing drainage systems are small, localized, and not integrated, carrying water for a few days and up to two weeks after the passage of a storm. The lack of running water makes human occupation on this semi-arid area even more remarkable. The STSS and the adjacent wind deflated areas have hundreds of small and shallow elongated deflation troughs. Most of these poorly drained swales retain seasonal fresh water that sustain high moisture plants and are ephemeral wetlands; a small percentage of them hold water year round. As a result, the long history of human occupation of the STSS was possible due to the presence of the deflation troughs. This study explores the connection between human occupation of the STSS and deflation troughs at four previously unreported archeological sites in northern Hidalgo County using a combination of intensive archeological and geological survey, oral history, GIS technology, and existing soil maps.

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  De las porciones a las colonias: La fuerza del aprendizaje con enfoque local y comunitario dentro de la educación desde el preescolar hasta la preparatoria - Un estudio de caso desde El Valle del Río Grande de Texas

  University of Texas--Pan American. Community Historical Archaeology Project with Schools Program (CHAPS), Edna C. Alfaro, Roseann Bacha-Garza, Margaret E. Dorsey, Sonia Hernández, and Russell K. Skowronek

  El proyecto titulado De las porciones a las colonias: la fuerza del aprendizaje con enfoque local y comunitario dentro de la educación desde el preescolar hasta la preparatoria es una iniciativa que redefine la importancia del aprendizaje con relevancia cultural en las aulas escolares de la actualidad, cada vez más diversas en la composición de su alumnado. Mediante la integración de un enfoque interdisciplinar que incluye la Antropología, la Arqueología, la Biología, la Geología y la Historia, el programa CHAPS presenta un método eficiente para brindar apoyo a los profesores de El Valle del Río Grande a la hora de elaborar currículos escolares con relevancia cultural, a la par que se satisfacen los requisitos educativos establecidos a nivel estatal y federal.

  Patrocinador: The National Endowment for the Humanities

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  Fike Family Farm: A Porción of Edinburg

  The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Community Historical Archaeology Project with Schools Program (CHAPS), Juan L. Gonzalez, Kenneth R. Summy, Russell K. Skowronek, Roseann Bacha-Garza, Eric Acosta, Jackqueline Alejos, Criselda Avalos, Evan Berg, and Priscilla Cardenas

  Farming is at the very soul of the United States. From the shores of the Atlantic to the prairies of the Midwest and the Great Plains the image of the yeoman farmer permeates American history. In the greater Southwest those English-speaking farmers would encounter their Spanish-speaking counterparts in the 1850s. Those civilian vecinos had, served as the vanguard of the Spanish empire establishing towns, farms, and ranches in what would become California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. It was in this milieu that the Rio Grande region was settled in the 1750s. A century and a half later, following the construction of railroads and irrigation systems the descendent of those first settlers were joined by new farmers speaking a polyglot of languages. Here at the beginning of the 20th century the "Magic Valley" was born. The guarantee of successful year-round farming enticed farming families to abandon their farms in temperate states and flock via train to the international border between the United States and Mexico. The Fikes of Ohio, and the Rorks of Nebraska were two such families who sought to make good on that promise. From them the union of Willard Fike and Anna Rork created over four generations a strong, sustainable, award-winning farming family. Farming involves long days, often pre-dawn until well after sundown. It is not glamorous. It is risky and unpredictable. These challenges are compounded by evolving regulations and geopolitics regarding tariffs and trade imbalances which can thwart even the most carefully planned plantings and harvests. It is no wonder that American family-owned farms are dwindling. Yet, the Fike Family is prospering as it begins its fourth generation of farming. In 2017 students in the seventh-annual study of an Edinburg-based farming family discovered a resiliency among the Fikes that is largely unknown in the 21st century.

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  From a Tabula Rasa to the Governor’s Award for Historic Preservation

  Roseann Bacha-Garza, Juan L. Gonzalez, Christopher L. Miller, and Russell K. Skowronek

  Prior to 2009, South Texas was essentially an archaeological tabula rasa, largely unknown in the academic, public, or grey literature due to its location far from research universities, the state historic preservation office, and cultural resource management firms. Here, we relate how a consortium of anthropologists and archaeologists, biologists, historians, geologists, and geoarchaeologists have embraced a locally focused, place-based STEAM research approach to tell the story of a largely unknown region of the United States and make it accessible to K–17 educators,¹ the public, and scholars with bilingual maps, books, exhibits, films, traveling trunks, and scholarly publications. The efforts of the Community Historical Archaeology Project with Schools Program at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley have been recognized locally, nationally, and internationally.

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  From Porciones to Colonias: The Power of Place and Community-Based Learning in K-12 Education - A Case Study From the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas

  University of Texas--Pan American. Community Historical Archaeology Project with Schools Program (CHAPS), Edna C. Alfaro, Roseann Bacha-Garza, Margaret E. Dorsey, Sonia Hernández, and Russell K. Skowronek

  From Porciones to Colonias: The Power of Place- and Community-Based Learning in K-12 Education redefines culturally relevant learning in today’s diverse classroom. By integrating an interdisciplinary approach including: anthropology, archeology, biology, geology, and history the CHAPS Program presents an effective method in supporting teachers of the Rio Grande Valley in creating culturally relevant curriculum, while meeting the demands of state and federal mandates.

  Sponsored by The National Endowment for the Humanities.

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  Lithic Raw Materials in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, South Texas and Northeast Mexico

  Brandi Reger, Juan L. Gonzalez, and Russell K. Skowronek

  Analysis of 976 lithic artifacts from twelve museum and private collections in the Lower Rio Grande Valley revealed a preference for seven rock types. Sixty nine percent of all tools were made from gravel chert, which is locally the most abundant rock type on the Frio and Goliad Formations, as well as on the gravels of the Rio Grande. Representing less than 10% each were, the local El Sauz Chert, a black banded metamorphic rock, volcanic rocks, agates, silicified wood, limestone and black chert. Variations in the relative proportion of each rock type are observed by location, suggesting a tendency to use other suitable rocks that were locally available. Contrary to what has been suggested an abundance of lithic resources were available to stone tool makers in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. This study underscores the value of working with collectors in regions where little archaeological research has been conducted.

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  Luna Farming Legacy: A Porción of Edinburg

  The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Community Historical Archaeology Project with Schools Program (CHAPS), Roseann Bacha-Garza, Russell K. Skowronek, Juan L. Gonzalez, Lorena Bryan, Evelyn Cantu, Melinda Cantu, Myrabel Cantu, Leann Castillo, and Amancio Chapa IV

  Descendants of Spanish Colonial settlers have been practicing subsistence farming along the Rio Grande for over 250 years. As that same river became the international boundary between the US and Mexico in 1848, landownership and the landscape began to change. As issues in Mexico such as the Mexican Revolution pushed families over the river into the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, many folks established themselves as farmers alongside the new arrivals from the American Midwest in the early 1900s. The guarantee of successful year-round farming was a prominent theme and the Lunas were willing and able to embark on that challenge. As their life in the US began with some time in Los Ebanos, the family eventually found themselves purchasing land and farming in Edinburg. Today Luna family members are still farming in a section of northwest Edinburg fondly referred to as "Lunaville" by fellow farmers.

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  Native American Peoples of South Texas

  University of Texas--Pan American. Community Historical Archaeology Project with Schools Program (CHAPS), Bobbie L. Lovett, Juan L. Gonzalez, Roseann Bacha-Garza, and Russell K. Skowronek

  Sponsored by Summerfield G. Roberts Grant.

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  No.1 - Smith Report: Arrow, Dart and Fragmented Projectile Points Found Within the Lower Rio Grande Valley Region

  Roseann Bacha-Garza and University of Texas--Pan American. Community Historical Archaeology Project with Schools Program (CHAPS)

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  No.2 - Sekula Report: Arrow, Dart and Fragmented Projectile Points Found Within the Lower Rio Grande Valley Region

  Ashley Leal, University of Texas--Pan American. Community Historical Archaeology Project with Schools Program (CHAPS), and Roseann Bacha-Garza

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  No.3 - Eubanks Report: Arrow, Dart and Fragmented Projectile Points Found Within the Lower Rio Grande Valley Region

  Roseann Bacha-Garza and University of Texas--Pan American. Community Historical Archaeology Project with Schools Program (CHAPS)

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  No.4 - Paiz Report: Arrow, Dart and Fragmented Projectile Points Found Within the Lower Rio Grande Valley Region

  Roseann Bacha-Garza

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  No.5 - Ross Report: Arrow, Dart and Fragmented Projectile Points Found Within the Lower Rio Grande Valley Region

  Roseann Bacha-Garza and University of Texas--Pan American. Community Historical Archaeology Project with Schools Program (CHAPS)

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  Nuevo Santander The Unrealized Archaeological Potential of a “Civilian” Province in Northern New Spain

  Russell K. Skowronek, Christopher L. Miller, and Roseann Bacha-Garza

  In 1746 the Viceroy of New Spain called for the founding of a new province to be located between the Rio Grande and the Nueces River. Between 1748-1755 two dozen civilian communities of farmers and ranchers were established by the province’s founder José de Escandón. Many towns were founded along the banks of the Rio Grande where there was access to water and lands for agriculture and grazing. Each town served as the administrative, economic, and ecclesiastical hub for surrounding land grants and ranches. Were it not for the work of W. Eugene George, Mindy Bonine, and Mary Jo Galindo, our knowledge of the architectural and archaeological history of this region would be woefully incomplete. In this presentation the CHAPS Program team draws on the work of these pioneers and continuing original research concerning the surviving archaeological and architectural record of the Lower Rio Grande Valley.

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  Roegiers Family Farm: a porción of Edinburg

  The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Community Historical Archaeology Project with Schools Program (CHAPS), Annaiz Araiza, Stephen Cantu, Sara Chavez, Lizbeth De Leon, Juan Garza, Madelyn Ibarra, Octavio Ortiz, Sandre E. Pichardo, Jennifer Quintero, and Roseann Bacha-Garza

  Today the citizenry of Edinburg lives in a bi-lingual, bi-national, and bi-cultural environment of Spanish- and English-speaking peoples. Were we to travel back eighty years to the 1930s and visit the ice houses, packing sheds, cotton gins, and streets of Edinburg it would not be unusual to hear people being greeted in a cacophony of languages- “Good Day,” “Buenos días (Spanish),” “Dzień dobry (Polish),” “Guten Tag (German),“ “God dag (Swedish),” and “Goede dag (Flemish).” Through the social process known as “chain migration” friends and family will learn of opportunities and then follow previous migrants to the new community. In this study we learn of Camiel Roegiers, a Flemish-speaking Belgium national who, as a “bird of passage,” makes three trips to the United States at the beginning of the twentieth century to work and live in Texas, Virginia, Kansas, and ultimately Edinburg, Texas. Along the way he was joined by his siblings, and in-laws.

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  The Cantú Family: a porción of Edinburg

  University of Texas--Pan American. Community Historical Archaeology Project with Schools Program (CHAPS), Margaret E. Dorsey, Janarae Alaniz, Roland Silva, and Roseann Bacha-Garza

  The Cantú family settled in Edinburg, Texas, in the early 1920s and have since developed a thriving produce and trucking business providing crops to markets in the Rio Grande Valley, Houston, and even up further north to the Midwestern states area. This report is the culmination of approximately 24 months of research, fieldwork, and revisions conducted beginning in the Fall of 2012 from a class of undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Texas-Pan American titled “Rediscovering the Rio Grande Valley” under the direction of a multidisciplinary faculty of anthropologists, archaeologists, biologists, geographers, geologists, and historians. This is the story of one of the many Mexican American farming families that settled in the Rio Grande region after escaping Mexico’s Revolution (1910-1920).

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  The Eubanks Family: a porción of Edinburg

  The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Community Historical Archaeology Project with Schools Program (CHAPS), Juan L. Gonzalez, Janette Garcia, and Roseann Bacha-Garza

  Almost forty years ago, Kenneth and Irene Eubanks came to Edinburg to settle in what would be their final resting place after decades of traveling the world. After a successful professional career as an agricultural economist, a professor and a high-level official for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Kenneth Eubanks found the perfect location to literally "plant roots" with his family in a place referred to as the Magic Valley of Texas. The research conducted for this book represents historical, archaeological, geological and biological data that will forever be preserved within this volume collection of human-land interactions at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Border Studies Archive's Spanish Land Grant Collection.

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  The Houts Farm: a porción of Edinburg

  The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Community Historical Archaeology Project with Schools Program (CHAPS), Shantal Brissette, Ramiro Carcedo, Rolando Castillo, Lesley Chapa, Aaron Cuevas, Daryl Dean Grimaldo, Gabriela Dominguez, Jose A. Flores, Madelyn Flores, and Roseann Bacha-Garza

  For nearly a century the Houts and Kaml families contributed to the story of Edinburg and South Texas agriculture. Both the Houts and Kaml families of German descent arrived in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas in the 1920s and participated in the growing agricultural business opportunities in the "Magic Valley." These two families were joined together in marriage in 1955 when Eugene Houts married Marilyn Kaml. Today, the Houts farm is still in business but has diversified to keep up with the changing agricultural environment. This book not only describes progression of their farming family business but has demonstrated that three millennia earlier, their ancestors had left their mark on what is today the Houts farm. It is our sincere hope that this study as well as earlier studies will preserve our region's complex and nuanced story.

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  The Norquest Family: a porción of Edinburg

  University of Texas--Pan American. Community Historical Archaeology Project with Schools Program (CHAPS), Margaret E. Dorsey, Sandra Hernandez-Salinas, Maria Barrera, and Roseann Bacha-Garza

  The Norquest family immigrated to their farm site in 1925 as part of a larger wave of Midwestern immigrants to the Lower Rio Grande Valley. At the turn of the twentieth century, the Valley also experienced an influx of Mexican migrants in search of opportunity and work. They joined their Mexican-American counterparts laboring as agricultural workers on the farms of Anglos and Texas-Mexicans. Some of these individuals found their way onto the Norquest farm site. This multidisciplinary report posits a nuanced way of looking at human-land interaction on a farmsite in South Texas, where racial and class conflict existed, but where, in certain pockets of exception, people from culturally different backgrounds came together to labor and laugh in order to make ends meet.

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  The Rio Grande Valley in the time of the pandemic: community responses to COVID-19

  The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Community Historical Archaeology Project with Schools Program (CHAPS), Selena Alvarado, Luis Barreda, David Cantu, Melinda Ann Cantu, Melanie Castro, Colleen A. DeGuzman, Jose L. Garcia III, Fatima Garza, Valeria Garza, and Roseann Bacha-Garza

  The research for this report was conducted as a result of an interdisciplinary course of Anthropology and History at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley during the Fall semester of 2020. During the pandemic, we shifted from conducting this course through group projects and students instead produced individual primary source research. This occurred simultaneously as students and the rest of the populace sought to make sense of their experiences in the very changed framework of the COVID-19 world. The effort epitomizes the importance of recording history in real time, especially within a region that was as so negatively impacted by the coronavirus as the Rio Grande Valley of Texas was in the Summer of 2020.

  Accompanying presentation: https://youtu.be/SOrorZvu46o