Antediluvian Discoveries
Before the extinction of the mammoth and horses in North America, when the water levels were lower and the shoreline was about 50 miles further out than today, an enormous community of Paleoindians existed on the coastline of Texas near the modern location of the McFaddin Beach. Glacial melting at the end of the last little ice age raised the sea level and drowned all evidence of these ancient people for thousands of years. There, buried in the silt of time, countless fossils and artifacts held a silent story captive beneath the waves, never to be told again.
That all changed in 1961. Hurricane Carla formed in the southwest Caribbean Sea on September 3rd as an unusually large tropical depression. By the time it made landfall near Port O’Connor, Texas, it was a Category 4 hurricane with sustained winds of 145 mph. Gusts were much higher, with the strongest being recorded as 153 mph at Port Lavaca, just before the wind annihilated the measuring equipment. An absolutely enormous storm, its hurricane force winds were recorded on the entire Texas coast and its storm surge, which averaged 10 feet above sea level for 300 miles and 22 feet at Lavaca Bay, remains the largest storm surge in Texas history. Even now, 60 years later, Hurricane Carla is the most intense storm to ever make landfall in Texas.
In the aftermath of Carla the Texas coast was changed, and McFaddin Beach was littered with ancient artifacts the storm had dredged out of the sand and cast ashore. Ever since then the beach periodically collects such treasures, and every major storm brings in a new shipment of hidden history from the ocean floor.
The Museum of the Gulf Coast receives many of these artifacts, and they have sat mostly ignored for decades. That’s not due to any negligence on the museum’s part, however. Until recently, archeologists have been uninterested in these kinds of finds because it can be difficult or even impossible to determine whether the objects are truly local or whether they first washed out to sea from some distant river. Lacking that information, even a cache of millions of artifacts is little better than roadside souvenirs in terms of its ability to be used creating archeological timelines.
That’s All Changing
Deanna Flores is a graduate student from North Carolina who is enrolled at Sam Houston State University. As part of her master’s thesis research, she has been reaching out to anyone with paleontological materials collected from McFaddin Beach. Flores is among a number of researchers showing new interest in formerly neglected fossils and artifacts. The renewed scrutiny is proving that with proper dedication, valuable details can be extracted from these objects after all.
Working with Curator Robert Fong, Flores began reviewing the museum’s collections in 2020. As the two worked together, Fong realized it was time to retell the McFaddin Beach story and incorporate the new discoveries Flores’ research is revealing. Following up on a suggestion from Flores, Fong wrote a grant application to the Summerlee Foundation in Dallas and was approved. With that money, he began work on a new exhibition focusing on these formerly “useless” artifacts.
Prior to the rise of sea levels to their current state, the waters from the Sabine, Neches, Trinity and Calcasieu Rivers merged together southeast of the modern location of Galveston Bay before flowing into the Gulf of Mexico (as illustrated on the previous page). There, a great deal of Paleoindian activity occurred, suggesting either a large community or a very active kill-site. There are arguments for both interpretations. Many of the artifacts found on McFaddin Beach are from the Clovis people, who were known to be nomadic. Yet the sheer number of fossilized bones and evidence of human activity suggest this might have been more than just a seasonal stop.
The Clovis were so named for the distinctive arrow and spearheads first discovered in Clovis, New Mexico. People using these points lived throughout the United States during the Pleistocene era. It may seem strange to name such a broad group of people based on their spear and arrowheads, but the construction of the points is so unique that it bears noting. Clovis points have a lovely leaf shape and bear delicate fluting. They’ve been called “egregiously” beautiful, and not without cause. Attempts to recreate the process have found that an expert flintknapper (one who creates stone tools by carefully chipping away material to create edges or points) requires a half hour or more to create a single point, and as many as one in five are broken when attempting the fluting at the end. Such “wasteful” detail work by prehistoric tool and weapon crafters would make sense if the fluting served a purpose besides beautification, yet archeologists have yet to agree what that purpose might be.
It’s hard to overstate the importance of McFaddin Beach to our understanding of the activities and cultures of Paleoindian people, particularly the Clovis. The United States has a total of 3,097 sites where Paleoindian points are found. Out of those sites, McFaddin Beach has produced a total of 97 points, all of which are Clovis. The points from McFaddin Beach account for 2% of all found Clovis points in the US and 18% found in Texas. What’s more, these recorded finds do not account for all finds. The beach is a popular place for amateur collectors and many discoveries go unreported due to the burden of legal requirements.
Prior to the rise of sea levels to their current state, the waters from the Sabine, Neches, Trinity and Calcasieu Rivers merged together southeast of the modern location of Galveston Bay before flowing into the Gulf of Mexico (as illustrated above). There, a great deal of Paleoindian activity occurred, suggesting either a large community or a very active kill-site. There are arguments for both interpretations. Many of the artifacts found on McFaddin Beach are from the Clovis people, who were known to be nomadic. Yet the sheer number of fossilized bones and evidence of human activity suggest this might have been more than just a seasonal stop.
The Clovis were so named for the distinctive arrow and spearheads first discovered in Clovis, New Mexico. People using these points lived throughout the United States during the Pleistocene era. It may seem strange to name such a broad group of people based on their spear and arrowheads, but the construction of the points is so unique that it bears noting. Clovis points have a lovely leaf shape and bear delicate fluting. They’ve been called “egregiously” beautiful, and not without cause. Attempts to recreate the process have found that an expert flintknapper (one who creates stone tools by carefully chipping away material to create edges or points) requires a half hour or more to create a single point, and as many as one in five are broken when attempting the fluting at the end. Such “wasteful” detail work by prehistoric tool and weapon crafters would make sense if the fluting served a purpose besides beautification, yet archeologists have yet to agree what that purpose might be.
It’s hard to overstate the importance of McFaddin Beach to our understanding of the activities and cultures of Paleoindian people, particularly the Clovis. The United States has a total of 3,097 sites where Paleoindian points are found. Out of those sites, McFaddin Beach has produced a total of 97 points, all of which are Clovis. The points from McFaddin Beach account for 2% of all found Clovis points in the US and 18% found in Texas. What’s more, these recorded finds do not account for all finds. The beach is a popular place for amateur collectors and many discoveries go unreported due to the burden of legal requirements.
“With this exhibit we are saying loud and clear that McFaddin Beach is unusual and important.”
MOGC Curator Robert Fong