Lubbock Lake Landmark facts for kids
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Lubbock Lake Site
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Visitor center and museum
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 Lubbock Lake Site
Location in Texas
Lubbock Lake Site
Location in the United States
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| Nearest city | Lubbock, Texas |
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| Area | 300 acres (120 ha) |
| NRHP reference No. | 71000948 |
Quick facts for kids Significant dates |
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| Added to NRHP | June 21, 1971 |
| Designated NHL | December 22, 1977 |
The Lubbock Lake Landmark, also known as Lubbock Lake Site, is a very important archeological site and a special nature preserve in Lubbock, Texas. This protected area covers about 336 acres. It holds amazing clues about ancient people and animals that lived here nearly 12,000 years ago on the Llano Estacado. Today, it is part of the Museum of Texas Tech University.
Visitors can actually watch archeologists as they dig and uncover history! People from all over the world, and even local volunteers, help with these exciting digs every summer. This makes the site a great place for everyone, not just scientists, to learn. You can take guided tours with an expert or explore on your own throughout the year.
The Lubbock Lake Landmark is so important that it's listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It's also a special National Historic and State Archeological Landmark.
Contents
Discovering Lubbock Lake's Past
Lubbock Lake is located in a bend of the Yellow House Draw, which is a small river channel. Long ago, there were natural springs here that provided water for people on the Llano Estacado. These water sources dried up in the early 1930s. In 1936, the city of Lubbock tried to dig out the bend to create a new water supply. This didn't work for water, but it accidentally revealed the incredible history hidden beneath the ground! Today, there isn't much standing water or a lake at the site.
The first official studies of the site began in 1939 by the West Texas Museum, which is now the Museum of Texas Tech University. Even earlier, in 1936, Clark and Turner Kimmel found ancient spear points. In the late 1940s, archeologists found several places where ancient bison were killed during the Folsom Period (about 10,800 to 10,300 years ago). At one of these bison kill sites, charred bison bones provided the very first radiocarbon date ever recorded. This dating method is still the most accurate way to tell the age of Paleo-Indian materials, showing these bones were about 9,800 years old.
Layers of Earth: A Time Capsule
The ground at Lubbock Lake is like a giant layered cake, with each layer telling a story. The oldest rock layer is called the Blanco Formation, which formed about two million years ago from lake sediments. Above that is the Blackwater Draw Formation, a thick layer of wind-blown dirt that covers much of the region. This layer slowly built up between 1 million and 50,000 years ago.
By about 20,000 years ago, the Yellow House Draw had carved its way through these layers. Around 12,000 years ago, the draw had cut a deep bend, about 15 meters (49 feet) deep, in the area we now call the Landmark.
The layers of earth also show that the climate at Lubbock Lake has been getting drier over the last 11,000 years. The oldest layers show signs of streams, then lakes, and finally, between 6,500 and 4,500 years ago, wind-blown sand from a very dry period. After 4,500 years ago, the climate became much like it is today, with only small changes in the last 2,000 years.
Uncovering Ancient Cultures
The Lubbock Lake site is special because it has many clear layers of cultural remains. These layers can be dated very accurately, with nearly 175 different radiocarbon dates available. The Landmark shows a nearly complete timeline of human cultures, from the Clovis Period all the way to modern times. These different periods are easy to see because layers with human artifacts are separated by "sterile" layers that have no artifacts.
Each layer represents a different time, different water conditions, different plants and animals, different groups of people, and different climates. This covers the past 12,000 years of history! The time of people in North America is usually divided into five main cultural periods, and all of them are found at Lubbock Lake Landmark.
Ancient Cultural Periods:
- Paleo-Indian Period: This was when the first people arrived.
Later Cultural Periods:
- Archaic (8,500–2,000 years ago)
- Ceramic (2,000–500 years ago)
- Protohistoric (500–300 years ago)
- Historic (300 years ago to modern times)
Life in the Paleo-Indian Period
During the Clovis Period, archeologists found evidence on an old gravel bar from a stream. They uncovered bones of many extinct animals, including mammoths, two types of ancient horses, camels, ancient bison, giant short-faced bears, and huge armadillo-like creatures called Pampatheres. This area was used for cutting up parts of animal carcasses, and mammoth bones were broken to make tools.
Later Paleo-Indian groups, like the Folsom people, hunted and killed ancient bison around the ponds and marshes. These places are called "kill/butchering locales." Hunters were very clever and used different ways to approach the bison before attacking.
The Archaic Period: Early Camps and Cooking
We don't know as much about the Archaic Period on the Llano Estacado. However, archeologists have found many bison and pronghorn bones in the wind-blown and stream deposits from this time. They discovered a bison kill site from the Early Archaic period and a baking "oven" from the Middle Archaic. This oven was a large oval pit with burned rocks and ash. Since there were no bones, researchers think it was used for cooking plants. Radiocarbon dating shows this oven is about 5,000 years old. Several Late Archaic camps have also been found, marked by campfires (hearths), scattered tools, and the remains of small animals eaten for food.
The Ceramic Period: Pottery and Processing
In the Ceramic layers, archeologists found pieces of broken Puebloan and Mogollon pottery. They also found campsites with scattered stone tools, small pieces of stone (called flakes) left over from making tools, broken bones, and hearths. At processing stations from this period, they found remains of modern bison, coyotes, wolves, and pronghorns.
The Protohistoric Period: Before European Influence
The Protohistoric Period was a time of change, just before and during the first meetings with Europeans. Spanish explorers were in the area during the later part of this period. However, their presence didn't seem to change the native cultures or the archeological remains much at first. We know the Apache people lived in this area from at least 1450 until the mid-1700s.
The Historic Period: New Arrivals and a New Town
The Historic Period began when Europeans started to have a clear impact. Archeological digs from this time show the presence of modern horses, as well as metal and glass items. The Comanche people eventually moved into the area, taking over from the Apache. The Comanche roamed the Llano Estacado from the mid-1700s until the 1870s. By studying these sites and comparing them with written historical records, we can better understand how these native peoples lived and moved around.
Evidence of Anglo-American settlers has also been found in the most recent layers. Some artifacts, like rifle cartridges, metal parts, square nails, and buttons, show that buffalo hunters used this area in the 1870s. A ginger beer bottle and other items represent George Singer's store and home from the early 1880s. Singer's Store was the very first business in the area. It was built near the springs, where two military trails crossed, to serve as a trading post for early settlers and cattle ranchers. The store operated from 1881 to 1886, when it burned down. It was rebuilt further downstream. Singer's Store was actually the beginning of the modern city of Lubbock!
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