Archeological Investigations at Fort Boggy State Park, Leon County, Texas

Abstract

This report concerns archaeological site assessment work at Fort Boggy State Park, in Leon County, Texas, carried out by the Center for Archaeological Studies at Texas State University-San Marcos (CAS) under the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s (TPWD) annual Antiquities Permit No. 5529. The archaeological site relocation and assessment work took place between July 6 and August 3, 2010. TPWD asked CAS to relocate, assess, and update the character of each of the 80 previously recorded sites at Fort Boggy State Park. Additionally, each site was to be assessed for its eligibility for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), and for its merit for State Archeological Landmark (SAL) designation. Based primarily on survey and shovel test investigations conducted by Corbin et al. (1994) and the present CAS work, the Fort Boggy State Park area was used periodically throughout prehistoric times, beginning about 10,000 years ago, with a few periods of more intensive settlement in the Woodland and Late Prehistoric eras. The area was then settled around the mid-nineteenth century by Americans from other parts of the country, and then used more continuously for farming after ca. 1870. Evaluations of the character, content, and preservation of each of the Fort Boggy State Park sites presented in this report indicate that no sites are considered eligible for inclusion in the NRHP at this time. There are 33 sites with prehistoric and/or historical components that are of undetermined NRHP eligibility, pending test excavations to determine if they meet any of the criteria specified in 36 CFR Part 60.4 for the NRHP, as well as more extensive archival and historical research on the sites with primary historical archaeological components, and archival and historical research on the importance of the road cuts and networks of roads within the boundaries of the state park. These include 10 sites with prehistoric archaeological components, and another 25 sites with historical archaeological components; two sites have both prehistoric and historical components that may have research significance.