Tag Archives: Collections

Education, News & Outreach

Colors of the Past: Ceremonial Cave

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Throughout this October for Texas Archeology Month, we’ll be releasing new coloring pages featuring some of the amazing artifacts in the TARL collections. This is a fun way for kids and adults alike to learn about prehistoric life and the archeology of Texas.

Our first featured site and collection is Ceremonial Cave! This cave site in West Texas was a special place where people left offerings over the course of more than 1,000 years. The deposits left in the cave were badly damaged by looters in the early 20th century, prompting archeologists to excavate the remaining areas of the cave. What they found remain some of the most incredible artifacts ever recorded in Texas.

Exotic materials like the turquoise in this bracelet, obsidian and abalone shell found in the cave show that some of the objects traveled a great distance before they were left as offerings. It is likely that people traveled to the cave from parts of what is now New Mexico and northern Mexico as well as from nearby villages.

Learn more about Ceremonial Cave on Texas Beyond History. 

Download the coloring page by clicking the text below:

Ceremonial Cave Coloring Page

 

News & Outreach

TARL Artifact Storage Facility Upgrades

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TARL is excited to announce that our long-awaited improvements to our largest artifact storage area are getting underway this month. This construction project will provide increased security for our collections, as well as greatly improved climate control and work space.

Here’s what you need to know:

  • Our artifact collections will be fully accessible throughout the construction project timeline (December 2017 through April 2018).
  • If you’re planning to conduct research using TARL collections during this time, please give us several weeks of additional lead time to pull artifacts, as we might have to work around the construction crews.
  • This project will have no effect on other TARL services, such as trinomial requests, file searches, new accessions, or research in the TARL records.

If you’re planning to visit TARL for research purposes between now and April, please send in your request for collections access early. We look forward to seeing you!

Request Collections Access