Join the Denton County Office of History and Culture for the Texas Talks Speaker Series!

On Wednesday, October 25 at 6 PM, archaeologist Dr. Alan Skinner will present “The Expected and Unexpected Archaeology of North Central Texas” in the Commissioners Courtroom at the Denton County Courthouse-on-the-Square Museum. This presentation is sponsored by the Denton County Historical Commission in celebration of Texas Archaeology Month.

The flat prairie and associated savannah forests of North Central Texas are dissected by a variety of rivers and creeks which prehistoric and historic settlers were drawn to and where they left behind buried and exposed evidence of their presence over more than ten thousand years. Of particular importance is the Aubrey Clovis site located near Lake Ray Roberts and excavated by Dr. Reid Ferring of UNT. Equally significant, but barely more than 125 years old, is the Redwine House site that was recorded during investigation of a water pipeline route on the north side of Farmersville. These two archaeological sites span the recorded history of the region and will be discussed along with numerous other historic and prehistoric sites that have been recorded or remain to to be discovered in the prairies, maybe your backyard, anywhere in North Central Texas.

About the Speaker:

Dr. Alan Skinner has been doing archaeology in Texas and other parts of the Southwest for more than four decades, and is the owner of AR Consultants, Inc., an environmental consulting firm specializing in cultural resource management. He graduated from the University of New Mexico and received his PhD from Southern Methodist University. He has worked on prehistoric and historic sites throughout Texas, with a particular interest in prehistoric settlement patterns and lithic technology. He has directed five field schools for the Texas Archeological Society. He developed the archaeology merit badge for the Boy Scouts of America. He is currently working with private and public agencies, including numerous engineering companies, on wind farms, two lakes, water, sewer, and petroleum pipelines, roads, transmission lines, and landfills. He continues to publish in local, regional, and national journals.