Lower Pecos Canyonlands

Much of what we know about the ancient peoples who lived in the Lower Pecos Canyonlands comes from rockshelters, places where people sometimes lived and carried out both the mundane and the sacred aspects of life. This section presents numerous pictures of Lower Pecos rockshelters, explains rockshelter basics, and introduces some of the better-known shelters.

What are rockshelters and how do they form?

Rockshelters (or just shelters) are natural overhangs or shallow caves that form on cliff faces and other steep rocky exposures. They can form through wind erosion, water erosion, and the dissolution of soft layers of rock. Technically, rockshelters are wider than they are deep and caves are deeper than they are wide, but this distinction is frequently ignored. Many rockshelters are called caves and we tend to use whatever name has stuck. The prehistoric peoples of the Lower Pecos Canyonlands did make limited use of some true caves also, but most caves in the area are not readily accessible and are often very narrow, underground places ill suited for human occupation. Rockshelters, on the other hand, often furnished quite comfortable living quarters—big rooms with a view.

The Lower Pecos area contains hundreds of rockshelters. They are common in the region for two reasons. First, the right kind of rock—the area is part of a enormous expanse of limestone called the Edwards Plateau that extends all across the Texas Hill Country and beyond. Second, the vast network of canyons provides the vertical rock faces needed for rockshelters to form. The process of rockshelter formation can be complex and it differs from spot to spot depending on such factors as the direction the cliff faces, the prevailing wind direction, the hardness of each rock formation, the distance to the nearest stream, and so on. It is a continuous process that happens on a geological time scale. As you read this, new rockshelters are forming ever so slowly and old ones are crumbling. But most take thousands of years to form, so you might not want to wait around to watch. If you could, here is what you would see.

In the Lower Pecos Canyonlands, rockshelters often form in places where a layer of softer rock is sandwiched between two harder layers. Because the softer materials erode faster when exposed to the natural elements (wind, sun, and water), a hollow begins to form. The hard layer above becomes the roof of the rockshelter and the hard layer below becomes its floor. As the back of the shelter and its roof weathers, "spalls" or chunks of rock break off and fall to the floor of the shelter. In cold wet winter weather, the process speeds up. Moisture in cracks in the wall or roof expands when frozen and then contracts when thawed. This cycle—expand, contract, expand, contract—causes more spalls to break off from the roof and wall and the rockshelter becomes larger and deeper. Eventually, the hard layer that forms the roof becomes undercut too much by the deepening shelter and the whole layer may collapse, destroying the rockshelter.

Most of the rockshelter formation process actually occurs at a microscopic level—tiny particles of rock constantly trickle down, faster in soft rock, slower in hard rock. These tiny particles form "cave dust"—a fine off-white powder resembling unbleached flour. The spalls and cave dust fall to the floor of the rockshelter. What happens next depends on where the rockshelter is located and whether its floor is flat or sloping. Some shelters have floors that are steeply sloped outward such that anything falling on the floor quickly tumbles to the canyon floor. Other rockshelters have more or less flat floors and as roof spalls and cave dust falls, it accumulates on the floor. Unless, that is, the rockshelter is located at the base of a cliff beside a stream, where anything resting on the floor is periodically scoured out by floodwater.

Now for the part that draws the archeologist—the stuff inside the rockshelters and on the walls. Many of the occupied rockshelters in the Lower Pecos have more or less flat floors and are located high above flood level. In these places, the rockshelters slowly fill up with deposits of natural materials— roof spalls and cave dust, mixed with cultural materials—anything humans make or bring in. And people living in rockshelters hauled in plants, tools, tool-making materials, containers, food, rocks, firewood, and more. Over time, some rockshelter deposits have grown to over 30 feet thick just during the time span that humans lived in the region (the last 13,000 years or so). Archeologists get excited when we excavate rockshelters because we often find well-preserved organic materials (see below) and as we peel back the layers, one by one, evidence comes to light from earlier and earlier periods of time. That, and the fact that the shelter walls are often covered with bright multi-colored pictographs depicting animals, humans, and many symbols whose meaning is not obvious.

Why were some rockshelters occupied and not others?

As the photographs in this section show, no two rockshelters are the same. Some are much larger than others, some occur at the bottom of a cliff, others at the top, and so on. In general, people, of course, chose to live in the larger ones located near areas where water, food sources, and other basic necessities were readily available. They favored those with flat floors and those that faced in certain directions. And this would have changed from season to season. For example, in the hot summer, a rockshelter that faces (opens toward) the west and the setting sun is not a very comfortable place to be. Similarly, in the winter, shelters facing north are much colder and windier than those facing south. This probably explains why the rockshelters with the most abundant evidence of occupation are those that face east or south.

We know which rockshelters were favorite places to stay because they are full of evidence of daily life—trash, mostly. And in the rockshelters of the Lower Pecos Canyonlands the trash contains all sorts of organic materials that are not preserved in most archeological sites. Dried plants, fibers, seeds, nuts, leaves, roots, sticks, bone, leather, wood, and all kinds of things made out of these materials. Baskets, mats, ropes, nets, blankets, robes, digging sticks, atlatls, darts, fire-drills, snares, pouches, sandals, and many more "perishable" artifacts. We also find cooking pits, grass beds, latrines, warmth hearths, and other kinds of features. Such things can last for 5,000 to 6,000 years in the right environment. In the Lower Pecos this means a well-protected rockshelter that stays dry.

One of the things that people routinely did in certain rockshelters was to cook plant foods—roots and bulbs mostly—in large cooking pits called roasting pits or earth ovens. Earth ovens are layered arrangements of heated rocks, plants, food, and earth that roast or bake food slowly—often over 2-3 days time. Not just any food, but mainly root foods like the hearts (bulbs) of the lechuguilla and sotol plants—inedible raw, after prolonged cooking they turn to a sugary carbohydrate. Most earth ovens were constructed outside in open sites archeologically identified as burned rock middens—piles of fire-cracked rock that accumulated around roasting pits. But in the Lower Pecos Canyonlands, earth ovens were also built inside certain rockshelters. Why? The most likely explanation is the shelters mainly were used for cooking during periods of wet or very cold weather when earth ovens would be difficult to build in the open.

Other shelters weren't used for everyday living or cooking, but for special purposes. For example, there are a series of shallow rockshelters located almost at the top of an enormous cliff overlooking the Devils River. Most of these are small and they have steep floors where nothing rests for long. While these were useless as places to live, their walls are covered with rock art. These were obviously special, sacred places where rituals took place or were at least evoked by the painted symbols such as that of a panther with an unnatural "curly" tail.

When you visit one of these hard-to-reach places high above the canyons, the view is spectacular and awe-inspiring. It doesn't take much imagination to conjure up the "vision quests" and other extraordinary experiences that small groups of prehistoric peoples took part in there. While we'll never know the details, we can see patterns in the location of such places, the types of associated symbols, and sometimes artifacts.

Another type of special purpose rockshelter is that used for human burials. Sometimes burials are found in ordinary rockshelters full of evidence of everyday life. The burials are usually placed in the backs of the shelters or in small chambers or other out-of-the-way places. In other cases, people sought out small, remote shelters and crevices as burial places, perhaps in hopes these would not be disturbed.

Lower Pecos Rockshelters

Fate Bell Shelter was one of the first rockshelters in the Lower Pecos Canyonlands to be excavated by a professional archeologist. A.T. Jackson carried out relatively modest excavations there in 1932 on behalf of the University of Texas and its archeological leader, Professor James E. Pearce. His excavation report was the first reasonably detailed description of a rockshelter. Several years later he published a study called Picture Writing of Texas Indians that described the pictographs found at Fate Bell and dozens of other localities in the Lower Pecos and elsewhere in Texas.

Fate Bell Shelter is massive, stretching over 150 yards from one "end" to the other, but narrow, only 40 feet or so at its widest point. It was used as an habitation site, a cooking place, a burial place, and as a rock art gallery. The thick deposits once contained a wealth of information, but, sadly, most of the cave was dug up by untrained people intent on finding showy artifacts. In the 1970s the property became part of Seminole Canyon State Park and the site is now protected by law. Visitors to the park can take special guided tours of Fate Bell Shelter, an unforgettable experience.

Hinds Cave, located in a side canyon off the Pecos River, is one of the most carefully studied rockshelters. It was excavated in the 1970s by archeologists from Texas A&M. They were particularly interested in human ecology—how people interact with the environment. Professors and graduate students undertook many different kinds of specialized studies. One of the most informative types of research was coprolite analysis. Coprolites are dried human feces—when "reconstituted" by adding water, even 4,000-year-old specimens smell just like the original. This may be more than you wanted to know, but coprolite analysis gives a direct picture of the ancient human diet. You won't be shocked to learn that it was the graduate students who were assigned to analyze the coprolites.

Baker Cave is on a small side canyon off the Devils River. It, too, has been carefully studied by several different projects. One of the most astonishing findings there was a large cooking hearth that dates to about 9,000 years old during what is often called the Late Paleoindian period. The hearth was chock full of bones, but not the bones of bison or other large animals. Instead, there were snakes, rats, fish, rabbits, and many other small creatures as well as various charred seeds and nuts. This shows that by this time people were already making use of virtually everything that was edible.

Bonfire Shelter in Mile Canyon, a short box canyon that empties directly into the Rio Grande near Langtry, is probably the most famous Lower Pecos rockshelter. It is famed because it was the scene of a series of buffalo "jumps" beginning as early as 12,000 years ago or maybe even earlier. You can read all about it in the Bonfire exhibit.

Panther Cave is a "high lonesome" shelter situated on a cliff overlooking the Rio Grande at the mouth of Seminole Canyon. This cave is known for its spectacular rock art, especially a huge red panther (mountain lion). This site lies within the boundaries of the Amistad National Recreation Area and is protected by federal law. It is managed jointly by the National Park Service and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. With a good pair of binoculars, the famous panther can be seen from the scenic overlook trail in Seminole Canyon State Park. When lake levels allow, special guided tours can be arranged through Seminole Canyons State Park. Sadly, vandalism forced the NPS to erect a heavy chain link fence to protect the cave.

Coontail Spin Cave is a relatively small, narrow rockshelter that is important because of the archeological excavations done there in 1962. According to archeologist Ed Jelks who supervised the Amistad Reservoir investigations, the shelter takes its name from the local nickname for the western diamondback rattlesnake—coontail—the dark bands around the snake's tail are reminiscent of a coon's tail. The "spin" describes the winding trail the archeologists followed up and down the canyon walls to reach Coontail Spin Cave. The results of work at this site will be featured in a future exhibit on Texas Beyond History.

White Shaman Cave is a very small rockshelter on a tiny side canyon of the Pecos River, not far from the Pecos River Bridge. Small perhaps, but this shelter is famous because of the evocative image of … you guessed it, a white shaman. Actually, the "white shaman" is an anthropomorphic figure of the type called "shamans," but the meanings of these figures are debated. (See Rock Art.) This site is now owned and protected by the Rock Art Foundation and can be visited on one of the regularly scheduled tours. The climb in and out of White Shaman Cave is not for the faint of heart, but the vivid pictographs and intimate setting are truly remarkable.