This photo is of me studying a newly unearthed Bulverde Artifact at Bill Arnold's
camp in Burnet County along the Lampasas River in Jan. 2003
About Me:
Hello, my name is David Crain. I am a documented decendent of the Choctaw and Chickasaw people and have a thirst for knowledge of all the history of America. I am glad to have you as a visitor to my web site.
As a child one of my earliest memories was playing with the "bird point" collection that my Grandmother, Avis Jackson Lewis, kept in an old coffee can. Growing up in Central Texas, it seemed that almost everyone had an Indian artifact collection. My Grandfather, Virgil Lewis, gave me the only three points he had picked up during his lifetime of ranching in Burnet county. These points were nothing exceptional, but to me as a five year old child they were the greatest Archaeological finds ever. He also gave me a strange unknown object which I now know to be a rare grooved & hafted hammerstone made of a heavy iron ore material.
From that young beginning, my interest in Texas Indians grew keener, honed by the verbal history about the Texas pioneers passed to me by my Grandfather. Since he was born in the 1890's and was greatly interest in history, he had the best stories I've ever heard in my life. My ancestors and their neighbors had many encounters with the historic Indians. One of the stories, I remember well, was the loss of one of my family's Burnet County neighbors from the Smithwick area, to savage Indians at Doublehorn Creek near the Colorado river. In fact, if you happen to be in the old parking lot of the Lampasas Walmart store, take a few minutes to pause at Cook Cemetery, a pioneer cemetery located just at the edge of the lot. There you will find the grave of Prince L. Ryan, a teen-ager who was killed in a Lampasas county Comanche Indian raid in 1868.
As far as the Texas settlers were concerned the Comanches were ruthless savages. Of course, now, it probably isn't politically correct to say such a thing even though it is a documented fact.
It isn't even considered correct to use the term "arrowheads", we are now told to use the equally misleading term "projectile points" instead.
It really doesn't matter if you use the most scientific of terms, or you use laymen terms, what does matter is that you are one of the people who cares enough to learn that the Native Texas people were here at least 12,500 years ago. Put that into the perspective of a time frame of over fifty times the duration of the US Government! There have been some amazing cultures here that warrant tons of scientific research. Just consider the Texas Pedernales people, who appear to have practically dominated Central Texas for well over TWO THOUSAND Years. And yet we know next to nothing about these people who were able to make a lasting culture here, using little more than sticks and stones to make their living.
One of the purposes of the Texas Arrowheads website is to provide an educational opportunity for those who are not able to study prehistoric cultural objects firsthand. There are becoming far too few museums featuring Indian artifacts. There are some good professional websites today, but they are still somewhat reluctant to show the better artifacts, I suppose for fear of encouraging collecting. My thoughts are that todays well educated private collectors contribute more than ever to the Archaeological record, so I try to encourage hobbyist and collecting!
I am blessed to share this interest with my family, including a son and a brother who are very interested in Archaeology and a wife who is supportive of my overabundance of hobbies. Of course all three of them found their first arrowheads at a much younger age than I did! I might add that both my daughters and son-in-laws are also interested in archaeology, as can be seen in the field research section of this website.
Collecting Ethics:
Besides allowing me a format to document and share my collection with others, working on these web pages provides me with many other positive experiences, one being the opportunity to meet other collectors and to study their collections firsthand. Over time I will introduce you to some of the outstanding folks I've met through this hobby. The general public's viewpoint of an artifact collector varies from thinking of someone who is a bit eccentric, to that of someone who is respected in a scientific way, to the extreme anti-collector view that one shouldn't even own an artifact.
In my viewpoint an Artifact Collector is a keeper of a previously unwritten history. How well this history is kept varies by individuals. I will try to do what I can to stress the importance of good record keeping, as well as to help develop better methods thru the use of modern technology such as digital cameras, computers and the internet. One reason I support the Authentic Artifact Collector's Association (AACA) is their viewpoints on the importance of proper documentation.
I also support all the research efforts of the Professional Texas Archaeology community. I am thankful for those in that community, Dr. Thomas Hester being an excellent example, that recognize the contributions of amateurs such as myself. I am concerned by the anti-collector attitudes of a small percentage of people, these actions only serve to tear down the bridges of knowledge that are being built by the work of good people like the South Texas Archaeology Association (STAA).
I believe our Prehistoric past is an under developed resource that should be carefully investigated, learning as much as we can before we lose the opportunity due to urban development and misplaced legislation. In Texas we are fortunate to still have individual property rights and the professional support which allow us to investigate our past responsibly. Most importantly, these rights allow us to report what we discover without fear of legal repercussion. This has resulted in many incredibly important finds such as the Solutrean features at the Gault Clovis site identified by avocationals and responsible artifact collectors. The recognition of these finds and the follow-up investigations done by the professional Archaeological community has resulted in many new discoveries that are practically rewriting our Scientific views of our Early Prehistoric Americans.
Only by understanding our past can we hope to understand our future!
