Host: Recent discoveries at an archeological site north of Georgetown are yielding new information about life 13,000 years ago for the earliest known inhabitants of Central Texas.

Collins: What we find interesting about the Gault Site is that the Clovis people, who have long been thought to be specialized big game hunters, had situated themselves at this locality that’s not particularly good for big game hunting.

Host: Michael Collins is a University of Texas archeologist overseeing the Project. He says the site’s location between diverse ecological regions provided abundant resources for survival.

Collins: We find that Clovis people stayed around that site for fairly extensive periods of time and that they returned to that site repeatedly over about a 400-year period.

Host: This is contrary to a long-held view that Clovis people were primarily nomadic.

Collins: People were making stone tools there. They were using them, re-sharpening them, using them… until they were worn out and thrown away. And that’s our best evidence for people staying there for extended periods of time.

Host: You can hear more of our interview at TexasStories.com.