I Was a Teenage Archaeologist: My Life in Search of Old Texas

A memoir of the author's real life "adventures" in Texas archaeology spanning over 50 years, as a teenager during the 1960s through publication of the book in 2020. Chronicles his work at prehistoric sites, some many thousands of years older than Egypt's Great Pyramid, and at Historic-period sites such as the Alamo and the San Jacinto Battlefield. Highlights include his excavations of human graves ranging in age from 2,000 years ago to the 1930s, his first hand viewing of a fabulous 1554 shipwreck treasure when he was 19, and his discovery, at age 43, of his mysterious dowsing ability. Reveals his family roots in seventeenth century Germany, the incredible story of the immigration of his seventh-generation ancestors to Texas in 1845, how they survived a perilous voyage across the Atlantic Ocean on a cargo ship, the "Terrible Winter of 1845-46" while stranded on an open beach along the Texas coast, the "Death March" inland the following spring, and the scourge of contagions that took the lives of thousands of others in their midst. Also describes federal, state, and city archaeology laws that protect the cultural heritage of old Texas, how "historic" is defined under those laws, and how they're typically applied by the Texas Historical Commission and the National Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. The author was born in San Antonio in 1950, attended John Marshall High School, Trinity University, and The University of Texas at San Antonio, where he received his Master of Arts Anthropology degree with full honors. Before entering the world of independent consulting archaeology in 2003, he was a Research Associate at The University of Texas at San Antonio's Center for Archaeological Research, a reviewer at the Texas Historical Commission's Archeology Division for compliance with federal and state historic preservation laws, and a City of San Antonio Archaeologist for review of construction and development projects for compliance with the City's Unified Development Code regarding archaeological sites and cemeteries. For about the last 20 years, he's lived north of San Antonio in Comal County with his wife, who he met in geology classes at Trinity University and married in 1973. He started his own archaeological consulting firm, South Texas Archeological Research Services, LLC, in 2003. He dabbles at playing classical and folk guitar music, writing poetry, and at painting landscapes, coastal scenes, and historic buildings, just for the joy of doing those things. Read more