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Welcome
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Welcome to the Travis County Archeological Society! In conjunction with the proposed development of a historical park by a local nonprofit group, archeological and historical investigations were conducted on the site of the first capitol of the Republic of Texas in West Columbia, Texas. The work focused on Lot 4, Block 2 of the old Columbia townsite because it once contained a wooden structure used by the House of Representatives during the First Congress from October to December 1836. Archeologists from Prewitt and Associates, Inc. and the Brazosport Archaeological Society completed a week of field investigations at the site in December 2007. Mechanical and hand excavations exposed a brick-lined cistern filled with twentieth-century debris, several pit features containing nineteenth-century artifacts, numerous postholes, and scattered nineteenth- and twentieth-century artifacts. Following the field investigations, archival research was undertaken to define the legal history of this property and identify its historic uses. This work is revealing part of the story behind one of Texas? most important historical places?the First Capitol of the Republic of Texas. Douglas K. Boyd began doing field archeology in 1973 while in junior high school. He received a BA degree in General Studies-Archeology from West Texas State University in 1983 and an MA degree in Anthropology from Texas A&M University in 1986. In 1987 he joined Prewitt and Associates, Inc., a cultural resources services firm in Austin, Texas. Now a vice president and co-owner of the firm, he has served as project archeologist or principal investigator on many projects throughout the state. Over the last 30 years, much of Boyd's work has been on historic archeological projects in Texas and New Mexico. 
The First Capitol of the Republic of Texas Historical Marker. Photo by Ken Rudine. If you are in the Austin area on one of our second-Thursday-of-the-month meeting nights, please drop in to see what's going on. More about our monthly meetings at http://travis.txarch.org/calendar.htm.
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