About the Gault School of
ArchaeologicaL Research

Inspired by our founder, Dr. Michael B. Collins, the GSAR is a non-profit 501(c)3 center that conducts innovative, interdisciplinary research and education focusing on the earliest peoples in the Western Hemisphere.

the GSAR was organized to:

• Hold, maintain, and protect properties in Bell and Williamson Counties, Texas, on which the Gault Archaeological Site is located. GSAR is the entity that helps preserve and promote Gault on behalf of the Archaeological Conservancy.
• Conduct scientific research at Gault and on materials recovered from the site.
• Conduct, promote, and enable research into the earliest peoples in the Western Hemisphere, and their origins and interconnections.
• Develop and promote outreach programs to educate the public about the Gault site and related sites; and encourage public awareness through archaeological outreach, outdoor education, and related themes about the peopling of the Americas.
• Foster collaboration among individuals, universities, and organizations who share these interests. 

About the Gault Site

Starting in 1991, research at the Gault Site helped shape how scientists understand Clovis and earlier-than-Clovis occupations in the human history of North America. Work here directed by our founder, Dr. Michael Collins has established a benchmark for how we recognize and make sense of the Clovis period, which lasted from around 13,400 to 12,800 years ago. Leading up to these investigations, scholars differed in their opinions about whether Clovis peoples were the first inhabitants of the Americas, or whether there was archaeological evidence for pre-Clovis occupations. Investigations at Gault have helped establish that people were in the Americas perhaps as early as about 20,000 years ago, far longer than many archaeologists had believed. Working with a team of scientists representing different disciplines, Dr. Collins’ work has helped establish the antiquity of human presence in Central Texas specifically, and in the Americas generally. While this advance in the archaeological understanding of the past is significant, GSAR recognizes that one of the real contributions that the Gault Site can make is in helping students follow a similar learning journey every day.

Important Publications & Press:

• Preceramic Mesoamerica (2021) edited by Jon C. Lohse, Aleksander Borejsza, and Arthur A.Joyce. <link>
• The Calf Creek Horizon: A Mid-Holocene Hunter-Gatherer Adaptation in the Central and Southern Plains of North America (2021) edited by Jon C. Lohse, Marjorie Duncan and Don Wyckoff; Chapters 6 & 10 by Dr. Sergio J. Ayala; <link>
• The Andice Cache of Denton Creek (2021) by Dr. Sergio J. Ayala; Journal for Texas Archaeology and History. <link>
• Williams, T.J., Collins, M.B., Rodrigues, K., Rink, W.J., Velchoff, N., Keen-Zebert, A., Gilmer, A., Frederick, C.D., Ayala, S.J. and Prewitt, E.R., 2018. Evidence of an early projectile point technology in North America at the Gault Site, Texas, USA. Science Advances, 4(7), p.eaar5954. <link>
• Archaeologists Say Humans May Have Come To Texas Earlier Than Previously Thought | Texas Standard <link>
• The Gault Site in Central Texas Reveals New Details About the Oldest North Americans Archeologists have found artifacts thought to be from people who lived 18,000 years ago. The Gault Site in Central Texas Reveals New Details About the Oldest North Americans (texashighways.com) <link>
• Spotlighting the Holdings of Texas Historic Foundation Institution Members, Tales ‘N’ Trails Museum, Nocona; by Dr. Sergio Ayala. <link>
• Lemke, A.K., Wernecke, D.C. and Collins, M.B., 2015. Early art in North America: Clovis and Later Paleoindian incised artifacts from the Gault site, Texas (41BL323). American Antiquity, 80(1), pp.113-133.  
• Calf Creek Horizon Evidence at the Gault Site. Ayala, Sergio J., “Calf Creek Horizon Evidence at the Gault Site (41BL323); a description of the imagery found in the Volume 5 cover border design”, (2019), Journal of Texas Archeology and History Volume 5 (2018/2019), pp. xi - xviii.
• Wernecke, D.C. and Collins, M.B., 2010. Patterns and process: some thoughts on the incised stones from the Gault Site, Central Texas, United States. L’art Pléistocène dans le Monde, pp.2010-2011. <link> 
• Rodrigues, K., Rink, W.J., Collins, M.B., Williams, T.J., Keen-Zebert, A. and Lόpez, G.I., 2016. OSL ages of the Clovis, Late Paleoindian, and Archaic components at Area 15 of the Gault site, Central Texas, USA. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 7, pp.94-103. <link>
• Collins, M.B. and Kay, M., 2002. Clovis blade technology: a comparative study of the Keven Davis cache, Texas. University of Texas Press. <link>
• Wernecke, D.C., Collins, M.B., Adovasio, J.M. and Gardner, S., 2006. A Tradition Set in Stone: Engraved Stone Objects From the Gault Site, Bell County, TX. In Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, San Juan, Puerto Rico. 
• Collins, M.B., 2002. The Gault Site, Texas, and Clovis research. Athena Review, 3(2), pp.31-42.
• Collins, M.B., Lohse, J.C. and Shoberg, M., 2007. The de Graffenried Collection: a Clovis biface cache from the Gault site, central Texas. Bulletin of the Texas Archeological Society, 78, pp.101-123.
• Collins, M.B., Hester, T.R. and Headrick, P.J., 1992. Engraved cobbles from the Gault Site, central Texas. Current Research in the Pleistocene, 9(3).
• Collins, M.B. and Bradley, B.A., 2008. Evidence for pre-Clovis occupation at the Gault site (41BL323), central Texas. Current Research in the Pleistocene, 25, pp.70-72.
• Wernecke, D.C. and Collins, M.B., 2013. Patterns and Process: Some Thoughts on the Incised Stones from the Gault Site (Central Texas, USA). Palethnologie. Archéologie et sciences humaines, (5). <link>