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Acknowledgments
- Texas A&M University Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
acKNoWledgmeNtS Understanding the economics and interaction of hunter-gatherers has been and continues to be a focus of archaeological research. The people in these societies often moved in small groups but maintained relationships with “others” across diverse languages and sociocultural barriers. Texas is particularly suited to the study of hunter-gatherers, for the majority of its lands were home to such groups for thousands of years. This book focuses on the hunter-gatherers who occupied at least 25 percent of the state, particularly its central core, just before and during the early incursion of Spain north of the banks of the Rio Grande, a time frame known as theToyah phase (ad 1300–1750). The material remains of Toyah phase sites have been of great interest to archaeologists since they were first recorded and investigated over seventy years ago. Although no long-term research projects have been undertaken at any Toyah phase sites, a spate of relatively recent cultural resource management–sponsored excavations and analyses have led to a growing body of data in the past fifteen years. The authors in this volume have mined that body of old and new data to offer their interpretations of the economy and interaction spheres that operated during the Toyah phase, looking at dietary patterns, social networks, and interactions both among Toyah folk and with far-flung friends. It is our hope that these interpretations encourage discussions about this period in Texas and about the broader hunter-gatherer issues that continue to challenge us. Many people have contributed to this volume and to Toyah studies. J. Charles Kelley was the first to speak of this widespread phenomenon. Dee Ann Story and Ed Jelks investigated Toyah sites in the 1950s and 1960s. Their early insights were used by LeRoy Johnson in his synthesis of what he called the Toyah Folk in the mid-1990s. His contributions to Toyah and to hunter-gatherer studies in Texas were many, and we owe him as well as the other early researchers our gratitude. We also thank many others who have undertaken recent, thoughtful analyses of sites and data related to the Toyah phenomenon. To name only a few besides the authors of this volume: Steve Black, Andy Cloud, Michael Collins, Darrell Creel, Thomas Hester, Betty Inman, Ardi Kalter, James Karbula, Christopher Lintz, John Loshe, Robert Mallouf, Gemma Mehalchick, Timothy Perttula, Michael Quigg, x acKNoWledgmeNtS Robert Ricklis, Robert Rogers, Harry Shafer, Steve Tomka, Abby Treece, and Mariah Wade. We appreciate the ground they broke. Two anonymous reviewers for the book have earned our appreciation. They offered constructive comments that greatly improved the final chapters. It was clear from their comments that they spent a great deal of time in their reviews, and we are pleased that they considered the final product worth their time. Other individuals deserve our thanks. Several individuals and institutions were helpful in providing images and maps used in chapter 1, including Virginia Hatfield , Jennifer McWilliams, and BrianWootan (Prewitt and Associates), Susan Dial (Texas Beyond History), Chase Fountain (Texas Parks and Wildlife Department), Michael Quigg (trc Companies), Marybeth Tomka (Center for Archaeological Research,Universityof Texas at San Antonio), and Carolyn Spock (Texas Archaeological Research Laboratory, University of Texas at Austin). Sandra Hannum of Prewitt and Associates was instrumental in preparing and editing many of the figures that appear in several chapters.The staff at Texas A&M University Press, particularly editor-in-chief Mary Lenn Dixon and associate editor Patricia Clabaugh, were generous with their time and helpful advice. John Thomas, our copyeditor, improved the text. We deeply appreciate their efforts to help us and to bring the volume to publication. It is also fitting that we thank the contributors to this volume. They each expended a great deal of their private time to complete their contributions.They did so in a timely manner, with no complaints about revisions or suggested changes, and always with good humor.Their labor and creative insights are deeply appreciated . Finally, we received encouragement from many people during the completion of this project. One was Jean Wade, the senior editor’s mother, who at niney-one still offers enthusiastic support for anything her children or grandchildren undertake . Our colleagues Myles R. Miller and Jim Abbott also urged us to complete the project and discussed their thoughts about the hunter-gatherers of the Toyah phase. We are grateful to each of them. Their support of this effort has been very important to us. [54.163.14.144] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 11:08...