Center for Big Bend Studies

05/12/2026

Fulfilling our mission to share this region’s rich cultural legacy through outreach, Dr. Bryon Schroeder, our Senior Research Scientist, and Erika Blecha, our Project Archaeologist, did just that last week at the 91st Society for American Archaeology meeting in San Francisco.

Bryon gave a talk about conducting meaningful research with unprovenienced legacy collections.

Erika’s talk was focused on understanding the use of space through faunal analysis at San Estaben rock shelter in far west Texas.

To learn more about the SAA meeting, follow this link to read paper abstracts.https://saa.org/common/Uploaded%20files/saadocs/AnnualMeeting/Final%20Program/2026_SAA%20Final%20Program_WEB2.pdf

05/07/2026

Good morning Friends.

FYI, we are moving the Annual Conference this year to Nov. 6-7th.

Please spread the word by sharing this message.

This change will be reflected on our website in a couple of weeks.

Thank you.

05/06/2026

The Center for Big Bend Studies had a great time attending the 91st Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology in San Francisco! It was an incredible opportunity to connect with students, researchers, and colleagues from across the country while promoting the new Sul Ross State University M.A. in Anthropology program, set to launch this fall.

Thank you to everyone who stopped by our booth, we loved sharing information about our program, research, and the work being done at CBBS. We’re excited for what’s ahead!

04/10/2026

Big congratulations to Bailey Larremore and Diana Flores for representing CBBS at the SRSU Student Symposium 2026!

As Anthropology students and CBBS student workers, they’re already doing meaningful, hands-on work—and it showed in their presentations. Bailey presented “A Bone of a Different Stripe: Using ZooMS to Identify Ivory,” while Diana shared her research in “Ancient Squash in the American Southwest: A SEM-Based Comparative Guide for Identifying Archaeological Cucurbita.”

We’re especially excited that Diana will be part of Sul Ross’s first Anthropology Master’s cohort this fall!

This is exactly what it’s all about 👏

04/04/2026

Dr. Earl H. Elam was the founding Director of CBBS back in 1987. He lived a productive and meaningful life of service and passed away in 2024. https://cbbs.sulross.edu/earl-h-elam/

Last Thursday we were invited to witness his posthumous book donation to the Desoto Public Library where he was formally honored my elected officials, family, and friends.

What a great privilege it was to be invited and witness how many people were there to participate in this great memorial and dedication! His life truly impacted many!

03/24/2026

03/23/2026

Outreach and education are a couple of important tenets of our mission. Today we had a great opportunity to fulfill both tenets while visiting with honors students from Alvin Community College - History.

Dr. Bryon Schroeder provided a tour of our lab by sharing his passion for understanding and communicating protohistory. Whatever we know of this time period is learned from artifacts associated with rock shelters, including points, baskets, cordage, etc…And it’s not everyday that folks get to look at a mammoth tusk up close and personal.

Dr. Devin Pettigrew then taught the students about atlatls and spears. Of course, he provided a safety briefing before demonstrating the throwing technique. Students then had opportunities to throw spears at a javelina target. It took some practice but a couple made it on target. Not an easy task. Compared to then, we have it pretty easy gathering groceries these days.

We sincerely appreciate Alvin College including us on their historical trip throughout far west Texas!

And thank you to all of our supporters who make opportunities like this possible!

02/12/2026

In the spirit of Valentine’s Day, remember ... some hearts break… this one flakes!

02/05/2026

🎯 New publication alert!

Atlatls have a deep history in the Big Bend as evidenced by the recent 6,000-year-old example from San Esteban Rockshelter. Like most weapons, the atlatl can be constructed in different ways for different things, like hunting rabbits, fishing, or warfare. But its ballistics, including its potential to kill massive animals like wooly mammoths, are not well understood.

Archaeologists at CBBS are helping to unravel this weapon's potential by measuring the velocities of modern people, which forms a baseline for understanding the minimum that was possible in the past. This research shows that when heavier darts are paired with strong and skilled throwers, they become lethal to very large animals like mammoths, while smaller and lighter darts are easier to use by a larger segment of the population and were effective against smaller prey like deer and rabbits. This has implications for how people organized and adapted to their surroundings in the past.

Check out the new publication in the Journal of Anthropological Archaeology by CBBS' Dr. Devin Pettigrew! Follow the link below:

https://kwnsfk27.r.eu-west-1.awstrack.me/L0/https:%2F%2Fauthors.elsevier.com%2Fa%2F1mYSz-JVc8R%257Ea/1/0102019c20c064f2-fdd35642-dc72-4b40-8d7a-32d8b457e532-000000/gKtlNTtGnVfbsjTwSOzQeEinoTY=463

01/28/2026

The Homer Mills Endowment honors a man who loved archaeology and generously supported our work. His discoveries, including the oldest archaeological site in West Texas (Genevieve Lykes Duncan Site), continue to inspire us today.

This fund, held by Permian Basin Area Foundation , directly supports student research, helping our first graduate cohort and undergraduates explore, discover, and make hands-on contributions to the field.

While we commit approximately $30,000 per graduate student per year in stipends and scholarships to recruit top researchers, this endowment is designed to directly fund student research expenses, supporting our first graduate cohort beginning this fall, as well as undergraduate research.

With a current endowment balance of $212,325, every gift helps provide students with the resources they need to pursue meaningful research.

🔗 Donate here: https://permianbasin.fcsuite.com/erp/donate/create/fund?funit_id=3937

Thank you!