Discovering the past, understanding the present
Camp La Jita has a rich archaeological and paleontological history.
Camp La Jita encompasses a tremendous wealth of significant Texas prehistory and history that includes the La Jita Archaeological Site, two prehistoric campsites in Uvalde County, Texas. The site’s artifacts and features include extensive burned rock middens, chipped stone tools and debris, bone tools, pottery, mussel shell, and animal bone.
Girl Scouts who camp at La Jita today get to experience hands-on activities, such as how to excavate, screen, and take notes, often under the supervision of archaeologists from SWCA Environmental Consultants.
Girls have been a part of discovering La Jita’s treasures since its early days as a camp. Based on initial research completed by renowned Texas archaeologist Dr. Tom Hester, a professor at the University of Texas (UT) at Austin, and Girl Scouts of Southwest Texas during the first La Jita Site excavation in 1967, it is known that early indigenous peoples likely occupied and camped at the site intermittently from the Early Archaic Period (8000-4200 B.P.) to the Late Prehistoric Period (1250-350 B.P.), more than 8,000 years.
Among the artifacts, two new and distinct projectile point types were defined from the collection at the La Jita site: the Sabinal point and the La Jita point. The extensive burned rock middens (prehistoric trash piles) at La Jita provide valuable avenues of exploration into the activities and lifeways of prehistoric occupants of Central Texas. Investigations of the La Jita site also suggest that the site was occupied repeatedly throughout its long history.
The 1967 excavation was a collaboration between the UT and Girl Scouts of Southwest Texas (then Girl Scouts of the San Antonio Area). Girl Scouts from all over the greater south Texas region assisted Dr. Hester with the work from June to July 1967. In 1989 and 1990, UT graduate student Jeffrey Heubner and Dr. Hester returned to the La Jita Site to focus primarily on the Late Prehistoric component.
The 1967 and 1989/90 excavations at the La Jita Site revealed a campsite spanning nearly the entire breadth of known human occupation of the Sabinal River canyonlands. While their investigations revealed critical information about the campsite, there remains several unanswered questions raised by the work.
State Antiquities Landmark
On September 20, 2019, SWCA Environmental Consultants and the University of Texas at San Antonio – Center for Archaeological Research (UTSA-CAR) archaeologists embarked on an investigation at Camp La Jita. For the first time since the late 1960s, Girl Scouts of Southwest Texas joined the archaeological excavation.
At this special camp session, Girl Scouts joined professional archaeologists at the site using to document the extent of the archaeological site at Camp La Jita. Using modern technology, Girl Scouts gained experience with real archaeological survey methods, including excavating shovel tests and screening soil for artifacts. Girl Scouts learned how to use professional-grade geospatial positioning systems, data collection tablets, and gained exposure to today’s software used to process archaeological data. Girl Scout members worked alongside archaeologists conducting real research and contributed to the understanding of this exemplary archaeological site.
The earliest components at La Jita are little understood, and the Late Prehistoric Toyah Component could contribute meaningfully to the understanding of a significant time period prior to the arrival of the Spanish in Texas. With an occupation that spans, at a minimum, from the Early Archaic to the Late Prehistoric, there is a great deal to be learned about the lifeways of the indigenous peoples of what is now Uvalde County in south Texas. The modern investigations at Camp La Jita continues a legacy of Texas archaeological research at the property.
In 2020-21, SWCA, in conjunction with Girl Scouts of Southwest Texas, nominated the La Jita site as a State Antiquities Landmark designation based on multiple criteria. Ultimately, the abundance of archaeological resources spanning much of cultural history in Texas, as well as the long history of investigations at the site, give the La Jita site inherent potential for contributing to a better understanding of the prehistory and history of Texas. The Texas Historical Commission formally approved the nomination of the site as a Landmark in February 2021.
Dinosaur Tracks in the Sabinal River
Long before the Indigenous People, other inhabitants roamed the land of La Jita. Dinosaurs, or “terrible lizards,” stalked the shallows, leaving footprints in the limy mud below Council Rock and along the Sabinal Riverbed. They were probably theropods, members of the Theropoda clade, and first cousins of Tyrannosaurids based on the three-toed type of footprints left.
A great lunate-shaped stone in the channel of the Sabinal River has dinosaur footprints on two sides. We know this stone as “Wallowing Rock.” Folklore has the great “terrible lizard” wallowing in the once-soft mud, creating the mount that hardened to the stone we see today. An atrial of footprints is faintly visible in the shallows.
The infamous theropods that left these incredible tracks looked something like the below depiction. A few different theropods existed, so it’s nearly impossible to get an exact image.
