SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 933
WHEREAS, Debra L. Friedkin made a site along Buttermilk
Creek in Bell County available to Texas A&M University's Center
for the Study of the First Americans in 2006, and research at the
site is adding immeasurably to our understanding of the first
Americans; and
WHEREAS, Since the 1930s, archaeologists have believed
that early inhabitants of the Americas, named the Clovis people
for artifacts found near Clovis, New Mexico, arrived in North
America from Asia, by way of the Bering Land Bridge, as the last
Ice Age waned about 13,500 years ago; over the past few decades,
however, credible evidence has emerged for pre-Clovis human
occupation of the Americas, but until now the evidence has been
incomplete; and
WHEREAS, The land in Bell County, now known as the Debra L.
Friedkin site, has been under excavation for five years by
Michael R. Waters, director of the Center for the Study of the
First Americans, and his team of scientists and researchers from
Texas A&M University, Baylor University, the University of
Illinois at Chicago, the University of Minnesota, and Texas State
University--San Marcos, and the group has found artifacts that
support the pre-Clovis theory; and
WHEREAS, The excavation of the Debra L. Friedkin site has
revealed deposits that testify to human occupation spanning the
last 15,500 years; layers near the surface show evidence of late
Prehistoric and Archaic occupants of the region, while deeper
layers reflect Folsom and Clovis occupations dating back 12,000
to 13,000 years; below this, researchers have discovered nearly
16,000 artifacts that appear to be pre-Clovis in origin; and
WHEREAS, Multiple studies suggest that the Debra L.
Friedkin site is undisturbed and intact; because the lack of
organic material at the site made carbon dating impossible,
researchers employed a technique known as optically stimulated
luminescence, which detects the last time the sediment
surrounding the artifacts received exposure to sunlight, and
more than 60 such measures show that people had arrived there by
15,500 years ago; and
WHEREAS, The discoveries from the excavation at the Debra
L. Friedkin site are bringing archaeologists and other members of
the scientific community much closer to solving mysteries of
early human habitation of the Americas, and their work would not
be possible without the generosity of Ms. Friedkin; now,
therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the Senate of the State of Texas, 82nd
Legislature, hereby honor Debra L. Friedkin for her support of
the ongoing research at the Debra L. Friedkin site and extend to
her sincere gratitude for the advances in knowledge of human
history she is helping to realize; and, be it further
RESOLVED, That an official copy of this Resolution be
prepared for Ms. Friedkin as an expression of high regard from
the Texas Senate.
Ellis
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President of the Senate
I hereby certify that the
above Resolution was adopted by
the Senate on May 6, 2011.
________________________________
Secretary of the Senate
________________________________
Member, Texas Senate