Lubbock Lake Landmark
Lubbock Lake Site (41LU1) · Llano Estacado Stratified Site
Paleo-Indian to Late Prehistoric (Clovis to Puebloan)·Clovis, Folsom, Plano, Archaic, Late Prehistoric·🇺🇸 Texas, Lubbock County, United States
About
About Lubbock Lake Landmark
National Historic Landmark meander-bend site on Yellow House Draw 5 km north of Lubbock, preserving 11,000 years of continuous strata from Clovis (11,000 BP) through Folsom, Plano, Archaic, to Apache and historic Llano Estacado. Stratum 1 contains Clovis-Folsom mammoth-bison kill beds with butchered Bison antiquus; Stratum 5 holds 1,000-year-old Puebloan interval. E. Kelley and E. Johnson excavations since 1939 documented climate-driven playas. 336-acre landmark; NHL 1977; Maxwell Museum lab on-site.
Why it mattersLongest complete Great Plains cultural sequence; defines Clovis–Folsom–Plano transition with in situ bone beds.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01How Paleo-Indians predicted bison migration through Yellow House Draw playas
- 02Climate vs human agency in megafauna extinction at Lubbock Lake
Theories
- 01Draw as natural trap — bison mired in playa mud during drought
- 02Stratigraphic hiatus documents Altithermal drought gap 8,000–4,500 BP
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.11,000 BP–1400 CE (continuous)
- Period
- Paleo-Indian to Late Prehistoric (Clovis to Puebloan)
- Culture
- Clovis, Folsom, Plano, Archaic, Late Prehistoric
- Builders
- Successive Llano Estacado hunters
- Purpose
- Draw-side kill/butcher camp and water-hole aggregation with stratified bone beds
- Abandoned
- c.1400 CE (historic Apache)
- Rediscovered
- 1936 by West Texas Museum; excavated 1939–1975 Kelley
- Excavation
- Excavation ongoing
c.11,000 BP
First Clovis mammoth kills in Yellow House Draw
c.10,500 BP
Folsom bison kill beds dominate
c.8,000–4,500 BP
Altithermal hiatus — draw dry, occupation gap
1936
Discovery by WPA crews; Museum of Texas Tech begins dig
On the ground
Structures & features
33.6240° N · 101.8890° W · 970 m · 2 mapped features
Clovis bone bed (Stratum 1)
feature11,000 BP mammoth and Bison antiquus butcher horizon with Clovis points in draw mud
33.6250° N · 101.8880° WFolsom-Plainview bison bed
feature10,500–9,000 BP stratified Bison antiquus kill horizon with Folsom fluted points
33.6229° N · 101.8898° W