Lewisville Prehistoric Site

The plaque's twelve thousand years is a revised answer. Radiocarbon laboratories first reported ages beyond 37,000 years, and for years the site was argued over as possible proof of people in the Americas far earlier than Clovis hunters. The Handbook of Texas says the 1978 to 1980 drought, which briefly exposed the lakebed, led to a new reading: lignite, a coal, had contaminated the samples. The hearths now look like the work of Clovis-age people burning it as fuel. Only one Clovis point was found in place, and the collection is held at the Smithsonian.

What the plaque says

Lewisville Prehistoric Site During the construction of Lewisville Dam in 1950, a number of aboriginal artifacts were unearthed; archeologists conducted several excavations (1952-57) before the waters of Garza-Little Elm Reservoir covered the site. The excavations revealed 21 hearths, vegetable matter, animal bone fragments and lignite (coal) which was used for fuel. Scientific radiocarbon dating techniques indicate the organic material is approximately 12,000 years old. The Lewisville discoveries are similar in age and content to findings at the Clovis site in New Mexico. (1980)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Denton County Courthouse-on-the-Square — 13 mi
  An 1896 courthouse by W. C. Dodson in Denton limestone, pink granite and two sandstones, restored in 2004, now a free county museum on a lawn holding the grave of John B. Denton.
• Dallas Museum of Art — 22 mi
  A city art museum that began as the Dallas Art Association in 1903, grew up in Fair Park, and has stood in the Arts District since 1984 under a forty-foot barrel vault.
• The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza — 23 mi
  A plow-company warehouse of 1903, identified by the Warren Commission as the building Oswald fired from, now a museum on its sixth and seventh floors above Dealey Plaza.
• Heard Natural Science Museum & Wildlife Sanctuary — 23 mi
  A 289-acre sanctuary in McKinney that Bessie Heard founded at the age of 80, with five habitats, a 50-acre wetland and 6.5 miles of trails.

More markers nearby

• Peters Colony — 2.5 mi
• Texas International Pop Festival — 4.5 mi
• Swisher Cemetery — 5.1 mi
• Chinn's Chapel Methodist Church — 5.4 mi