Analysis: The Miller Collection

The Miller Collection in its entirety consists of multiple sites collected by Eldred Thomas Miller, most of which were done through the Texas Hill Country Archeological Society in the 1970’s. Miller was an advocational archaeologist who started his archaeological path after retiring from the postal service in 1971 to follow his passion for history. He quickly gained a reputation in the archaeological field for his excellent excavation skills and field notes. For example, he was fondly nicknamed “Table Top Tom” due to his nearly perfectly flat unit floors. Miller’s eccentric personality made him memorable to his field partners and he is commonly remembered at CAS for his quote: “No one ever really owns the collectibles in one’s collection. We are merely caretakers for future generations.” His love for history and the people in it was evident through his work and typically meticulous excavation styles that are present in the majority of the …show more content…
Based on the records that survived, there were 2-3 Burned Rock Middens in the area that were mostly destroyed by the building of an apartment complex. Due to the construction, much of the provenience was lost to begin with. Furthermore, the site has continued to be destroyed since the time of the original excavation. However, 4 boxes containing the artifacts, roughly 600 individual objects, Miller and his team collected from the Beck site survived. Most of the artifacts are lithic projectile points and flakes along with a few cores, bifaces, and groundstones. Accompanied with them are a few pieces of bone, ceramic, and minerals. Surprisingly, there are also two pieces of historic metal which demonstrate the level of disturbance at the site. Unfortunately, with the severe loss of provenience we are unable to tell whether or not the site was continually inhabited or used as a cache site to deposit