Monthly Meetings

NTAS Monthly Meetings are held on the 2nd Thursday of the month, at 7:00pm except in June and December. The monthly meetings are located at the University of North Texas Health Science Center in the Research & Education Building, Room 114. The NTAS meetings are hybrid meetings held in-person and offered via Zoom.

NTAS meetings are a staple of our membership. In these meetings, we discuss NTAS Announcements, which include upcoming volunteer opportunities, upcoming NTAS events, upcoming Texas Archeology Society (TAS) events, and each month we feature a guest speaker. Our guest speakers deliver programs on various archeological topics. Past topics include geoarcheology, bioarcheology, regional archeological sites and topics, and more. NTAS meetings are open to the general public.

Guests are welcome to join all NTAS monthly meetings in-person or via Zoom. To receive the Zoom link for our programs, please email info@ntxas.org .

September 11, 2025 Monthly Meeting

Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics along the Rio Grande in southern Texas

Guest Speaker: Ken Lawrence

Abstract: Recently data recovery excavations were conducted at 41SR462 (Merdivaya Site), a

stratified site on the Arroyo Los Olmos drainage in Starr County, Texas for TxDOT.

Among the discoveries at the site, some peculiar gaps in the chronological record were

encountered. These temporal gaps, roughly between 2.5–1.5k BP, had also been

observed at other Starr County archaeological sites (41SR242 and 41SR459) during

previous data recovery excavations. These data in and of themselves could not

realistically be considered in broader temporal patterns. However, this possible ‘hiatus’

did stimulate some thought as to how prevalent it may be and a review of previous

investigations and collected radiocarbon assays in the region was performed.

This presentation will discuss the results of this heuristic effort and the attempt to

contextualize the cultural chronometric data of 41SR462 and generally determine how

prevalent recognized cultural activities were through time along the Rio Grande of

southern Texas.

About Ken Lawrence, MA, RPA

Ken Lawrence is Principal Investigator-Geoarchaeologist and Project Manager for the Cultural Resources Division in SWCA’s Austin office, specializing in prehistoric archaeology and geoarchaeology. His experience includes over 30 years of cultural resources surveying, recording, monitoring, and excavation throughout Texas and Oklahoma as well as Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Kentucky, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming, and Costa Rica. He also has experience in geoarchaeological research, chronometric modeling, and associated laboratory analyses. With extensive writing experience, he has authored and co-authored numerous archaeological reports, geomorphic assessments, and geoarchaeological reports.

Ken is also a proud longtime member of the Texas Archeological Society (TAS) and serves as the chairperson for the TAS Academy Committee. He also frequently collaborates with colleagues on research projects in the region in both professional and advocational efforts and thoroughly enjoys each new adventure and learning opportunity.

Monthly meetings

September 11, 2025 Monthly Meeting

Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics along the Rio Grande in southern Texas