Discover a 19th-Century Farm!

Join Dr. Dirt to learn how a team of archeologists and historians pieced together amazing bits of evidence to tell the story of the African American landowners, Ransom and Sarah Williams, and their nine children. Along the way, you'll learn about life on the farm and see some of the thousands of items that belonged to them—everything from buttons to bullets!

Discover a 19th-Century Farm!

Track History on a Timeline

Learn about events during the late 19th century in Texas and the US and what happened in the lives of Ransom and Sarah Williams, freed slaves who married and bought a farm in Travis County, Texas.

Track History on a Timeline

Secrets of the Texas Desert

Learn all about Hueco Tanks and the ancient people who called it home. Who were they? Why did they live here? What secrets did they leave behind? Join Dr. Dirt the armadillo archeologist as he unravels the mystery!

Secrets of the Texas Desert

Mapping the Past in the El Paso Valley!

Check out a cool old map to see what the El Paso valley in far west Texas looked like about 250 years ago! I think the map looks like Tiny Town, with missions, presidios, and haciendas where Spanish soldiers, settlers, missionaries, and Indians lived. All these missions and settlements were along the banks of the mighty Rio Grande where the people grew corn, beans, squash, and even grapes!

Mapping the Past

World of the Caddo

In ancient times, the Caddo were "lords" of the East Texas woodlands and far beyond. Their villages and farms stretched for miles along the wide Red River, the Neches, and the Sabine. The Caddo people were farmers, hunters, builders, artists, traders, warriors, dancers, and priests. They were fathers, and mothers, sisters, and brothers. Explore the world of the Caddo like you never have before!

World of the Caddo

Imagine It!

What was it like to live 500 years ago? 1000 years ago?10,000 years ago? Can you imagine not having supermarkets or malls to buy food or clothes? Can you imagine cooking without a stove or building your own house? Roll your mouse over the picture in this activity to explore life in the past—a world we can only imagine!

Imagin t!

Meet the People of Fort Griffin!

Travel way back in time to visit a real Army fort from the 1870s and a rip-roaring Texas town called The Flat! You and Major Dirt, a U.S. Army officer, will meet cowboys, soldiers, buffalo hunters, Indian scouts, and a little girl named Sallie who grew up on the west Texas frontier. You can check in at the Tonkawa Indian village, too!

Time Travel to an Ancient Rockshelter

Talking Hands

How did Indians, Spaniards, and early Texas settlers talk to each other when they didn't know each other's languages? Why they used sign language, of course! Play the Talking Hands game to see if you can guess the meaning of Plains Indians hand signs, then try your hand at creating your own sign language. 

Talking Hands

Dig through Layers of Time!

Have you every wondered what lies 10 feet beneath the ground? 20 feet below? 30 feet below? There’s a lot more there than just dirt, rocks, and worms!  Join archeologists as they shovel through layers of history at a really deep site near San Antonio, Texas. You can choose to open "doorways"  into the ancient past or watch a south Texas river flood and make layers of mud!

Digging Through Layers of Time

Journey with an Explorer

Cabeza de Vaca, the famous Spanish explorer, had a very tough time while traveling in south Texas in the early 1500s. Who wouldn't, with all that prickly pear cactus and thorny brush? Learn how he survived, discovered new people (the Coahuiltecan Indians), and ate some pretty wild food!

Cabeza de Vaca activity

Detectives into the Past

Help solve an ancient mystery with Dr. Dirt, the armadillo archeologist. In this caper, Dr. Dirt is finding out the scoop on poop—learning what ancient Texas ate by analyzing their petrified doo-doo!

Detectives into the Past

Pictographs on Parade!

Have you ever gotten in trouble for coloring on the walls of your house? In ancient times, people used to do it all the time! These paintings are called pictographs, and they cover the walls of many rockshelters in Texas. Let's take a look at some pictographs found in the Lower Pecos region of Texas.

Pictographs on Parade!

Time Travel to an Ancient Rockshelter

Take a ride in Dr. Dirt's Time-Travel Machine to discover Kincaid Shelter 13,000 years ago. Find out how ancient people of Central Texas spent their time and if Dr. Dirt can escape the ancient lions and alligators lurking in the prehistoric past!

Time Travel to an Ancient Rockshelter

Texas Beyond History
TBH WebTeam
2 May 2007


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