Burnt rocks tell a tale of Indians

Edited by Jim Fish

Ozona—Burnt rocks remain in the town and vicinity of Sterling City and tell a story of Indians who inhabited the valleys of the Concho Rivers as early as a thousand years ago. It is believed the rocks were heated and used for cooking by the Indians, declared W.F. Kellis in his publication, the Sterling City News Record, circa January 1933. Shedding light and giving his readership a view of early history, he states:

"The valley of the Conchos were once the sites of many Indian villages. There are few places along these streams that have not been the home of some aboriginal family or tribe. Before the advent of white men, the Indians knew nothing or little about metal implements. Therefore, they resorted to stone, bone, and wood, which they used to shape their weapons of war or the chase, as well as implements for domestic use.

"These were of the stone age before the white man taught them the use of metals. It was the men of the stone age who left the record of their existence on the ground where Sterling City and other towns and cities now stand.

"When Coronado and others first explored this country, they found natives of the Stone Age, but later explorers found the Comanches and Kiowas inhabiting these valleys who, by contact with the white man, were using metal implements instead of stone.

"It is said these tribes, in a few generations, had lost the art of chipping the flakes of flint but were still using arrow points that they found. While they used these, it is said that no Comanche or Kiowa had any idea how they were made. It is quite evident that the records left in these valleys and hills were those of an earlier tribe than the Comanche and Kiowa. The habits and customs were different from latter Indians. The ancient Indians buried their dead on the highest peak of the mountains by covering the remains with stones. Like all other Indians, they buried whatever personal belongings of the deceased, such as ivory beads, bone ornaments, flint knives and arrowheads.

"The Comanche and Kiowa preferred depositing their dead in rocky hillsides, clefts and crevices. They are identified by the metal ornaments, weapons, and beads made by the white men. These preferred to close a crevice grave with rock. We have yet to find a stone artifact in one of the latter graves.

"It was the earlier tribes who left the indelible record of their habitations on the ground here. If you notice, you will see piles of burnt rock along the valleys near the river. Some are intact, just as they were left by those who used them long ago. Others are scattered, but they are blackened by fire and cannot be mistaken for stone in the natural state.

"Even in some of the streets of Sterling City nearest the river, these burnt rocks can be found. It is believed that these Indians made fires and heated these rocks for cooking purposes. Water boiled by dropping these hot stones into pottery vessels filled with water. Evidently, the food of these Indians consisted of game which they killed with arrows, mussels which they found in the river, as well as roots, acorns, and pecan nuts.

"If you notice closely, you will find fragments of bones and mussel shells around these piles of burnt stone. Also, one can find flakes of flint around them with now and then an arrowhead, scraper, knife, hatchet, hammer, and other flint artifacts. A stone mortar on the hillside south across the Concho River about half a mile from the courthouse in Sterling City leads one to conclude that great quantities of acorns were converted into meals in it. This conclusion is based on the fact that this mortar or mill, is stained red. The red color is no doubt the result of the tannic acid in the acorns coming in contact with the hard conglomerate limestone in which the mortar was bored and creating a stain that has defied the elements for hundreds of years.

"Over in the canyons north of Sterling City are the remains of extensive villages. There are many places where there and perfect circles of burnt rock to be found. Even there, miles away from permanent water, fragments of mussel shells are found around these ancient camps. One is led to believe that they were of the same tribe as those who lived on the Concho River. This belief is based on the fact that their burial customs were identical, with the difference that the Canyon Indians built their rock middens in a circle while the Conchos did not.

"These Indians used but very little pottery because very few fragments of pottery are to be found around these campsites. They evidently used wooden vessels because a wooden bowl was found in a cave near here many years ago, along with the bones of its owner.

"These Indians were great collectors of curios. Many of them carried medicine bags that contained roots, herbs, bones, and teeth of certain animals, as well as colored pebbles and ore. Around one of these camps, a cluster of valuable rubies was found near San Angelo several years ago. These rubies were as large as quail eggs and were exceedingly beautiful. No doubt it was lost there by a medicine man who had great faith in its magical power. A four-carat diamond was found in a grave on the Pecos River near Grand Falls back in the 1890's by a Mr. Tatum. Where these Indians obtained these stones for their medicine bags is a mystery. But there are plenty of mysteries about these people who made their homes in these hills and valleys a thousand years ago."