Aranama Pottery Sherd

For thousands of years, people have lived on the lands we now call Texas. Artifacts found in the ground are evidence that different peoples lived here at different times. Additionally, the artifacts are evidence of vast trade and diverse peoples living together.

Indigenous pottery sherds like this one were found on the site of La Salle's French colony which existed from 1685 to 1689. Later, the Spanish from 1721 to 1726 established the La Bahia Presidio on the same site. Both the French and Spanish benefited from the use of indigenous pottery.

The type of clay used in this sherd is typical of pottery made by the Aranama who lived on the lower Guadalupe and San Antonio rivers near the coast. Not much is known about the Aranama. Spanish records note that the Aranama were primarily an agricultural society and some joined the Spanish Mission system. It is believed that the Aranama disappeared as a tribe by 1843.