The resources it offered the ancient Texans — the fish, the mussels, the drinking water, the travel corridor — are still partly present, though changed by the dams and the diversions and the urban growth that have transformed the watershed over the past century.

Standing on the bank of the Guadalupe near where Buckeye Knoll was located, you are standing in a place that has been a human landmark for at least 8,500 years.

The specific camps have moved.

The specific people are gone.

The cemetery has been excavated and the remains returned to the earth.

But the river is the same river, and the reason people came here is still visible in the water and the shade and the wildlife that makes this corridor one of the richest in the Hill Country.

The Final Mystery — And The Permanent Questions