The archaeological record preserves none of this.

It preserves bone density and isotope ratios and artifact types.

The specific humanity of these individuals — the thing that makes their lives matter in the most fundamental sense — is beyond recovery.

This is not a reason to abandon archaeology.

It is a reason to approach the evidence with appropriate humility — to recognize that what the physical record preserves is genuinely significant, genuinely valuable, and genuinely incomplete.

The ancient Texans are not fully knowable.