Conditions were somewhat wetter and cooler than today in many parts of Texas, though the Edwards Plateau was already becoming the semi-arid terrain it remains.

The Guadalupe River, along whose banks Buckeye Knoll was established, would have been a richer biological environment than it is today.

Before dams, before overgrazing that eroded the watershed, before the introduction of exotic species that destabilized native communities, the Guadalupe supported abundant fish populations, freshwater mussels, turtles, and the wildlife that congregated at a reliable water source in a semi-arid landscape.

The isotopic analysis of the Buckeye Knoll skeletal remains confirmed what this ecology would predict.