In many Indigenous traditions, shell from the ocean carries specific cosmological significance — it comes from the great waters, from the boundary between the world and what lies beyond, and carries the power of that origin.

Placing marine shell with the dead was not a casual choice.

It was a deliberate statement about the relationship between the deceased and the broader cosmic order.

The antler tools found in some Texas Archaic burials speak to the importance of deer in both the practical and symbolic life of these populations.

Deer were among the most important sources of food and raw material in the post-Pleistocene Texas landscape.

Antler was used for tool handles, for digging tools, for working stone and bone.