Limestone mesas dominate the foreground, the pale strata angling skyward above what, even by West Texas standards, is a rough dirt road. Above the mesas, higher still, is the Sierra Vieja, red mountains, molten in appearance, though the volcanic eruptions that laid them ended 30 million years ago.

Here, on the Pinto Canyon Ranch in Presidio County, researchers are traveling by all-terrain vehicle to Spirit Eye Cave. Collectors and looters dug the cave for a century. But what remains – in foodstuffs and fibers, in pot shards and tools – is broadening our understanding of Big Bend prehistory.

But cultural artifacts aren't the purpose of this outing. Archeologist Bryon Schroeder, of ... Hosted by for KRTS