Midland Man
Midland, Midland County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Oldest human remains in new world. Found 1953 on ranch near here by pipeline welder Keith Glasscock. Fossilized skull, rib and hand bones had been exposed by weather conditions. Tests indicated these were bones of a woman who lived as long ago as 9000-9500 B. C.; nearby were bones of extinct species of horse, camel, mammoth, peccary, wolf, sloth; with weapons, tools and signs of ancient campfires. Drs. Fred Wendorf and Alex D. Kreiger, archaeologists; Claude C. Albritton, geologist; T. D. Stewart, physician and anthropologist, made studies of the discovery.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In 1953 pipeline welder Keith Glasscock spotted fossilized human bones weathering out of a ranch near here — a skull, rib, and hand fragments of a woman who may have lived as early as 9,000–9,500 B.C. Found alongside the bones of extinct horse, camel, mammoth, and sloth, plus tools and ancient hearths, the discovery drew a team of leading archaeologists, geologists, and anthropologists. "Midland Man" ranks among the oldest human remains yet found in the Americas.
Why it matters
The find reshaped understanding of how early and how widely Paleo-Indian peoples lived on the North American plains, anchoring the deep human past of Texas.
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Related people
- · Keith Glasscock
- · Fred Wendorf
- · Alex D. Krieger
- · Claude C. Albritton
- · T. D. Stewart
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
W. B. Anglin
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W.B. Anglin, a Virginia-born member of Company B of the Texas Rangers' Frontier Battalion, joined the force around 1875 at about age 25. On July 1, 1879, he was killed near this spot while trailing a Comanche raiding party and was buried where he fell. Remembered for his bravery and good humor, Anglin is recorded as the last man slain by Indians in central West Texas.
Marcy Trail
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In 1849 an Army expedition under Captain Randolph B. Marcy, guided by a Comanche man named Manuel, crossed the dreaded Llano Estacado of West Texas and proved the staked plains could be traveled. The route Marcy plotted from Doña Ana to Fort Smith became a shorter road to the California gold fields, later carried the overland stage, and by 1881 guided the Texas and Pacific Railroad. This marker stands near that pioneering path.
Midland County
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Sitting midway between El Paso and Fort Worth on the Texas and Pacific Railroad, the townsite took the name Midland in 1881, and Midland County was created in 1885. The area had been a crossroads of trails and the site of one of the last Comanche raids into Texas before cattlemen, sheepmen, and windmill-watered farmers moved in. The 1928 Permian Basin discovery made Midland an oil headquarters, and in 1954 the ancient "Midland Man" remains were found nearby.
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