Culture · Late Prehistoric
Toyah
1300–1700 CE, North America — Great Plains
Toyah is the Late Prehistoric bison-hunting adaptation of central and southern Texas, about 1300 to 1700 CE, defined by a tool kit rather than a people: Perdiz arrow points, small end scrapers, beveled knives, flake drills and bone-tempered Leon Plain pottery. It ends with Spanish contact and the mission period. Collectors meet it on the Edwards Plateau and along the Colorado, Brazos and Nueces rivers, usually as Perdiz points and thumbnail scrapers from plowed fields.
| Dates | 1300–1700 CE |
|---|---|
| Period | Late Prehistoric |
| Region | North America — Great Plains |
| Areas | Central Texas, Edwards Plateau, South Texas, Lower Pecos |
| Typical objects | Projectile point, Scraper, Drill, Jar |
| Typical materials | Edwards chert, Shell-tempered earthenware, Bone and antler |
Identification
Perdiz points with long barbs and a contracting stem, tiny unifacial end scrapers, four-beveled knives and plain bone-tempered sherds make the assemblage; Toyah and Garza are the other arrow points. Edwards chert dominates and much of it is heat-treated.
Legality
In Texas, artifacts on private land belong to the landowner and may be collected and sold with permission; state land, riverbeds and state parks are covered by the Antiquities Code of Texas (Natural Resources Code chapter 191), and federal land by ARPA. Burials on any land are protected under the Health and Safety Code chapter 711.
Reproductions and fakes
Perdiz points are reproduced by the thousand in heat-treated Edwards chert for the tourist trade; genuine examples are small, thin, patinated and often have a snapped tip or a lost barb. Reproductions are too even and too complete.
Cite this article
Stratum Strata. "Toyah" (Culture). Stratum Strata pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-21. https://stratum.black/strata/cultures/toyah. Accessed 2026-09-21.
@misc{stratum-toyah,
title = {Toyah},
author = {{Stratum Strata}},
howpublished = {\url{https://stratum.black/strata/cultures/toyah}},
year = {2026},
note = {Culture article, Stratum Strata pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-21; sources: stratum. Accessed 2026-09-21.}
} Citations carry the pack version and the article's as-of date so they resolve to the same text later. The facts themselves belong to the sources listed below; cite those for the science.