AUSTIN, Texas — For the first time in decades, a man from Georgetown visited the area where he grew up and played -- now a major archeological site where some arrowheads found there date back about 20,000 years.
"The walnut trees would have been at the end of this field," said Ralph Russel, while pointing towards the distance.
It's a day to remember for Russel.
"I have seen this creek flowing so strong that you hardly see the rocks in it," he said. "We would pick up a few arrowheads from time to time and put them in our pocket."
Full of emotion, Russel remembers the last time he came to the area now known as "The Gault." It was just before his father passed away.
"He was not in good health, so he wanted to see this place one last time and we brought him here," he explained with tears in his eyes.
"The Gault" is now it's a major archeological site.
"This was a site people liked and everyone came to in Central Texas for a long time," said Clark Wernecke, researcher with the Gault School of Archeology.
The researchers based at Texas State University in San Marcos found the oldest signs of human existence at the site: arrowheads which date back almost 20,000 years.
Researchers hope the arrowheads hold signs of the first settlers in North America.
For Russel, however, it's about unearthing the memories of his childhood while imagining what else still lies below the ground.
"I feel extremely lucky and honored in even being a part of this place," he said.
Curators are working to display the 20,000-year-old arrowheads at the Bullock Texas State History Museum, which will be available to see when the 'Becoming Texas' exhibit opens in November.