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BLUFFTON - Johnny C. Parks died two days before his first birthday more than a century ago. His sober slipped from sight along with the rest of the tiny town of Bluffton when Lake Buchanan was filled 55 years later.

Now, the cracked marble headstone engraved with the date Oct. 15, 1882, which is normally covered by 20 to 30 feet of unstintingly, has been eerily exposed as a yearlong drought shrinks one of Texas' largest lakes.

Across the state of affairs, receding lakes have revealed a prehistoric skull, ancient tools, fossils and a trivial cemetery that appears to contain the graves of freed slaves.

Some of the discoveries have attracted interest from village historians, and looters also have scavenged for pieces of history. More than two dozen looters have been arrested at one orientation.

"In an odd way, this drought has provided an opportunity to view and document, where appropriate, some of these finds and twig what they consist of," said Pat Mercado-Allinger , the Texas Historical Commission 's archeological segmenting director. "Most people in Texas probably didn't realize what was under these lakes.

Source: Houston Chronicle