History Commons^™

Documentation Of Unassociated Ceramic Vessel Funerary Objects In The Gregg County Historical Museum Collections From Sites In Gregg, Harrison, And Panola Counties In East Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Robert Z. Selden Jr., Bo Nelson

Index of Texas Archaeology: Open Access Gray Literature from the Lone Star State

This report is the latest in a series of reports that have been supported by the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma, Cultural Preservation Program that concern the documentation of funerary objects in museum facilities that are subject to the provisions and regulations of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) (Gonzalez et al. 2005; Cast et al. 2006; Perttula et al. 2007, 2009a, 2009b, 2010a, 2011). These documentation studies have been done either with grants from the National Park Service, or through funding provided by the museum facility that held NAGPRA funerary objects. In the case of the present …

The Caddo Archaeology Of The Musgano Site (41rk19) In The Sabine River Basin Of East Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

Index of Texas Archaeology: Open Access Gray Literature from the Lone Star State

The Musgano site (41RK19) is an important ancestral Caddo habitation site on Martin Creek in Rusk County in the Sabine River basin in the East Texas Pineywoods. The site was investigated by the Texas Archeological Survey at The University of Texas at Austin in 1972 and 1973 prior to the construction of Martin Creek Lake by Texas Utilities Services, Inc., and a Caddo house structure, midden deposits, features, and a large ceramic assemblage were documented from a component speculated to date between ca. A.D. 1400-1500 (Clark and Ivey 1974:14-41; McDonald 1972:10-11). Unfortunately, however, the results of the excavations and the …

The Hale And Keith Mounds In The Big Cypress Creek Basin In East Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

Index of Texas Archaeology: Open Access Gray Literature from the Lone Star State

The L. A. Hale (41TT12) and George L. Keith (41TT11) sites are two important ancestral Caddo mound centers in the Big Cypress Creek basin in the Post Oak Savanna of East Texas. Between them, they appear to have been occupied by Caddo peoples between ca. A.D. 1000-1400, although they may not have been occupied contemporaneously. Key questions that I hope to answer in this publication are: (1) when were the sites occupied and when were the mounds on them constructed, and (2) what were the mounds and the sites used for? These questions are challenging because both sites were excavated …

Archaeological Studies Of The Hatchel Site (41bw3) On The Red River In Bowie County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

Index of Texas Archaeology: Open Access Gray Literature from the Lone Star State

The Hatchel site (41BW3) is a major prehistoric and protohistoric Caddo village and mound center on a natural levee deposit in the floodplain of the Red River in Bowie County, Texas. The platform mound and the main part of the associated village overlooks two channel lakes of the river; these likely were part of the channel of the river when the site was occupied by the Caddo.

The site was occupied by the Caddo from at least A.D. 1040 to the late 17th century. The earliest end of this age range is based on 2-sigma calibrated ages from radiocarbon dates …

The Mitchell Site (41bw4): An Ancestral Caddo Settlement And Cemetery On Mckinney Bayou, Bowie County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

Index of Texas Archaeology: Open Access Gray Literature from the Lone Star State

The Paul Mitchell site (41BW4) is an ancestral Caddo habitation site and cemetery in the larger ancestral and historic occupation of the Upper Nasoni Village on the Red River in Bowie County, in the northeastern corner of the present state of Texas. Extensive excavations were conducted at the site in the 1930s by both professional and avocational archaeologists. and in the 1940s by an avocational archaeologist, but the findings from these investigations have never been fully analyzed or reported to date, although several bioarchaeological studies have been published concerning the Mitchell site human remains. This monograph represents a renewed examination …

A Catalog Of Selected Caddo Ceramic Vessels In The Buddy Jones Collection At The Gregg County Historical Museum, Timothy K. Perttula, Robert Z. Selden Jr., Bo Nelson

Index of Texas Archaeology: Open Access Gray Literature from the Lone Star State

This publications presents information and images of 420 Caddo ceramic vessels from several different parts of East Texas. These vessels are in the Buddy Calvin Jones collection at the Gregg County Historical Museum (GCHM) in Longview, Texas. They represent unassociated funerary objects under the provisions of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). Our purpose in producing this publication is to make this information available to those in the professional and avocational archaeological community with a serious interest in the native history of the Caddo Indian peoples; as well as to the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma; and to …

The Eli Moores Site, A 17th To Early 18th Century Caddo Site On The Red River, Bowie County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

Index of Texas Archaeology: Open Access Gray Literature from the Lone Star State

The Eli Moores site (41BW2) is an important ancestral Caddo mound center and habitation site on the Red River in the East Texas Pineywoods, likely part of the Nasoni Caddo village visited by the Teran de los Rios entrada in 1691. The site may have been the residence of the caddi of the Nasoni Caddo when it was visited by the French and Spanish, and the Xinesi lived in a temple on the mound at the nearby Hatchel site. The site was investigated by the University of Texas in 1932, and in one of the mounds and in associated midden …

Analysis Of New Artifact Collections From Archaic To Ancestral Caddo Sites In The Saline Creek Basin In Northern Smith County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Mark Thacker

Index of Texas Archaeology: Open Access Gray Literature from the Lone Star State

This article concerns the continued documentation of prehistoric and/or historic artifacts from four sites in the Saline Creek drainage basin in the Post Oak Savannah in northern Smith County, Texas. Perttula and Walters discussed an earlier analysis of a set of collections from these same sites. Saline Creek is a northward-flowing tributary to the Sabine River. The sites are ca. 10 km south of the confluence of Saline Creek with the Sabine River. Saline Creek enters into the Sabine River about 6 km east (downstream) of the confluence of another major tributary, Lake Fork Creek, with the river.

Temporal Dynamics Of East Texas Caddo Sites With Nine Or Fewer Radiocarbon Dates, Robert Z. Selden Jr.

Index of Texas Archaeology: Open Access Gray Literature from the Lone Star State

This article presents the specifics from the date combination process, and the subsequent production of summed probability distributions for radiocarbon (14C) assays from Caddo sites in East Texas. All 14C dates employed in this effort were collected from research and cultural resource management (CRM) reports and publications, were synthesized, and then recalibrated in version 4.2.2 of OxCal using IntCal09. These data are meant to augment those from previous analyses of radiocarbon samples from East Texas Caddo sites, assisting in refining these ideas further.

The Gardener Site (41cp55): A Late Caddo Settlement On Big Cypress Creek In East Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Bo Nelson, Robert Z. Selden Jr.

Index of Texas Archaeology: Open Access Gray Literature from the Lone Star State

The Gardener site (41CP55) in Camp County, Texas, was first recorded by Sullivan prior to construction of Lake Bob Sandlin on Big Cypress Creek. A surface collection of sherds and daub suggested that the site was the locus of a Late Caddo period (ca. A.D. 1450-1680) settlement and burned house. However, no further archaeological work was done at the site before it was inundated by Lake Bob Sandlin in the late 1970s.

Recently, because of lower flood pool levels at Lake Bob Sandlin due to East Texas drought conditions, archaeological materials from the Gardener site have been exposed along the …

Additional Caddo Vessels From The Henry Spencer Site (41ur315), Timothy K. Perttula, Bo Nelson

Index of Texas Archaeology: Open Access Gray Literature from the Lone Star State

Perttula documented 184 ceramic vessels from 39 burials at a Late Caddo Titus phase (ca. A.D. 1450-1680) cemetery at the Henry Spencer site (41UR315) in the Little Cypress Creek basin in the East Texas Pineywoods. Subsequently, two additional vessels from the site, one from Burial 23 and one from Burial 34, have been identified in the collections of the Gregg County Historical Museum in Longview, Texas. These two new vessels are documented below.

Burial 23 had six ceramic vessels placed with the deceased Caddo individual. There were seven ceramic vessels placed as funerary offerings with Burial 34.

Caddo Ceramic Vessels From The Mrs. Martin Farm, Harrison County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Bo Nelson

Index of Texas Archaeology: Open Access Gray Literature from the Lone Star State

The Mrs. Martin Farm site is a Caddo site in the community of Darco, in south central Harrison County, in the Sabine River basin of the East Texas Pineywoods. The farm was investigated by C. W. Bailey in March 1941, and two Caddo ceramic vessels recovered in this work at depths of ca. 36 and 76 cm bs are now curated at the Gregg County Historical Museum. These vessels are likely funerary offerings from two different burials at the site.

The Millsey Williamson (41rk3), Bead Burial, And L. N. Morwell Farm Sites On Martin Creek: Historic Caddo Settlements Along Trammels Trace, Rusk County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Bo Nelson

Index of Texas Archaeology: Open Access Gray Literature from the Lone Star State

There are collections of ceramic vessels and other artifacts from the Millsey Williamson (41RK3), Bead Burial, and L. N. Morwell sites in the Buddy Jones collection at the Gregg County Historical Museum. The purpose of this article is to put the documentation of these collections on record, as this documentation provides previously unavailable detailed information on the material content of probable 18th century Nadaco Caddo/Kinsloe phase historic sites in East Texas.

Based on the limited available information from the Bead Burial and L. N. Morwell Farm sites, it is probable that all three sites are different names for the same …

A Whole Vessel From The Henry Brown #2 Site (41hs262), A Historic Nadaco Caddo Site In Harrison County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Bo Nelson

Index of Texas Archaeology: Open Access Gray Literature from the Lone Star State

The Henry Brown #2 site is a poorly known Historic Caddo site (dating after ca. A.D. 1685) affiliated with the Nadaco Caddo on Potters Creek in Harrison County, Texas. It is a cemetery site located about 0.5 miles from the J. O. and Henry Brown (or Brown #1) site (41HS261), another Historic Caddo cemetery. A single fragmentary ceramic vessel from the Henry Brown #2 site has been identified in the collections of the Gregg County Historical Museum in Longview, Texas, and we recently documented this vessel in July 2013.

The Sipes' Home Site (41rk603): A Late 18th To Early 19th Century Caddo Site On Martin Creek In Rusk County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

Index of Texas Archaeology: Open Access Gray Literature from the Lone Star State

The Sipes' Home site (41RK603) is an Historic Caddo site on Martin Creek, near Trammel's Trace, about 20 km from its confluence with the Sabine River. It is ca. 2 km downstream from the Martin Lake dam. This site was found and investigated by Buddy C. Jones in the 1950s or early 1960s. He obtained surface collections of historic and aboriginal artifacts from the site; there are no available notes concerning this work.

Caddo Ceramic Vessels From The Sipes Hill Site (41rk602) Along Martin Creek In The Sabine River Basin In East Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Robert Z. Selden Jr., Bo Nelson

Index of Texas Archaeology: Open Access Gray Literature from the Lone Star State

The Sipes Hill site (41RK602) is an ancestral Caddo site on Martin Creek, near Trammel's Trace, about 20 km from its confluence with the Sabine River. It is ca. 2 km downstream from the Martin Lake dam. The Sipes' Home site (41RK603) is about 100m to the northeast.

This site was found and investigated by Buddy C. Jones in the 1950s or early 1960s. He did an unknown amount of excavations at the site, and ended up excavating at least one Caddo burial at the site; there are no available notes concerning these excavations or the burial feature, however. Whole …

The Caddo Ceramics From Three Sites On Hawkins Creek In The Sabine River Basin, Gregg County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

Index of Texas Archaeology: Open Access Gray Literature from the Lone Star State

Buddy Jones collected ceramic sherds from Caddo sites across the mid-Sabine River basin, in Gregg, Harrison, and Rusk counties, in the 1950s and 1960s. With only a few exceptions, however, did Jones complete analyses or publications on his collecting activities, and in most cases his general collections have not been fully inventoried or analyzed. In an attempt to remedy that, and in the process gather important information on the technological and stylistic character of Caddo ceramics found in Caddo settlements in the mid-Sabine River basin, this article discusses the ancestral Caddo ceramic assemblages from three sites in the Hawkins Creek …

Additional Collections Of Woodland To Caddo Period Artifacts From The Alligator Pond Site (41sm442), Smith County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Mark Thacker

Index of Texas Archaeology: Open Access Gray Literature from the Lone Star State

The Alligator Pond site is a substantial multi-component prehistoric and historic archaeological site (ca. 1.5 acres) on an upland ridge on the east side of Saline Creek. Saline Creek is a northward-flowing tributary to the Sabine River, and the site is ca. 10 km south of the confluence of Saline Creek with the Sabine River, in the Post Oak Savannah in northern Smith County, Texas.

This is the third article that reports on the artifact assemblages from the site. Previous analyses of the artifact assemblages indicate that the principal component is a pre-A.D. 1200 Caddo habitation site, but there is …

Caddo Ceramic Vessels From The Loftis And Pearl Smith Sites In Harrison County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Bo Nelson

Index of Texas Archaeology: Open Access Gray Literature from the Lone Star State

The Loftis (HC-53) and Pearl Smith (HC-60) sites are ancestral Caddo sites that were investigated by Buddy Jones, probably in 1960, but those investigations were never published by Jones. The sites are along Clarks Creek in the Sabine River basin in southwestern Harrison County in East Texas; Loftis is about 3 km north of the Pearl Smith site. Jones excavated Caddo burials from both sites, and also conducted limited investigations in Caddo habitation deposits at the Loftis site.

There are two vessels from the Loftis site and one vessel from the Pearl Smith site in the Buddy Jones collection at …

An Engraved Caddo Vessel From The Quitman Area, Wood County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Kim Wright

Index of Texas Archaeology: Open Access Gray Literature from the Lone Star State

Pottery vessels from ancestral Caddo sites are widely known across all parts of East Texas, with recognizable vessel forms and decorative styles that have both distinctive temporal and spatial distributions. In this article we put on record an engraved Caddo vessel with a rather unique design from an unknown site in the Quitman area in Wood County.

This part of East Texas, specifically the Lake Fork Creek basin in the upper Sabine River drainage, is an area with an extensive record of ancestral Caddo habitation sites and cemeteries. In particular, there are many Late Caddo period, Titus phase, sites and …

Caddo Ceramics From Mound Deposits At The Shelby Mound Site (41cp71) On Greasy Creek, Camp County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

Index of Texas Archaeology: Open Access Gray Literature from the Lone Star State

Archaeological evidence from 15th to 17th century (dating from ca. A.D. 1430-1680) Caddo sites that have been investigated in the Big Cypress Creek and Sabine River basins of northeastern Texas indicate that many of the components have been identified as belonging to the Titus phase. They represent permanent, year-round, settlements of horticultural or agricultural peoples with distinctive cultural practices and material culture. The 15th to 17th century archaeological record in these two basins “refers to a number of distinctive socio-cultural groups, not a single Caddo group; these groups or communities were surely related and/or affiliated by kinship, marriage, and social …

New Radiocarbon Dates From East Texas Caddo Sites, Timothy K. Perttula, Robert Z. Selden Jr.

Index of Texas Archaeology: Open Access Gray Literature from the Lone Star State

In this article, we report the results of AMS dating of organic remains from ancestral East Texas Caddo sites in Gregg and Harrison counties. These sites are the Wade site (GC-38), a Middle Caddo period habitation in the mid-Sabine River basin, as well as from vessels (in the Gregg County Historical Museum) placed in Caddo burials at the Susie Slade (41HS13), Hyte, Eli Fields, J. O. and Henry Brown (41HS261), and the Patton (41HS825) sites in the Big Cypress and mid-Sabine River basins, and a vessel from an unknown site in the Big Cypress Creek basin.

The Distribution Of Negative Painted Pottery In The Caddo Area, Timothy K. Perttula

Index of Texas Archaeology: Open Access Gray Literature from the Lone Star State

Negative painted pottery (NPP) is one of the most distinctive kinds of pottery made by Mississippian peoples during the Middle Mississippian period (ca. A.D. 1200-1500) in eastern North America. This pottery is decorated with a “resist painting technique, which creates a lighter-colored design outlined by a black pigment” over an underlying slip/wash.

Principal production areas for NPP include the lower Ohio River valley, the Nashville Basin, and the Bootheel of southeast Missouri, and there are four main types: Kincaid Negative Painted, Nashville Negative Painted, Sikeston Negative Painted, and Angel Negative Painted. This NPP has been found in several sites in …

The Distribution Of Passenger Pigeon On Caddo Sites In The Trans-Mississippi South, Timothy K. Perttula, Laura Nightengale, Davaid H. Jurney

Index of Texas Archaeology: Open Access Gray Literature from the Lone Star State

Following up on the discovery of 10 passenger pigeon elements from one bird in a Caddo burial feature (Burial 52) at the Mitchell site (41BW4) on the Red River in Bowie County, we have documented the distribution of passenger pigeon on Caddo sites in the Trans-Mississippi South. To date, we have identified 10 Caddo sites dating between ca. A.D. 1160-1710 with passenger pigeon bones, along with two Woodland period sites (generally predating ca. A.D. 800-900) in the region. These sites range as far east as the Saline River basin in Southwest Arkansas, as far west as the George C. Davis …

Caddo Ceramic Vessels From The Mcspadden Site, Robert Z. Selden Jr.

Index of Texas Archaeology: Open Access Gray Literature from the Lone Star State

The McSpadden site (unrecorded and with no site trinomial) is located on the outskirts of Frankston, Texas, in Anderson County, where three Caddo vessels were recovered during the construction of a local roadway during the early 1950s. These vessels are currently curated in a private collection in College Station, Texas. All come from the same small area, and based upon their stylistic character and vessel forms, appear to date to the Late Caddo period (ca. A.D. 1400-1650) in this part of East Texas.

Documentation Of Late Caddo Period Ceramic Vessels From Sites In The Lake Fork Creek Basin In Wood County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Bob D. Skiles

Index of Texas Archaeology: Open Access Gray Literature from the Lone Star State

In this article we document 18 ceramic vessels from three ancestral Caddo sites with cemeteries in the Lake Fork Creek basin in Wood County, Texas. Each site has a Late Caddo period Titus phase (ca. A.D. 1430-1680) component.

Ancestral Caddo Ceramics In East Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Robert Z. Selden Jr.

Index of Texas Archaeology: Open Access Gray Literature from the Lone Star State

The most distinctive material culture item of the ancestral Caddo groups that lived in East Texas from ca. A.D. 900 to the 1830s were the ceramics they manufactured primarily for cooking, storage, and serving needs. The decorative styles and vessels forms of the ceramics found at sites in the region hint at the variety, temporal span, and geographic extent of a number of ancestral Caddo groups that lived in this area. The diversity in decoration and shape of Caddo ceramics is considerable, both in the utility ware jars and bowls, as well as in the fine ware bottles, carinated bowls, …

The Classification Of Late Caddo Period Utility Ware Jars From Sites In The Big Cypress Creek Basin Of East Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

Index of Texas Archaeology: Open Access Gray Literature from the Lone Star State

Much of the decorated utility wares found in Titus phase mortuary vessel assemblages in the Big Cypress Creek basin of East Texas has been typologically identified over the years as "Miscellaneous Fulton Aspect [Late Caddo] Utility Pottery," which has hindered the full appreciation of the stylistic, temporal, and stylistic diversity that exists among theses sites in the region, or to the extra-local region. The diversity apparent in the decorated utility wares from Titus phase sites has a considerable potential to she light on the existence and spatial distribution of communities of Caddo potters sharing or not sharing utility ware decorative …

Predictive Modeling Of A Caddo Structure In The Ouachita Mountains, Montgomery Counts, Arkansas, Vanessa N. Hanvey

Index of Texas Archaeology: Open Access Gray Literature from the Lone Star State

During the Arkansas Archaeological Survey/Society Training Program in June, 2014, an arc of postmolds from a Caddo structure was uncovered at site 3MN298. The site is located in Montgomery County, Arkansas, within the Ouachita National Forest, on a bend of the Ouachita River. After reviewing the literature on Caddo architecture, an attempt was made to predict the size and shape of the building as well as the location of any associated features. In September, 2013, a small field crew effectively ground-truthed the model. This article explores the process of creating and using a predictive model to guide archaeological excavations of …

Burned Rock Mounds In North-Central And Northeastern Oklahoma, Robert L. Brooks

Index of Texas Archaeology: Open Access Gray Literature from the Lone Star State

Burned rock mounds haven been identified in Oklahoma since the early twentieth century. The Oklahoma River Basin Survey pioneered the study of these features of the cultural landscape in the 1960's- 1970's; however, little research has taken place since that time. This paper reports on the history of research pertaining to burned rock mound features, examines their distribution on the cultural landscape and their construction, analyzes the artifact content of the mounds, and presents some thoughts on the purpose of mound construction and use