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The Clay Ball Site In The Upper Neches River Basin Of East Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Bo Nelson

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

The Clay Ball site is an ancestral Caddo site believed to be located in the upper Neches River basin in East Texas. The site is notable for its series of small, square vessels with Frankston phase (ca. A.D. 1400- 1650) engraved motifs, as such vessel forms have not been previously documented in studies of Frankston or later Allen phase (ca. A.D. 1650-1830) vessel assemblages.

The unique ceramic vessels from the site were excavated by Buddy C. Jones, and although his main site collecting and excavation work was in the mid-Sabine River basin, he did excavate several sites in the upper …

The Ceramic Sherd Assemblage From The Boatstone Site In Gregg County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The Boatstone site (GC-50 in Buddy Jones' site numbering system) is one of many Caddo sites that Buddy Jones investigated along the Sabine River and its tributaries in the Longview, Texas, area. In most cases, his investigations at the sites consisted of the surface collection of ceramic and lithic artifacts, and only in rare cases did Jones complete analyses or publications on his investigations. This article discusses the ancestral Caddo ceramic assemblage from the Boatstone site, which is situated near the confluence of Iron Bridge Creek and the Sabine River in southeastern Gregg County in the East Texas Pineywoods. This …

A Woodland Period Ceramic Assemblage From Rabbit 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

The GC-123 site was located and investigated by Buddy C. Jones during his years of archaeological work and surface collecting at numerous aboriginal sites in the mid-Sabine River basin in East Texas. The site is in south-central Gregg County, on Rabbit Creek (a northern-flowing tributary to the Sabine River), but only a few miles from the Sabine River valley.

The site is notable for its ceramic sherd assemblage. Based on characteristics of Woodland period ceramics from the mid-Sabine River basin, including sites such as 41HS231 and 41RK562 (see Dockall and Fields 2011; Dockall et al. 2008), Hawkwind (41HS915), Folly (41RK26), …

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 …

Plant Remains From Shelby Mound (41cp71), Camp County, Texas, Leslie L. Bush

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

Nine lots of botanical samples collected during 1988 and 1992 excavations at the Shelby Mound site (41CP71) were submitted for identification prior to their eventual curation at Stephen F. Austin State University. Some botanical samples from these excavations have been previously reported. Excavations at Shelby Mound were conducted in a 10 x 10 ft. unit divided into four 5 x 5 ft. squares. Botanical samples were recovered using 1/4-inch screen. Shelby Mound, also known as the Tracy site and the Greasy Creek site, is a large Late Caddo village, community cemetery, and mound center. Most of the community cemetery at …

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 …

Archaeological Investigations At The Wade (Gc-38) And Estes (Gc-49) Sites In The Sabine River Basin, Gregg County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Robert Z. Selden Jr., Bo Nelson

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

Buddy C. Jones conducted extensive archaeological investigations in the 1950s and 1960s at many sites in the mid-Sabine River basin of East Texas, especially on Caddo sites of various ages in Gregg, Harrison, and Rusk counties. However, that work has not illuminated our understanding of the archaeology of the Caddo Indian peoples that lived along this stretch of the Sabine River as much as it could have, primarily because little of the work completed by Jones was ever published, or the results and findings shared with professional and avocational archaeological colleagues working in the region. The Caddo archaeology of the …

41sm53 (P-4) On Prairie Creek, Smith County, Texas, Mark Walters, Timothy Perttula

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

In February 1957, Sam Whiteside of Smith County, Texas, excavated a burial at 41SM53. This site was designated P-4 in Mr. Whiteside’s notes and it was one of several Caddo sites along Prairie Creek in the upper Sabine River basin that he investigated to varying degrees in the 1950s and 1960s. As an a vocational archeologist Mr. Whiteside made many important contributions to East Texas archeology. Dr. Dee Ann Story, of the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at The University of Texas at Austin, who corresponded with Mr. Whiteside, later obtained the trinomial 41SM53 for the site.

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 …

Analysis Of Faunal Remains From Selected Contexts At The Shelby Mound Site (41cp71): Results From Mound Excavations, Leeanna Schniebs, Timothy K. Perttula

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

Additional faunal material from earlier mound deposits at the Titus phase Shelby Mound site (41CP71) on Greasy Creek in Camp County, Texas, total 459 faunal specimens, weighing 339.8 grams. Sixty-one (13.3%) bone fragments are identifiable, and 201 specimens are burned (43.8%). Standard zooarchaeological identification techniques have been employed in this analysis, using comparative skeletal collections. Attributes that have been examined for each of the bone fragments include taxon, element, and portion of that element, symmetry, burning, and weight. This analysis focuses on identifying general preferences of animal exploitation at this site during the Late Caddo Titus phase. Table 1 summarizes …

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 …

Additional Artifact Collections From The Gardener Site (41cp55), Camp County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Bo Nelson

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

The Gardener site (41CP55) was first recorded by Sullivan (1977) 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 (about 9 ft. below normal flood pool) at Lake Bob Sandlin due to East Texas drought conditions, archaeological materials from the Gardener site have …

Freshwater Mussel Shells: A Status Symbol At The Roitsch/ Williams Sites In Red River County, Texas?, Jesse Todd

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

Upon examining unmodified bone and shell from the Sanders site (41LR2), the Dan Holdeman site (41RR11), the Roitsch site (41RR16), the Bob Williams portion of the Roitsch site (41RR16), the Rowland Clark site (41RR77), and the Roden site (34Mc215), which are located in the Middle Red River Valley of Texas and Oklahoma, freshwater mussel shells were more apparent as burial furniture at the Roitsch and Bob Williams site than any other of the above mentioned sites.

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.

Analysis Of The Hardin A Site (41gg69) Faunal Remains, Leeanna Schniebs

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

The excavation of the Hardin A site (41GG69), a late 14th to early 15th century A.D. period Caddo site in Gregg County, Texas, yielded 495 faunal specimens. This sum includes all bone fragments, and pieces of antler and turtle shell. Total weight of the assemblage is 266.6 grams. Faunal material was recovered from 15 levels in a single 1 x 2 m unit comprised of a midden deposit and feature fill. The remainder of the article discuss the methods employed in the faunal analysis, results of taxonomic identification and quantification, and the distribution of these remains.

The Joe M. Smith Collection From The Roseborough Lake Site (41bw5), Bowie County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The Joe M. Smith collection is held by the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at The University of Texas at Austin. It appears to have been given by Mr. Smith to A. T. Jackson in the early 1930s, around the time of The University of Texas excavations at the nearby Eli Moores site (41BW2). The collection is said to have come from the Rochelle Plantation, which is an earlier name for the Roseborough Lake site (41BW5). The Roseborough Lake site is on an old meander of the Red River “that was cut off in 1872 and named Roseborough Lake." It lies …

Renewed Archaeological Investigations At The Sanders Site (41lr2), Lamar County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Bo Nelson, Mark Walters

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

At the request of one of the landowners, Ms. Julia Crawford, renewed archaeological investigations took place at the renowned Sanders site (41LR2) in November 2013. These investigations consisted solely of a pedestrian survey of the main part of the Sanders site—the location of two ancestral Caddo earthen mounds and associated habitation deposits—on a broad alluvial terrace (450 ft. amsl) of the Red River, in conjunction with a surface collection of observed material culture remains. Other recent archaeological investigations at the Sanders site have taken place more than ca. 400 m south of the main part of the site, at the …

New Radiocarbon Dates From The Shelby Mound Site (41cp71) On Greasy Creek In The Big Cypress Creek Basin Of East Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Robert Z. Selden Jr.

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

Six new radiocarbon dates have been obtained from the Shelby Mound site (41CP71) in the Big Cypress Creek basin in East Texas. They are on charred organic remains—corn cupules and glumes and Hickory (Carya sp.) nutshell—identified in several levels in and immediately below the mound deposits.

The Shelby Mound site on Greasy Creek is the social and political center of an ancestral Caddo Greasy Creek political community. It stretches for several hundred meters along Greasy Creek and a small tributary, with an earthen mound at the northern end of the village and a large cemetery at its southern end. Domestic …

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 …

The Steck Site (41wd529), A Titus Phase Settlement In The Lake Fork Creek Drainage Basin, Wood County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Bob D. Skiles

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

The Steck site (41WD529) is a 15th to early 16th century A.D. Caddo settlement situated in the far western margins of the modern Pineywoods of East Texas, in the upper Sabine River basin in Wood County. The site is specifcally situated in the uplands more than 12m above the Dry Creek foodplain, in the upper part of the Lake Fork Creek drainage basin. Two natural springs emerge from the Queen City Eocene formation immediately below the site.

There are two midden deposits at the Steck site, as well as evidence for structures arranged around an open plaza in a small …

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.

East Texas Archeological Society, Tyler, Texas, 1956-1959, Mark Walters

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

The East Texas Archeological Society (ETAS) was formed in Tyler, Texas, on June 26, 1956. The last record of any activity by that society was in 1959. This article is an attempt to document the brief history of that organization and identify some of the key players associated with it. One of those that played a major role was my late uncle, Sam Whiteside. His family graciously gave permission to study his notes and records, which included the records from the ETAS. Unfortunately, Mr. Whiteside suffered from a debilitating disease that became acute in the summer of 1959, requiring hospitalization, …

The Petrographic Analysis Of Sherds From The Musgano Site (41rk19), Rusk County, Texas, Steve A. Tomka, Lori B. Love, Timothy K. Perttula

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

Characterizing the mineralogical composition of ceramic vessels and sherds from Caddo sites in East Texas by means of petrographic analysis provides a unique opportunity to gather and investigate empirical evidence from ceramic vessels on: (1) technological and manufacturing practices, and (2) their trade and exchange at varying scales conducted by ancestral Caddo people with their neighbors, both near and far (i.e., other ancestral Caddo groups as well as non-Caddo communities). This evidence in turn can be used to explore changes in the nature of social and economic relationships between particular Caddo groups and other prehistoric populations. Identified compositional and paste …

The Late Paleoindian Occupation Of The Western Ouachita Mountains Of Southeast Oklahoma: The Archaeology Of Component V At The Quince Site (34at134), Timothy K. Perttula

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

The Quince site (34AT134) is a well-preserved and relatively deeply stratified Ouachita Mountains archaeological site in Atoka County in southeastern Oklahoma. The site’s archaeological deposits are buried in Late Pleistocene and Holocene alluvial terrace deposits of McGee Creek, a tributary to Muddy Boggy Creek, itself a southern-flowing tributary to the Red River, that cuts through the western edge of the mountains.

Excavated in 1982 and 1983 prior to the creation of McGee Creek Reservoir by the Bureau of Reclamation, the 3.0 m deep archaeological deposits at the Quince site contained a record of prehistoric occupations spanning most of the Holocene …

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, …