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A Comparison Of Automated Object Extraction Methods For Mound And Shell-Ring Identification In Coastal South Carolina, Dylan S. Davis, Carl P. Lipo, Matthew Sanger

Carl Lipo

One persistent archaeological challenge is the generation of systematic documentation for the extant archaeological record at the scale of landscapes. Often our information for landscapes is the result of haphazard and patchy surveys that stem from opportunistic and historic efforts. Consequently, overall knowledge of some regions is the product of ad hocsurvey area delineation, degree of accessibility, effective ground visibility, and the fraction of areas that have survived destruction from development. These factors subsequently contribute unknown biases to our understanding of chronology, settlements patterns, interaction, and exchange. Aerial remote sensing offers one potential solution for improving our knowledge of …

8th Edition Of The Archaeology, Bioarchaeology, Ethnography, Ethnohistory, And History Of The Caddo Indian Peoples Of Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, And Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

This Bibliography, the January 2018 edition, is the latest and most comprehensive version of published sources concerning the archaeology, bioarchaeology, ethnography, ethnography, and history of the Caddo Indian peoples of the Trans-Mississippi South. I have continued to update and reformat the bibliography through the Friends of Northeast Texas Archaeology, not for publication but as a resource to be shared. It is my hope that this most current and 8th edition of the bibliography will continue to be a useful reference work for people conducting research on, and/or are interested in, Caddo native history and culture.

This latest and updated version …

The Occurrence Of East Texas Caddo Ceramic Vessel Sherds In Central Texas Archaeological Region Sites, Ca. A.D. 900 To The Late 18th Century, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The development and maintenance of long-distance trade networks for both economic, social, and religious purposes was a notable feature of the ancestral Caddo tradition from its very beginnings, and this includes the Caddo peoples that lived in East Texas. Bison hides, salt, raw materials such as copper, galena, stone, and marine shell, and finished objects such as pottery vessels (and possibly their contents), were part of the trading system.

Much of the archaeological evidence for the Caddo long-distance trade and exchange networks of prestige goods occur in contexts dating from ca. A.D. 800 to 1400, with long-distance trade outside of …

The Lithic And Ceramic Artifacts From The Spradley Site (41na206), Nacogdoches County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Paul Marceaux

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

The Spradley site (41NA206) is a Native American archaeological site in the Bayou La Nana valley in Nacogdoches County in the East Texas Pineywoods. Bayou La Nana is a southward-flowing tributary to the Angelina River. The site is best known for its late 17th-early 18th century Historic Caddo period occupation, and the recovery of a number of European trade goods from habitation deposits, but the site was also occupied in Late Archaic (ca. 5000-2500 years B.P.), Woodland (ca. 2500-1150 years B.P.), and pre-A.D. 1400 Caddo periods. The Spradley site was the scene of Stephen F. Austin State University (SFASU) Field …

Documentation Of Ancestral Caddo Ceramic Vessels And Other Artifacts From East Texas Sites In The George T. Wright Collection At The Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum Of Natural History, Timothy K. Perttula, Mark Walters, Bo Nelson

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

From the early 1900s to the mid-1940s George T. Wright was a landowner (Kiomatia Plantation) and Vice-President of the Kiomitia Mercantile Company: General Merchandise in Kiomatia and Paris, Texas. He was also an avid Indian artifact collector at sites along the Red River in Red River County, Texas, as well as in McCurtain County, Oklahoma, especially the collection of Caddo ceramic vessels, and also dug at sites he knew in the area, including the Wright Plantation site (41RR7), which he owned, and the Sam Coffman site (now known as Sam Kaufman, 41RR16, and for a short time known as the …

Current Research: Ceramic Production And Distribution During The Formative Caddo Period: A Stylistic And Provenance Investigation Of The Arkansas River Valley, Shawn Lambert

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

The Formative Caddo Period (A.D. 850-1100) of eastern Oklahoma was marked by dramatic material and ritual changes, culminating in the construction of aggregated villages and ceremonial centers. Formative Caddo groups are notable for their highly complex and ritually-charged ceramic vessels that were unlike anything archeologists have seen in the American Southeast. Tracing the rapid development and spread of this early fine ware assemblage across a variety of social, ritual, and mortuary contexts is key to understanding the shared religious and ritual traditions of the pre-Columbian Arkansas River valley and surrounding Coastal Plain drainages. Yet despite nearly 60 years of archeological …

Current Research: Recent Documentation Of Ceramic Vessels And Other Funerary Objects In The Titus Phase Cemetery At The Tuck Carpenter Site, Camp County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Mark Walters, Kevin Stingley, Tom Middlebrook

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

Recently, we had the opportunity to complete the documentation of Late Caddo period Titus phase ceramic vessels and other funerary offerings from the Tuck Carpenter site (41CP5) in the Big Cypress Creek basin in Camp County, Texas. This portion of the funerary assemblage from the site has been in the hands of R. W. Walsh since the 1960s. Unable to properly care for the assemblage, he recently donated his collection to an anonymous individual, who graciously allowed us to fully document these funerary offerings.

The Tuck Carpenter site (41CP5), on Dry Creek several miles from its confluence with Big Cypress …

Addressing The Cosmological Significance Of A Pot: A Search For Cosmological Structure In The Craig Mound, Shawn Lambert

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

Ceramic vessels and cosmological structure at first may seem quite unrelated. Many argue the basic and perhaps only function of a pot was a simple human-made container which held foodstuff for cooking and serving purposes. Pre-Contact communities also used ceramics to display complex iconography, some of which may represent important cosmological meanings in time and space. For this paper, I examine the temporal and spatial placement of pottery in 98 Craig Mound burials at the Spiro site in search for cosmological patterns in the imagery of the vessels. Only burials unassociated with the Great Mortuary and the Spirit Lodge were …

Feature-Scale Analysis Using Ground-Penetrating Radar And Low Altitude Prospection At The Collins Mounds Site, Northwest Arkansas, Stephanie M. Sullivan, Tiago Attore

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

Geophysical survey and other non-invasive methods are, in some cases, the only options available for archaeological investigation. This is exemplified at the Collins site, a possible Late Woodland to Middle Mississippian period, multi-mound, civic ceremonial center in Northwest Arkansas. The site is located on private property and although excavation is not allowed, non-invasive survey methods are permitted on its northern section. This paper presents the results of a ground-penetrating radar survey over Mounds B, C, and D. The results reveal a number of features that are interpreted as mortuary structures as well as evidence of multiple building episodes over time …

The Effects Of Horses And Raiding On The Salt Industry In Northwest Louisiana, Paul N. Eubanks

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

When French explorers first arrived in northwest Louisiana, the local Caddo Indians had already earned a reputation for being important players in the salt trade. Likewise, many western Caddo groups living near the southern Plains were known for their involvement in the horse trade. In the first part of this paper, the relationship between the local salt industry and the introduction of the horse is considered. It is suggested that at least some of the salt made in northwest Louisiana was being fed to horses and other livestock acquired either directly or indirectly from the Spanish. In addition to its …

The Cosmos In Clay: An Analysis Of Avery Engraved Vessel Motifs, Louisa Nash

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

This study seeks to provide new interpretations for the abstract and geometric Avery Engraved vessel motifs created by the prehistoric Caddo. I argue that certain motifs represent wings, feathers, and the Upper World, while other motifs act as locatives and are representative of the Lower World in the Caddo conception of a tiered universe. Given the nature of archaeological research, it is not possible to ascertain all of the implications, nuances, and complexities of the motifs that appear on Avery Engraved vessels. However, this study and others like it, which work to extrapolate the meaning of motifs through comparative analysis …

Current Research At Arkansas Archeological Survey’S Henderson State University Research Station, Mary Beth D. Trubitt, Chelsea Cinotto

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

During 2017, the Arkansas Archeological Survey celebrated its 50th anniversary with a series of website postings (http://archeology.uark.edu/who-we-are/50moments/), a forum at the annual meeting of the Arkansas Archeological Society, and a symposium at the annual Southeastern Archaeological Conference in Tulsa. In addition, the Survey made strides in documenting and archiving its history and collections. The Survey’s Henderson State University (HSU) Research Station in Arkadelphia continued to inventory curated artifact collections and scan older paper records and color slides. Trubitt and Cinotto, assisted by volunteers during weekly Archeology Lab Days, are updating the station’s curated collections database with artifact counts and weights, …

Current Research: Current Research In The Upper Mcgee Creek Drainage, Oklahoma, James Briscoe

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

In recent years the Choctaw Nation has acquired a roughly 80 square mile ranch in the western edge of the Winding Stair Mountains of southeastern Oklahoma. The land is currently a working ranch and timber management area. Choctaw Forestry manages timber activities and range management with the intention of returning the land to an oak savanna setting. Active logging of pine and selected hardwoods and on-going controlled surface burns are included in Forestry activity on the ranch. The project is supported by the Choctaw Nation Historic Preservation Department, which is responsible for the inventory and protection of the cultural resources …

Middle Caddo Whole Vessels From The Ferguson Site (3he63), Pritam Chowdhury

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

The Ferguson site (3HE63) is a Caddo ceremonial center in Hempstead County, Arkansas. The Arkansas Archeological Survey and Arkansas Archeological Society excavated Ferguson between 1972 and 1974, under the direction of Dr. Frank Schambach. The site has a middle Caddo Haley phase (A.D. 1200- 1400) component consisting of two mounds, several structures, and a small cemetery area, set atop a 2-acre Woodland period Fourche Maline village. One of the mounds included several elite Caddo shaft graves rich with ceramic artifacts. My recent research with Ferguson site collections included a metric and stylistic analysis of whole vessel ceramics from the Haley …

Current Research: Toward A Collaborative Development Of A Truly Comprehensive Multi-State Material Culture Database, Duncan P. Mckinnon

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

Throughout the past several years, I have been compiling, with the help of several Caddo researchers, a comprehensive multi-state database primarily composed of whole Caddo vessels from published excavations, private collections, and archaeological reports. At present, the database contains over 13,000 vessel entries from over 500 sites ranging from a single vessel recorded at a site to hundreds. Over the years, the database has evolved to contain, where applicable, attribute fields on type, variety, motif designs (largely using the Glossary of Motifs published in the Spiro shell engravings, collegiate assignment, form, temper, decorative method (incised, brushed, etc.), context (burial #, …

Ceramic Morphological Organization: Quiddity Of Shape For Hickory Engraved Bottles, Robert Z. Selden Jr.

CRHR: Archaeology

This study expands upon a previous analysis of the Clarence H. Webb collection, which resulted in the identification of two Caddo bottle shapes used in the manufacture of Hickory Engraved (HE) bottles. The current sample of Caddo bottles adduces three-dimensional meshes from the HE specimens in the Webb collection, as well as 14 new meshes from six sites and one collection; all of which fall under the purview of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). Results confirm that HE bottle shape differs significantly by site in some cases, that the two discrete shapes identified in the previous …

Lithic Morphological Organization: Gahagan Bifaces From Texas And Louisiana, Robert Z. Selden Jr., John E. Dockall, Harry J. Shafer

CRHR: Archaeology

This study is focused upon an analysis of Gahagan biface morphology and enlists the three largest samples of these bifaces, to include that of the type site (Gahagan Mound) as well as the Mounds Plantation and George C. Davis sites. Results indicate a significant difference in Gahagan biface morphology at the Mounds Plantation site when compared with Gahagan bifaces from the Gahagan Mound and George C. Davis sites. A test of morphological integration indicates that the bifaces are significantly integrated, meaning that those traits used to characterize their shape (blade and base) vary in a coordinated manner. Tests for allometry …

A Preliminary Study Of Smithport Plain Bottle Morphology In The Southern Caddo Area, Robert Z. Selden Jr.

CRHR: Archaeology

This study expands upon a previous analysis of the Clarence H. Webb collection, which resulted in the identification of two discrete shapes used in the manufacture of the base and body of Smithport Plain bottles. The sample includes the Smithport Plain bottles from the Webb collection, and four new bottles: two previously repatriated specimens in the Pohler Collection, and two from the Mitchell site (41BW4) to test whether those specimens align morphologically with the Belcher Mound or Smithport Landing specimens. Results indicate significant allometry and a significant difference in Smithport Plain body and base shapes for bottles produced at the …

Geometric Morphometrics Of Gary Dart Points From The Davy Crockett National Forest, David A. Foxe, Robert Z. Selden Jr., Juanita D. Garcia

CRHR: Archaeology

Three-dimensional scans of Gary dart points recovered from the Davy Crockett National Forest are employed in tests of basal morphology by site, size (allometry), and asymmetry. Variability in basal morphology for Gary points from sites on the Davy Crockett National Forest is presented and compared to specimens from the published type books. The hypothesis that Gary basal morphology differs between sites containing Woodland-era sand temped ceramics and those where no sand tempered ceramics were recovered is then tested and the results discussed.

Addressing Survey Bias: Maxent Models And Public Archaeology At The Davy Crockett National Forest, Juanita D. Garcia, Robert Z. Selden Jr., David A. Foxe

CRHR: Archaeology

Over the past 30+ years, compliance-based archaeological projects conducted on the Davy Crockett National Forest have yielded an impressive contribution to the archaeological record. However, those efforts were limited to specific survey areas based upon specific needs. To begin to address survey bias and the impact that it can have on site probability models, a stratified random sample of 50 locations was generated for the forest. In early 2018, a public archaeology (Passport-in-Time) project was used to engage interested volunteers who assisted in testing these sample locations. These results, as well as other new data, were added to the maxent …

Ancestral Caddo Ceramic Vessels From East Texas Sites Held By The Gila Pueblo Museum From 1933 To 2017, Timothy K. Perttula, Kevin Stingley

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

In the summer of 2017, 21 ancestral Caddo ceramic vessels held since 1933 by the Gila Pueblo Museum and then by the Arizona State Museum were returned to the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at The University of Texas at Austin (TARL). These vessels had not been properly or fully studied and documented when the University of Texas exchanged these vessels, so our purpose in documenting these vessels now is primarily concerned with determining the stylistic (i.e., decorative methods, motifs, and decorative elements) and technological (i.e., vessel form, temper, and vessel size) character of the vessels that are in the collection, …

The M. S. Roberts Site (41he8): Archaeological Investigations At A Caddo Mound Site In The Upper Neches River Basin In East Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Mark Walters, Bo Nelson

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

The first archaeological investigations at the M. S. Roberts site in the Caddo Creek valley of the upper Neches River basin in East Texas (Figure 1) was by University of Texas (UT) archaeologists in 1931 (Perttula 2016). In that work, UT archaeologists excavated a trench of unknown size in the ancestral Caddo mound at the site, and gathered a surface collection from the plowed cotton field around the mound.

No further archaeological work was done at the site until January 2015 when a surface collection was obtained at the site with the permission of the landowners, Jim and Denise Renfroe …

Renewed Archaeological Investigations At The Bowles Creek (41ce475), Cornfield (41ce476), And Peach Orchard (41ce477) Sites In The Bowles Creek Valley, Cherokee County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Kevin Stingley

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

There are a number of Allen phase Historic Caddo sites on Bowles Creek (Figure 1), a southwardflowing tributary to the Neches River in the East Texas Pineywoods, including the Bowles Creek (41CE475), Cornfield (41CE476), and Peach Orchard (41CE477) sites (Perttula and Stingley 2016a, 2016b; Perttula et al. 2016). In conjunction with remote sensing investigations conducted by Dr. Duncan P. McKinnon (University of Central Arkansas), renewed archaeological investigations have been completed in January 2016 at these three sites to better understand the subsurface character of their archaeological deposits.

At the Bowles Creek site, on a low alluvial rise, the first investigations …

Southwestern Pottery Sherd From The Caddo Creek Valley In The Upper Neches River Basin Of East Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Mark Walters

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

There are material culture remains found on East Texas sites that provide direct evidence of farflung contacts between East Texas’s native American peoples and native American communities in the Southwest (see Baugh 1998). Such material culture items include obsidian from the Jemez Mountains of New Mexico (Perttula and Hester 2016), turquoise from New Mexico sources (Walters 2006), and sherds from ceramic vessels made in the Puebloan Southwest (Hayner 1955; Jurney and Young 1995; Krieger 1946:Plate 6j). Such artifacts, however, are rarely recovered in East Texas archaeological sites. In this article, we discuss a sherd found from an archaeological site in …

1939-1940 Wpa Archaeological Collections From Ancestral Caddo Sites In Nacogdoches County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

Gus Arnold identified and recorded a number of ancestral Caddo sites during his 1939-1940 WPAsponsored archaeological survey of East Texas (Im 1975). The artifact collections at the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at The University of Texas at Austin (TARL), especially the ceramic sherd assemblages since Arnold typically collected substantial sherd samples from plowed fields, have been recently documented from 10 sites in the Attoyac, Ayish, and Palo Gaucho bayou basins in San Augustine County (Perttula 2015a, 2016), sherds from the Jonas Short mound site (41SA101) in San Augustine County (Perttula and Walters 2016), and 13 Caddo sites in the Patroon, …

Early Sixteenth Century Caddo Population Distributions, Timothy K. Perttula

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

Milner’s (2015:Figure 2.1) summary of the distribution of Native American population aggregates in eastern North America in the early sixteenth century depicts much of the southern Caddo area (of southwestern Arkansas, northwestern Louisiana, southeastern Oklahoma, and East Texas) as being sparsely settled or uninhabited in the early sixteenth century. Rather, as attested to by many years of archaeological investigations of a variety of Caddo sites across the southern Caddo area, as well as the 1542 accounts of the de Soto-Moscoso entrada, the distribution and density of Caddo farming groups and communities reached its full and peak extent at around this …

The Ancestral Caddo Ceramic Assemblage From The D. W. Moye Site (41jp3) On The Angelina River, Jasper County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The D. W. Moye site (41JP3) was recorded by Gus E. Arnold in June 1940 as part of the WPA archaeological survey of East Texas. The site, estimated to cover ca. 2 acres, is located on an alluvial terrace of the Angelina River (Figure 1), at the far southern end of the Caddo archaeological area in the East Texas Pineywoods.

During the 1940 archaeological survey of the landform, Arnold collected a substantial sample of ceramic vessel sherds from the surface of the site (see below). He also recovered a few chipped stone tools.

The Garden Site (41ce480) On Bowles Creek, Cherokee County, Texas, Kevin Stingley, Timothy K. Perttula

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

Recent archaeological investigations in the Bowles Creek Valley in the Neches River basin in East Texas (Figure 1) have identified a number of ancestral Caddo habitation sites (Perttula and Stingley 2016a, 2016b, 2017; Perttula et al. 2016). The Garden site (41CE480) is another of these Caddo sites, and was probably a farmstead occupied by one or a few families for a generation or two.

The Garden site is on a grass and tree-covered upland ridge (385 feet amsl, Figure 2a) between the Turkey Creek and Bowles Creek valleys; Turkey Creek is west of the site and flows south to merge …

The Beckham (41sb35) And Print Bell (41sb36) Woodland Period And Caddo Ceramic Assemblages Collected By G. E. Arnold In 1939, Sabine County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The Beckham (41SB35) and Print Bell (41SB36) sites were recorded by Gus E. Arnold of The University of Texas in December 1939 during his WPA-sponsored archaeological survey of East Texas. Both sites have substantial ancestral Caddo deposits. The Beckham site is in the Housen Bayou basin of the larger Sabine River drainage system, while the Print Bell site is on a tributary of the Angelina River (Figure 1). Excavations were conducted at the Print Bell site in the early 1950s by Jelks (1965:88- 93) prior to the construction of Lake Sam Rayburn, but there have been no further investigations at …

The Bonner Place (41ag3) And J. A. Jordan (41ag5) Sites In The Neches River Basin, Angelina County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The Bonner Place (41AG3) and J. A. Jordan (41AG5) sites are ancestral Caddo habitation sites recorded by Gus E. Arnold in November 1939 during his WPA-sponsored archaeological survey of East Texas. Both sites are in the Crawford Creek drainage; Crawford Creek is a westward-flowing tributary of the Neches River (Figure 1).