Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Caddo Ceramic Vessels From The T. M. Sanders Site (41lr2) On The Red River In Lamar County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Mark Walters, Bo Nelson

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

The T. M. Sanders site (41LR2) is one of the more important ancestral Caddo sites known in East Texas, primarily because of its two earthen mounds and the well-preserved mortuary features of Caddo elite persons buried in Mound No. 1 (the East Mound). The Sanders site is located on a broad alluvial terrace just south of the confluence of Bois d’Arc Creek and the Red River. The terrace has silt loam soils, which have a shallow dark brown silt loam A-horizon overlying thick B- and C-horizons that range from dark reddish-brown, reddish-brown, dark brown, to yellowish-red in color. These soils …

Caddo Ceramic Vessels From The Paul Mitchell Site (41bw4) On The Red River, Bowie County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Bo Nelson, Mark Walters

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 (Figure 1). Extensive excavations were conducted at the site in the 1930s by both professional and avocational archaeologists, and in the 1940s by an avocational archaeologist. The Paul Mitchell site is located in the McKinney Bayou floodplain about 2 miles from the current channel of the Red River to the north. The site is part of a large …

Caddo Archaeology In The Caddo Creek Valley Of The Upper Neches River Basin, Anderson And Henderson Counties, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Mark Walters

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

Caddo Creek is a generally eastward-flowing tributary of the Neches River that originates in Henderson County in East Texas. The creek flows ca. 30 km to its confluence with the Neches River, just south of the A. C. Saunders site (41AN19), one of the more important ancestral Caddo mound centers in this part of East Texas.

Caddo Creek flows from west to east across the eastern edge of the Post Oak Savannah and into the Pineywoods physiographic regions of East Texas (see Figure 1b; see also Diggs et al. 2006). The Pineywoods cover large parts of East Texas, have medium-tall …

Prairie Caddo Sites In Coryell And Mclennan Counties In Central Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

Did ancestral Caddo peoples live and settle on the prairies of Central Texas in prehistoric times (i.e., before A.D. 1680)? Story had noted that there is little known about “the nature of the Caddo connections” in these sites, and she wondered what these settlements represented: “(1) groups from the east who occupied the area year round and/or seasonally; or (2) local groups who were interacting with Caddoans [sic] through trade, marriage, and visitations…?” In this article, I am concerned with the consideration of “Caddo connections” as expressed in the character of the ceramic assemblages from four sites in Central Texas …

A Late Caddo Period Vessel From The De Long Farm Site (41an16) In The Upper Neches River Basin, Anderson County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The De Long Farm site (41AN16) is in the Caddo Creek valley in the upper Neches River basin in East Texas, about 3.2 km northwest of the small town of Frankston, Texas. A Caddo midden area was about 200 m to the east.

The site was found by a local farmer after a vessel was discovered in a gully in a field after plowing. University of Texas archaeologists investigated the find spot in October 1935, but after excavating a large area around the vessel find spot, no other vessels or any evidence of burials were found. UT did purchase the …

Ancestral Caddo Ceramic Vessels From The J. B. Sparkman Site (41hp26), Hopkins County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

Two ancestral Caddo vessels were excavated by a J. B. Sparkman from a burial that had been exposed by erosion. The burial was found on the site in the Caney Creek valley in the upper Sabine River basin near the community of Black Oak in southeastern Hopkins County, Texas. The University of Texas purchased the two vessels from Mr. Sparkman in May 1931.

Caddo Ceramic Assemblage From A Site Across The Road From The Millsey Williamson Site In Rusk County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

In archaeological investigations by Jones at the Nadaco Caddo Millsey Williamson site (41RK3), he identified a burial area on the western tip of an alluvial terrace landform on the east side of Martin Creek, as well as a village area to the east. The burial area and the village area were separated by a road, a paved segment of the 19th century Trammel’s Trace. Trammel’s Trace was an Anglo–American version of the aboriginal Caddo Trace “that led from the Hasinai Caddo settlements in East Texas to the Kadohadacho settlements on the Red River in the general area of Texarkana, Texas, …

Eagle Burials On Red River Caddo Sites, Timothy K. Perttula

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

A wide variety of birds are found in faunal assemblages from Caddo sites in southwest Arkansas, northwest Louisiana, eastern Oklahoma, and East Texas, particularly turkey as well as ducks and geese. One of the rarest avifauna recovered on Caddo sites of any age is that of the eagle, including bald eagles and golden eagles.

An Ancestral Caddo Site On Mill Creek In Rusk County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

Site RC–15 (the 15th site recorded in Rusk County by Jones) in Rusk County, Texas, in the Pineywoods, was identified by Buddy Calvin Jones during his wide–ranging survey investigations in East Texas in the 1950s–1960s. This ancestral Caddo site is on Mill Creek, a tributary stream in the mid–Sabine River basin, a few miles south of its confluence with Tiawichi Creek. The Oak Hill Village site (41RK214), a large ancestral Caddo settlement that was occupied between ca. A.D. 1150–1450, is on Mill Creek not far south of Site RC–15.

Reaping The Whirlwind: The Caddo After Europeans, Timothy K. Perttula, Robert Cast

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

The De Soto chronicles introduce us to the Caddo Indian peoples of East Texas in what we can arbitrarily call “historic times.” The Gentleman of Elvas had this to say when the Spaniards reached the Caddo province of Naguatex on the Red River in the Great Bend area of southwestern Arkansas in August of 1542.

The cacique [of Naguatex], on beholding the damage that his land was receiving [from the Spanish forces], sent six of his principal men and three Indians with them as guides who knew the language of the region ahead where the governor [Luis de Moscoso] was …

A Ceramic Sherd Assemblage From A Caddo Site In The Upper Neches River Basin, Henderson County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

This article reports on a collection of ancestral Caddo artifacts from an unrecorded site in the upper Neches River basin in northeastern Henderson County in East Texas. The collection had been found by landowners on an unreported Caddo site in this locale—which appears to be in the Caddo Creek valley west of the Neches River—and the collection was recently relocated by Debbie Shelley of Frankston, Texas. Mrs. Shelley brought the collection to the 2015 East Texas Archeological Conference, and provided the opportunity to fully document the ceramic and lithic artifacts in the collection.

Caddo Ceramic Sherd Assemblage From A Hearth Feature At The Cherokee Lake Site (41rk132) In Rusk County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

There is a collection of plain and decorated ceramic sherds in the Gregg County Historical Museum from a feature, described as either a fire pit or a hearth, excavated by Buddy Calvin Jones in March 1956 at the Cherokee Lake site (41RK132) on Toawichi Creek in northern Rusk County, Texas. This assemblage is discussed in this article.

The Cherokee Lake site is best known for its early 18th century Nadaco Caddo component, but it also has a Middle Caddo period (ca. A.D. 1200–1400) component. In Jones’ discussion of work he conducted at the Cherokee Lake site, he mentions the excavation …

Caddo Ceramic Vessels From Lake Sam Rayburn Sites, Timothy K. Perttula, Mark Walters

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

The distinctive Caddo ceramic vessels from the lower Neches–Angelina (i.e., Lake Sam Rayburn) and the lower Sabine (i.e., Toledo Bend Reservoir) river basins are not well understood, due to current cultural phase taxonomic difficulties and poorly defined ceramic assemblages. Sites in these areas were included in the Angelina focus by Jelks, which was a “broadly defined unit encompassing the entire Caddoan [sic] sequence in the Lake Sam Rayburn locality; needs reevaluation in light of larger sample of sites which are known in the area." Perttula used the term late Angelina focus to refer to sites in these localities that date …

Bone Tools From Caddo Sites In The Angelina River Basin In East Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Mark Walters

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

In addition to the use of stone for tools, ancestral Caddo communities in East Texas also relied on organic materials for tools, including animal bones and plant parts (i.e., cane and wood). Bone tools were an important part of the technological system of Caddo groups and their study helps to understand the range of activities that occurred at Caddo sites in particular locations and regions. However, they are often not preserved in habitation deposits and features on East Texas Caddo sites due to bioturbation and erosion of sandy sediments where artifacts came to accumulate during an occupation or series of …

Incised–Punctated Utility Ware Sherds From Lake Sam Rayburn Ancestral Caddo Sites, Timothy K. Perttula, Mark Walters

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

One of the more distinctive of the decorative methods represented in the ancestral Caddo ceramic assemblages from Lake Sam Rayburn sites is sherds and vessels with incised–punctated decorative elements. This diversity in the range and character of sherds and vessels with incised–punctated decorative elements is also the case in ancestral Caddo sites on the Sabine River and tributaries in the Toledo Bend Reservoir area of East Texas and Northwest Louisiana.

Jelks included the incised–punctated vessels and sherds from the Lake Sam Rayburn sites in a newly defined type: Pineland Punctated–Incised. Pineland Punctated– Incised is a grog and/or bone–tempered utility ware, …

Ceramic Pipes From Lake Sam Rayburn Caddo Sites, Angelina River Basin, East Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Mark Walters

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

Ceramic pipes are an important part of the ancestral Caddo material culture in all parts of the Caddo area from as early as ca. A.D. 800, and there are also ceramic pipes known from Woodland period sites in the Caddo area. The Caddo pipe forms known include long–stemmed (up to 61 cm in length) Red River pipes, elbow pipes of several varieties, and platform pipes. All three pipe forms are known from Caddo sites at Lake Sam Rayburn in the Angelina River basin in East Texas.

New Radiocarbon Dates From Four East Texas Caddo Sites, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The East Texas Radiocarbon Database is an important and relatively new database concerning one key aspect of the archaeological record of the Caddo peoples that lived in East Texas from as early as ca. A.D. 800/850. To date, there are a total of approximately 920 radiocarbon dates available from ancestral Caddo sites in the region in the East Texas Radiocarbon Database.

Caddo Ceramic Vessels From The S. E. Watson (41rr8) And Hook’S Ferry (41rr9) Sites, Red River County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Mark Walters

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

There are 15 ancestral Caddo ceramic vessels from the S. E. Watson (n=13) and Hook’s Ferry (n=2) sites in the collections of the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at The University of Texas at Austin. The S. E. Watson site is a Caddo mound center, village, and cemetery on Pecan Bayou near its confluence with the Red River. Another Caddo mound was reported at nearby 41RR67, on the Chapman Plantation, although it may have been destroyed by Red River flooding. The Hook’s Ferry site (41RR9) is situated in the Red River floodplain just east of the Jonesborough site (41RR15), north of …

Caddo Ceramic Vessels From The Eli Moores Site (41bw2), 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 Eli Moores site is situated on a natural levee of the Red River, currently about 2.5 km north of the site.

The site, occupied from the 17th to the early 18th century, 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 …

Early Caddo Period Ceramic Vessels From The Roger D. Simmos Site (41tt321), Titus County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The Roger D. Simmons site (41TT321) is in the Sulphur River basin in East Texas. A single ancestral Caddo burial was exposed in 1984 during the removal of sand from the site for the construction of a school in Talco, Texas. Associated with the burial were three ceramic vessels—documented herein—as well as a large (ca. 18 cm in length) chipped stone bifacial tool made from non-local chert (identified as Edwards formation chert on the site form), an adze, and a celt.

Caddo Ceramic Vessels From The W. J. Barnett Site (41sm2), Smith County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

Ancestral Caddo ceramic vessels were found along the bank of an eroded ditch in the early 1930s at the W. J. Barnett site (41SM2). They were purchased by The University of Texas about 1935. The site is in the uplands about 6 km south of the Sabine River floodplain and ca. 2 km east of the Jamestown (41SM54) mound center.

Ceramic Vessels From Caddo Sites In Wood County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Mark Walters

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

This article concerns the documentation of 54 ceramic vessels in the collections of the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at The University of Texas at Austin (TARL) from seven ancestral Caddo sites in Wood County in East Texas (Figure 1). This includes vessels from A. C. Gibson (41WD1, n=2 vessels), J. H. Reese (41WD2, n=26), H. D. Spigner (41WD4, n=17), Mattie Dial (41WD5, n=2), B. F. Cathey (41WD14, n=2), J. H. Baker (41WD33, n=4), and 41WD117 (n=1 vessel).

The A. C. Gibson site is situated in the floodplain of the Sabine River near the confluence with Cottonwood Creek. In 1932, looters …

Caddo Ceramic Vessels From The Joseph Fabion (41sy24) And S. H. Latham (41sy25) Sites In Shelby County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

There are ancestral Caddo vessels in the collections of the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at the University of Texas from the Joseph Fabion (41SY24, n=4 vessels) and S. H. Latham (41SY25, n=3) sites in Shelby County, Texas. Those vessels from the Joseph Fabion site were exposed along the bank of a county road some time prior to October 1930, while those from the S. H. Latham site were exposed by 1920s flooding and collected by the landowner.

A Middle Caddo Period Cemetery (41fk97/139) On Big Cypress Creek In Franklin County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Bo Nelson

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

In the early 1990s, an ancestral Caddo habitation site and cemetery was reported to the junior author in the Big Cypress Creek valley in Franklin County in East Texas by a local collector. The site is in an area of other known ancestral Caddo cemeteries, including the Bruce J. Connally Farm (41FK5) and the P. G. Hightower Farm (41FK7). In this article we summarize the available information about this important but still little known ancestral Caddo site.

Caddo Ceramic Vessels From The E. B. Minter (41hp2) And Roger Attaway (41hp15) Sites In Hopkins County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Mark Walters

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

A number of ancestral Caddo ceramic vessels are in the collections at the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at the University of Texas at Austin from the E. B. Minter (41HP2, n=4 vessels) and Roger Attaway (41HP15, n=5 vessels) in Hopkins County, Texas. We recently had the opportunity to fully document these vessels as part of our long-term efforts to characterize ancestral East Texas Caddo vessel forms, temper usage, and stylistic/decorative elements.

The University of Texas conducted excavations at the E. B. Minter site, in the upper White Oak Creek and Sulphur River basin, in May 1931. A 60 x 35 …

Caddo Ceramic Vessels From The Fred Yarbrough Site (41vn6) In The Upper Sabine River Basin, Van Zandt County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

Excavations in 1940 by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) at the Fred Yarbrough site (41VN6) in the upper Sabine River basin recovered a number of ceramic vessels from Area B of the site. Johnson provided an initial description of the vessels as well as drawings of a number of the reconstructed vessels. In this article, I reexamine the nine vessels from the Fred Yarbrough site held in the collections of the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at the University of Texas at Austin (TARL), employing the vessel documentation protocol used in recent years to document ancestral Caddo vessels from sites in …

Archaeological Evidence Of The Use Of The Horse By Caddo Indian Peoples, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The introduction of the horse to the Americas by Europeans, particularly the Spanish, after 1492 played a very important role in Native American history and societal change. As Peter Mitchell has commented in his book Horse Nations: “the horse was so very widely introduced to population across the world after 1492. It can thus provide a constant against which to evaluate the many changes that those populations experienced after European contact, while highlighting the ‘radically different meanings and impacts in distinctive cultures’ that its arrival heralded.” Among the Caddo Indian peoples, the horse was introduced in the late 1600s from …

Caddo Vessels From The Susie Slade Site (41hs13), Harrison County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The Susie Slade site (41HS13) is an ancestral Nadaco Caddo settlement and cemetery on a sandy knoll in the Potters Creek valley in the Sabine River basin. The site is known to have had a large cemetery (> 90 burials) that was excavated by a number of East Texas collectors and amateur archaeologists in 1962, University of Texas (UT) archaeologists; one burial reportedly had 36 stacked Simms Engraved vessels as funerary offerings. Ceramic vessels from the UT investigations at the Susie Slade site are in the collections of the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory (TARL), along with vessels donated to TARL …

Documentation Of Early Caddo Period Ceramic Vessels From The George C. Davis Site On The Neches River In Cherokee County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The George C. Davis site (41CE19)/Caddo Mounds State Historic Site in Cherokee County, Texas, is a Caddo site that was occupied by ancestral Caddo peoples between ca. A.D. 940 and the late 1200s (based on an extensive suite of calibrated radiocarbon dates, see below) on a large alluvial terrace of the Neches River in East Texas. The site is a planned civic-ceremonial center that has three earthen mounds—Mound A, a large platform mound with elite residences and special purpose structures; Mound B, a second platform mound; and Mound C, a burial mound used as a cemetery for the elite or …

Caddo Vessels From The W. O. Ziegler Farm (41wd30) And Claude Burkett (41wd30) Sites In The Upper Sabine River Basin In Wood County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

Caddo ceramic vessels were collected at the W. O. Ziegler Farm (41WD30) and Claude Burkett (41WD31) sites in 1930 during archaeological investigations in Wood County by The University of Texas. The one vessel from the W. O. Ziegler Farm site, located in the Lake Fork Creek drainage in the upper Sabine River basin, was found in 1918 at a depth of ca. 1.2 m by the landowner while digging a storm cellar. University of Texas archaeologists purchased the vessel in August 1930.

The Claude Burkett site is in the Big Sandy Creek basin in the upper Sabine River basin. The …