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The A. S. Mann (41he7/41an201) And M. S. Roberts (41he8) Sites In The Upper Neches River Basin, Henderson County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Waldo Troell

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

The upper Neches River basin in East Texas has been the scene of archaeological research since the early 1900s, with a particular focus on the post-A.D. 1000 archaeological record of the Caddo peoples in the region. The A. S. Mann (41HE7) and M. S. Roberts (41HE8) sites are ancestral Caddo sites located in the modern-day Pineywoods that were investigated by University of Texas (UT) archaeologists in the 1930s. I want to thank Waldo Troell for bringing these sites to my attention.

Ceramic Beads From The Cloud Hammond Site (41sm244), Smith County, Texas, Mark Walters, Timothy K. Perttula

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

During investigations at the Cloud Hammond site (41SM244) during the 1960s, J. A. Walters recovered Caddo ceramics, two clay beads, Perdiz arrow points, and two Gary dart points. The site is located in northern Smith County, Texas, about 400 m east of the Middle Caddo period Jamestown Mound site (41SM54).

Of the artifacts reported to have been recovered from the site, only one clay bead was available for study. No record survives of the extent of investigations at the Cloud Hammond site or if any cultural features such as burials were found during the 1960s work.

The Wollard #2 Site (41he22) 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

The Wollard #2 site (41HE22) was first identified by Leroy Johnson, Jr. and Edward B. Jelks in August 1957 during their survey of then proposed Blackburn Crossing Reservoir, now Lake Palestine, in Henderson County, Texas. The site was described by Johnson as located in an old cultivated field on the high ground directly to the west of Caney Creek and the Neches River floodplain, is one of the most prolific sites located in the reservoir area…The midden soil at the site extends to a depth of 16 inches and is rich in animal and shell remains as well as stone …

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 …

The Frank Norris Farm Site (41rr2) On The Red River In East Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Mark Walters

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

The Frank Norris Farm site (41RR2) was an ancestral Caddo settlement and mound center, with an associated cemetery, on the bank of the Red River, about five miles northeast of the community of Manchester, Texas, and just southeast of the Sam Kaufman/Roitsch site (41RR16). The site was reported by B. B. Gardner of the University of Texas to have three earthen mounds. Apparently the site eroded into the Red River in 1936.

The three mounds at the site were located east of a local farm road, and the bank of the Red River was a short distance to the east. …

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.

Further Surface Collecting And Shovel Testing Investigations At The Sanders Site (41lr2), Lamar County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Bo Nelson

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

Archaeological investigations at the Sanders site (41LR2), an important ancestral Caddo mound center and village on the Red River in Lamar County, Texas, have been ongoing since 2013. The latest round of work at the Sanders site primarily concerned Dr. Chester P. Walker’s conducting geophysical work there in December 2014. Bo Nelson went to the site to show Walker the areas where artifactual materials have been collected from surface clusters in earlier investigations.

The weather was cold and rainy the entire time. Dr. Walker was able to work in between rain episodes. The fields were wet and muddy. Most of …

Recent Artifact Surface Collections From The M. S. Roberts (41he8) Mound Site In The Upper Neches River Basin In East Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Mark Walters

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

In January 2015, the junior author obtained, with the assistance of the landowners, a surface collection of artifacts from the M. S. Roberts site (41HE8), a long-forgotten ancestral Caddo mound center and settlement in the upper Neches River basin in Henderson County, Texas. This collection of artifacts is discussed in this article, and comparisons are made to the larger assemblage of Caddo ceramic vessel sherds obtained during 1931 investigations at the site by Pearce and Jackson.

Two Radiocarbon Dates From The Salt Lick Site (16sa37a) At Toledo Bend Reservoir, Sabine Parish, Louisiana, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The Salt Lick site (16SA37) is an ancestral Caddo site at Toledo Bend Reservoir in Sabine Parish, Louisiana. Before the creation of the reservoir, archaeological investigations on the Sabine River and tributaries in both Louisiana and Texas took place primarily took during the 1960s, with survey and excavations, sometimes of a very limited nature by the University of Texas and Southern Methodist University. The Salt Lick site was investigated by McClurkan in the Fall of 1964.

The Salt Lick site (16SA37a) was a Caddo habitation site (with midden deposits) on a natural rise south of La Nana bayou, a westward-flowing …

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, …

The W. A. Ford Site (41tt2), Titus County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The W. A. Ford site (41TT2) is an ancestral Caddo cemetery on a natural sandy knoll on an alluvial terrace about 2 km south of the Sulphur River, along Sanders Slough, in the northwestern part of Titus County, Texas. There are also habitation deposits of both Woodland and Caddo age at the site, but no features were identified in these habitation deposits during the 1934 University of Texas investigations. The site is located in the modern Blackland Prairie habitat, but just to the north of the northern extent of the modern Post Oak Savannah. In this article, I focus on …

An Artifact Assemblage From Area B At The Grace Creek Site (41gg33), Gregg County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The Grace Creek #1 site (41GG33, GC–1) was situated on a natural alluvial rise on the east side of Grace Creek, about 0.4 km north of its confluence with the Sabine River. On the north side of the site was an abandoned Sabine River lake bed, while to the south was an old channel, as well as a channel lake (Muddy Lake), of the Sabine River. Jones divided the site into three areas (A, B, and C); a midden deposit was apparently located in Area B on the central part of the rise.

Buddy Calvin Jones identified and worked at …

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 …

The Oil Road Site In Rusk County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The Oil Road site (D–2) in Rusk County is along Tiawichi Creek in northern Rusk County in the East Texas Pineywoods, about 1 mile east of the small town of Monroe, Texas. Tiawichi Creek is a tributary to Cherokee Bayou, which is in turn a northeastern–flowing tributary to the Sabine River. The Early Caddo period Hudnall–Pirtle mound site (41RK4) is on the Sabine River just east of its confluence with Cherokee Bayou.

The site was located by Buddy Calvin Jones, probably in the 1950s; it has not been formally recorded or received a site trinomial. The recovered artifacts discussed in …

Ceramic Sherd Assemblage From The Cherokee Lake Site (41rk132), Rusk County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The Cherokee Lake site (41RK132), also called the Tiawichi Creek Burial site, was discovered by Buddy Calvin Jones in 1956, on a terrace area along Tiawichi Creek at its confluence with Mill Creek, inundated by the construction of Lake Cherokee in 1947, that had been graded for the construction of fish hatcheries there. Tiawichi Creek is a tributary stream in the mid–Sabine River basin. Jones identified a single burial and a large storage pit in Area A at the southern end of the terrace, where there was a shallow (0–30 cm bs) midden deposit.

The burial in Area A is …

Ceramic Sherds From The Millsey Williamson Site (41rk3), Rusk County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The Millsey Williamson site (41RK3) is an 18th century Nadaco Caddo settlement and cemetery situated on an alluvial terrace on the east side of Martin Creek in the Sabine River basin. Some portions of the site are now covered by the waters of Martin Creek Lake, constructed in the 1970s. The site was first investigated in the 1930s, when at least 11 historic Caddo burials were excavated in the cemetery at the western end of the landform. Buddy Calvin Jones excavated a disturbed historic burial at the site in 1955, and also occasionally collected glass beads from the surface of …

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 …

The Ceramic Sherd Assemblage From The C. D. Marsh Site (41hs269) In Harrison County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Mark Walters, Patti Haskins

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

The C. D. Marsh site (41HS269) is an ancestral Caddo settlement and cemetery on Eight Mile Creek, a southwestward–flowing tributary to the Sabine River in southeastern Harrison County, Texas. It is on an alluvial terrace about 1.6 km from the confluence of Eight Mile Creek and the Sabine River.

Buddy Calvin Jones discovered the site in January 1958, and he estimated that the habitation area covered ca. 1–2 acres, with substantial midden deposits. Jones collected a substantial sample of plain and decorated ceramic vessel sherds (n=1736) from the habitation deposits (Jones 1968:96), in addition to a number of ceramic vessels …

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 …

Bird Bone Flageolet From The Walter Bell Site (41sb50) At Lake Sam Rayburn, Sabine County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The Walter Bell site (41SB50) at Lake Sam Rayburn in the Neches–Angelina river basins in the deep East Texas Pineywoods was excavated by an National Park Service team in 1957. This was a small prehistoric Caddo farmstead or hamlet with two circular houses, a portion of a third house in the area of House 2, midden deposits, and six burials. Based on the kinds of artifacts found at the site (i.e., clay elbow pipes, a high proportion of brushed utility ware sherds from Broaddus Brushed vessels, and lower proportions of Pineland Punctated–Incised vessel sherds), the Walter Bell site was apparently …

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 …

The E. Williams Site On Martin Creek In Panola County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The E. Williams site is an ancestral Caddo site on the north side of Martin Creek, an eastward–flowing tributary to the Sabine River, in Panola County in the East Texas Pineywoods. The site is just a few miles west of the confluence of Martin Creek and the Sabine River. Buddy Calvin Jones located the site (which he labeled as Panola–2) and obtained a small collection of ceramic vessel sherds, probably from surface contexts. This collection is among the holdings of the Gregg County Historical Museum.

The Woodland Period Component At The Wolfshead Site (41sa117), San Augustine County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Mark Walters

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

The Wolfshead site (41SA117) was excavated by the Texas Archeological Salvage Project at The University of Texas in the fall and winter of 1960 prior to the inundation of the site by the waters of Lake Sam Rayburn in the Angelina River basin in East Texas. The site was located on a sandy terrace and covered ca. 1 acre in size; the sandy deposits were a maximum of ca. 60 cm in thickness below an historic plow zone.

The excavations were in the northern and southern parts of the site, and indicated that the Wolfshead site had an extensive Late …

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, …

The Jonas Short Site (41sa101), San Augustine County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Mark Walters

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

The Jonas Short site (41SA101) is one of a few known and investigated Woodland period mounds in the Trans–Mississippi south (i.e., East Texas, Northwest Louisiana, Southwest Arkansas, and Southeast Oklahoma). In fact, the site is one of only four identified mound sites of possible Woodland period age—and Mossy Grove cultural tradition—in the Neches–Angelina and Sabine river basins in East Texas and Northwest Louisiana: Coral Snake (16SA48), Anthony (16SA7), Jonas Short, and Westerman (41HO15).

The Jonas Short site was located on an alluvial terrace of the Angelina River. It was investigated in 1956 by archaeologists from the University of Texas and …

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.

Funerary Offerings From The Keasler Site Cemetery (41hs235), Harrison County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Mark Walters, Bo Nelson

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

The Keasler site (41HS235) is a post-ca. A.D. 1430 Late Caddo period, Titus phase cemetery with at least 31 burials in the East Texas Pineywoods. The site was excavated by collectors in the late 1970s on the property of Sid Keasler of Hallsville, Texas. Minimal records on the burials at the site, and their contents, were provided by Red McFarland, one of the collectors, to the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at The University of Texas (TARL).

The Keasler site is near Little Creek, a northward-flowing tributary to Little Cypress Creek. It is perhaps one of the easternmost-known Titus phase cemeteries …