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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, …

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Towards A Common Understanding: A Revision Of Fourche Maline Chronology In Oklahoma, Luther J. Leith

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

Answering the question of what Fourche Maline is has long been hampered by lack of consensus on the terminology and chronology within the ancestral Caddoan area of the four corners area of southeast Oklahoma, southwest Arkansas, northeast Texas and northwest Louisiana. To address this problem an evolution of the Oklahoma concept of Fourche Maline is presented, and developing a new chronology based on seriation of temporally sensitive artifact categories is discussed. It is concluded that Fourche Maline is a solely Woodland period culture, with a chronology that makes identifying changes over time possible. This conclusion will facilitate the understanding of …

Looped And Perforated Elbow Pipes In Northeast Texas, Jesse Todd

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

Todd presented a general chronology for the presence of aboriginal-manufactured clay elbow pipes in Northeast Texas Caddo sites. Most of the pipe types have an extensive range in time; however, this may be true for thong elbow pipes. This paper looks further at the time range for; and the variety, of thong pipes.

Jackson refers to elbow pipes that have a hole between the keel and the bowl as "thong pipes." A string appears to have been run through the holes. He refers to the two types of pipes as "handled" and "holed," but "I use the terms "looped" and …

Book Review: Before The Line. Vol I, Ii, And Iii, Timothy K. Perttula

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

This three volume set written and compiled by Dr. Jim Tiller of Sam Houston State University (Huntsville, Texas) represents a significant body of work concerning the history of East Texas-Northwest Louisiana between 1803-1842. His study area includes what is now Caddo Parish in Louisiana and Harrison and Panola counties in Texas. Tiller's interest in the history of the Caddo Indian in this area is also shown by a series of articles he has written about them in recent years.

Peyoteism And The Origins Of Caddo Religious Thought, Robert Cast

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

The Caddo Indians practiced a vibrant peyote religion long before John Wilson (Moonhead) or Quanah Parker re-ignited the Native American Church. Moreover, research has show the importance of the peyote plant to the Caddo long before any European contact. The peyote religion at the time of the Spanish mission in Texas was full of songs and dances in honor of one known today as (Aah-hi-u kuu-i'-ha) or Father Above, translated to mean home where God lives. Although Swanton proposes that the Hasinai medicine men used peyote "at the beginning of the eighteenth century" (a reference to Friar Hidalgo's Spanish account) …

Book Review: Evolutionary And Interpretive Archaeologies: A Dialogue, Robert Z. Selden Jr.

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

Originating as a seminar series at the Institute of Archaeology at the University College, London organized by the editors in 2007, and refined at the annual meeting of the Theoretical Archaeology Group in York in December of that same year, this volume represents the printed culmination of a continuation of that dialogue.