American Studies Commons^™

Archeological Testing And Data Recovery At 41zv202, Zavala County, Texas, Raymond P. Mauldin, Russell D. Greaves, Jennifer L. Thompson, Cynthia M. Munoz, Leonard Kemp, Barbara A. Meissner, Bruce K. Moses, Steve A. Tomka, J. Philip Dering, M.E. Malainey, C. Britt Bousman, Rupali Datta

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

At the request of the Texas Department of Transportation, Environmental Affairs Division (TxDOT-ENV), the Center for Archaeological Research (CAR) of The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) conducted archeological significance testing at 41ZV202, a prehistoric site located in northwestern Zavala County, in March of 2003. The work, conducted under Texas Antiquities Permit No. 3071 issued to Dr. Steven A. Tomka, was done in anticipation of the potential widening by TxDOT of FM 481. While materials dating to the Archaic were also present, the testing demonstrated the presence of significant Late Prehistoric (Austin Interval) deposits with good integrity within a …

Archeological Survey Report On The Mid-Plains Rural Telephone Cooperative Buried Fiber Optic Line Project In Swisher, Randall, Briscoe And Armstrong Counties, Texas, James Briscoe, Jason Zan

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

Mid-Plains Rural Telephone Company (MPRT) proposes to replace existing copper telephone lines with new fiber optic technology. The telephone grid covers major portions of Briscoe, Randall, Armstrong and Swisher counties in the Texas Panhandle. Initial consultation was made with the Texas Historical Commission (THC) in October of 2010. THC recommended all segments along or adjacent to playas, creeks and canyons be given further archeological considerations.

he proposed new fiber optic line will replace an existing buried copper telephone line. The new line will be installed with a cable plow immediately adjacent to the existing line, along the edge of the …

Architectural Variability In The Caddo Area Of Eastern Texas, T. Clay Schultz

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

This dissertation focuses on the nature of architectural space in the Caddo area of eastern Texas, in the southwestern portion of the Caddo archaeological area. The early European accounts and the archaeological record indicate there was a wide range in size, shape, form, and use of architectural space in the Caddo area. Buildings have a variety of structural attributes and may be found isolated or associated with plazas or earthen mounds. This dissertation is a detailed examination of this architectural diversity. The sites included in this study range from large multi-mound centers that have seen large-scale and long-term research, such …

Selected Prehistoric Caddo Sites In The Upper Sabine River Basin Of Northeast Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Leeanna Schniebs

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

Some years ago, I commented that the upper Sabine River basin in Northeast Texas had “a highly significant and diverse archaeological record, one that has intrigued professional and avocational archaeologists alike for at least 75 years." At the same time, I noted that “we still know very little about the prehistoric and early historic Caddoan groups who lived in the basin, and unfortunately it has been a number of years since dedicated archaeologists, professional or avocational, turned their attention to this region."

In this article, I present information on five different prehistoric Caddo sites in the upper Sabine River basin, …

Documentation Of Caddo Ceramic Vessel Sherds From The Shelby Site (41cp71) In The Vernon Holcomb Collection, Camp County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The Shelby site (41CP71) is an important Late Caddo period, Titus phase, religious and political center on Greasy Creek in the Northeast Texas Pineywoods. The site, occupied from the 15th century A.D. until at least the late 17th century A.D., is a large and well-preserved settlement with abundant habitation features as well as plant and animal remains, evidence of mound building activities in the form of a 1.5 m high structural mound, and a large community cemetery with at least 119 burial pits and perhaps as many as 200. The Shelby site is the nexus of one of a number …

Archaeological Investigations Along James Bayou In Marion County, Texas And Caddo Parish, Louisiana, Timothy K. Perttula, Bo Nelson, Claude Mccrocklin

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

This is a report on archaeological investigations conducted along James Bayou in Marion County, Texas, and Caddo Parish, Louisiana, between 1991- 1993. This work was done primarily by Claude McCrocklin (Shreveport, Louisiana) and a large group of volunteers, some from the Northeast Texas Archeological Society and others from the Northwest Chapter of the Louisiana Archaeological Society, assisted by Perttula and Nelson on occasion. With the permission of McCrocklin, we analyzed the recovered artifacts and available notes/records/ site reports to prepare this article summarizing the archaeological findings of the project.

James Bayou, also known as Coushatta Jim’s Bayou, Jim’s Bayou, and …

Analysis Of The Prehistoric Caddo Ceramics From 41lr351, Lamar County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

Site 41LR351 was first recorded during the 2005 Texas Archeological Society summer field school on the Stallings Ranch in Lamar County, Texas. This prehistoric site is on a natural knoll (420-430 feet amsl) in the headwaters of Pine Creek, a northward-flowing tributary of the Red River. The site is currently being excavated by the Valley of the Caddo Archeological Society, and a large prehistoric Caddo ceramic assemblage has been recovered that warrants study. In addition to characterizing the assemblage of vessel sherds in terms of decorative style and various technological attributes (i.e., temper and paste, firing conditions, surface treatment, etc.), …

Documenting Caddo Ceramic Sherd And Lithic Collections From Prehistoric Sites At Lake Bob Sandlin, Timothy K. Perttula, Mark Walters, Bo Nelson

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

Following on the heels of a previous archaeological effort where we documented collections of ceramic and lithic artifacts from a wide variety of prehistoric archaeological sites along the shoreline at Lake Bob Sandlin, this article puts on record the range of prehistoric ceramic and lithic artifacts in collections we recently documented from four sites at the lake in Camp and Titus counties, Texas. One of the four sites has been previously reported in the Caddo archaeological literature, but the other three have not.

Analysis Of Prehistoric Artifacts From 2003 Excavations At The George C. Davis Site (41ce19), Cherokee County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

A small sample of artifacts were recovered in 2003 archaeological excavations at the George C. Davis site (Caddoan Mounds State Historic Site) by The University of Texas at Austin. The work was done in conjunction with a large-scale geophysical survey of the site to locate archaeologically significant geophysical anomalies (i.e. Caddo structures, pit features, palisades, burial features, etc.). The excavations in Unit 113, ca. 150 m east of Mound B (Figure 1), were focused on Feature 237, a kind of circular Caddo structure called a “Button House” because of its four support posts around a central hearth feature.

The principal …

Documentation Of Additional Vessels From The Johns Site (41cp12), Camp County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Bo Nelson, Mark Walters

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

The Johns site (41CP12) is a Titus phase cemetery in the Prairie Creek valley in the Big Cypress Creek stream basin of the Northeast Texas Pineywoods. The Caddo artifacts from the site are from the Robert L. Turner, Jr. and Tommy John collections. Both men are current residents of Camp County, Texas.

total of 35 Late Caddo (ca. A.D. 1400-1680), Titus phase, burials were excavated between May 1966 and December 1984 at the Johns site. The first 19 burials were excavated by Tommy Johns and Robert L. Turner, Jr., and Johns continued to excavate burials at the site until 1984. …

Archaeological Findings From An Historic Caddo Site (41an184) In Anderson County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

This article reports on the archaeological findings from a Historic Caddo site (41AN184)1 in the upper Neches River basin in Anderson County, in East Texas. The site was found in about 1960 by Ron Green (of Rockdale, Texas) when he was a teenager. In 2007, he donated the collection of artifacts to the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma, noting that “[n]othing can undo what has been done, but I know that the Caddo Nation will ensure these artifacts are given the proper respect and honor they would get no where else”. The artifacts donated by Mr. Green are from a late …

The Jack Walton Site (41sa135), San Augustine County, Texas, Tom Middlebrook

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

This article describes archaeological excavations I conducted at the Jack Walton site (41SA135) in San Augustine County, Texas, between November 1981 and July 1982, with the assistance of Suzanne Middlebrook and John Hart. During a total of 20 days in the field, 14 m² were excavated in four areas of the site. The excavated units are designated Areas 1, 2, 3, and 4.

The site is located on a high bluff overlooking the Attoyac Bayou. It was apparently wooded until the 1930s, when the timber was clear cut; the present open field has been used for pasture and cultivation …

Analyzing The Arkansas River Caddoan Cultural Landscape, Robert L. Brooks

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

This paper examines the Arkansas River Caddoan cultural landscape through use of “architectural grammar”. Architectural grammar presents a mechanism to look at the practices of Arkansas River Caddoans as they construct their mound and residential places. Through this analysis, five different cultural landscapes were constructed: residential places, single mounds without residential occupation, single mounds with residential occupation, multiple mounds of the same construction type, and multiple mounds of different construction type. Further analysis of these places on the landscape suggest that rather than ordered hierarchy of centers, that the Caddoan cultural landscape represents an effort to build to a formalized …

Further Investigations Of A Prehistoric Caddo Habitation Site In The White Oak Basin Of Northeast Texas: The James Owens Site (41tt69), Timothy K. Perttula, Mark Walters, Bo Nelson, Leeanna Schniebs

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

The James Owens site (41TT769) is a Middle to Late Caddo period settlement in the White Oak Creek drainage basin in Northeast Texas that was first investigated in June of 2001 at the request of the landowner, Mr. James Owens of Irving, Texas. At that time, the landowner was planning on building a house on the site, and during the course of clearing the land and constructing a gravel drive way to the future house site, he noted some archeological materials on the surface. Discussions between Mr. Owens, Bryan Boyd (Texas Archeological Steward Network), and Mark Parsons, then regional archeologist …

A Case For Dehahuit’S Village Part I, Jim Tiller

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

During the late 1700s, the Kadohadacho (hereafter Caddo), a peaceful tribe of agriculturists and hunters, weakened by near-constant pressure from the more war-like Osage and the ravages of various epidemics, began to migrate from their traditional homeland near the Great Bend of the Red River south into northwestern Louisiana and adjacent East Texas. By the time of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the Caddo villages under their caddi Dehahuit were concentrated in the Sodo Lakes region west and northwest of modern-day Shreveport. Much of what we know today about the location of these settlements, and specifically Dehahuit’s village, are found …

Two Shell Gorgets From Southwest Arkansas, Mary Beth D. Trubitt

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

Recently, there has been great interest in marine shell gorgets from the Mississippian period Southeast, not only in identifying styles or types and their geographic distributions, but in refining the chronology of engraved shell gorgets and other artwork. There have also been new studies looking at iconography of the engraved shell art, such as Reilly’s work on the petaloid motif on Spiro shell cups as a locative that indicates a celestial location for depicted objects, individuals, or events, and Lankford’s examination of Cox Mound and Hixon style gorgets as cosmological models portrayed on shell in plan and profile.

Clay Pipes From The Tuck Carpenter Site (41cp5) Camp County, Texas, Jesse Todd, Robert L. Turner

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

In this paper, four clay elbow pipes are described from the Tuck Carpenter site (41CP5) in Camp County, Texas, and compared to clay pipes from other areas.

Two Catlinite Pipe Fragments From The Womack Site, Lamar County, Texas, Jesse Todd

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

Two catlinite pipe fragments from the Womack site in Lamar County, Texas are discussed as well as other catlinite pipe fragments on Caddo sites from Northeast Texas.

Book Review: Our Unprotected Heritage: Whitewashing The Destruction Of Our Cultural And Natural Environment, Mark Walters

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

Before becoming involved in archeology, I was a commercial nurseryman for thirty years in East Texas. Finally though, I had my fill of fighting weather, unstable markets, pests and yes, government agencies. After retirement I sought what I thought would be tranquility in the field of archeology. Archeology was a topic that I had been interested in since I was a teenager and I thought it would provide the peace-of-mind I was seeking. Wrong again.

Redwine Or Pie-Crust Mode Forms In East Texas Caddo Ceramics And Comparisons With Sprocket-Rims Of Southwest Arkansas, Mark Walters, Tom Middlebrook, Timothy K. Perttula

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

Caddo ceramics served many purposes, including cooking, storage, and the serving of foods and liquids. The various forms and shapes of these vessels were subject to the ideas of the potters themselves and the larger community of which they were a part. Products of human behavior reflect conscious and predictable actions that can be identified and measured in time and space. Artifacts are “embodiments of human behavior."

The various elements that make up an artifact are termed attributes. Certain attributes that reflect customary usage or current fashion are termed nodes. Irving Rouse describes a mode as “any standard, concept, or …