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The Lake Clear (41sm243) Site And Crotalus Horridus Atricaudatus, Mark Walters

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

I fell heir to a collection of prehistoric Caddo sherds from my late Uncle Sam Whiteside and a location on a 7.5’ topographic map labeled Lake Clear. Sam Whiteside during the period from the mid-1950s to the late 1960s was very active in the East Texas area working through the old East Texas Archeological Society headquartered in Tyler, Texas.

The name Lake Clear was vaguely familiar but a check of local maps failed to reveal its location. However, an older map jolted my memory. The lake had been built on east Mill Creek west of Winona, Texas, as a club …

From Mounds To Monasteries: A Look At Spiro And Other Centers Through The Use Of Metaphor, Robert L. Brooks

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

Previous study of the extensive and elaborate funerary offerings at the Spiro site have explained their presence by an exchange system with Spiro functioning as a gateway center. More recently, Schambach has argued extensively and passionately for Spiro’s role as an entrepôt redistributive center. However, this argument fails to account for much of the accumulation of funerary items present at Spiro. As an alternative, I propose that some ceremonial centers such as Spiro functioned solely as religious centers, much like the monasteries of medieval Europe with parallels in the use of architecture, economic support, relics, and the treatment of individuals …

Archeological Investigations At The Hudnall-Pirtle Site (41rk4) An Early Caddo Mound Center In Northeast Texas, James E. Bruseth, Timothy K. Perttula, Gayle J. Fritz, Bonnie C. Yates

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

The Hudnall-Pirtle site (41RK4) is situated on a large T-1 alluvial terrace of the Sabine River in northern Rusk County in Texas. This area of the state, commonly called Northeast Texas, is part of the Southern Gulf Coastal Plain, a relatively level, sloping plain formed by the pre-Pleistocene embayment of the Gulf of Mexico.

From a biogeographical perspective, the site is located in the Oak-Hickory-Pine forest of eastern Texas, otherwise known as the Pineywoods. This area represents the western extension of the southern coniferous forests and is dominated by shortleaf and loblolly pine trees. Hardwood trees, including various oaks, hickory, …

The M. W. Burks Site (41wd52): A Late Caddo Hamlet In Wood County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Bob D. Skiles, Bonnie C. Yates

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

While attempting to locate and evaluate prehistoric Caddo archaeological sites in the Dry Creek watershed, Wood County, Texas, that had been originally recorded by A. T. Jackson and M. M. Reese in 1930, the M. W. Burks site (41WD52) was discovered by James E. Bruseth and Bob D. Skiles in June 1977. The site is in the Forest Hill community, about 5 km north of Quitman, Texas, in the East Texas Pineywoods and Gulf Coastal Plain. It is on a small rise in the uplands overlooking a small intermittent drainage that is an unnamed tributary of Little Dry Creek.

The …

A Rediscovery Of Caddo Heritage: The W. T. Scott Collection At The American Museum Of Natural History, Robert Cast, Timothy K. Perttula, Bobby Gonzalez, Bo Nelson

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

Back in August 1997, the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma had submitted a Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) claim for a cranium that had been obtained by the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in New York City in 1877. Very little information was known about these remains, other than it had been obtained "as a purchase/gift" to the museum by Charles C, Jones Jr. and was "found in a mound" somewhere near the "Shreveport vicinity" in Caddo or Bossier Parish, Louisiana. "Based on the presence of artificial cranial deformation," the museum dated these human remains to a …

Note On A Possible Chipped Stone Grubbing Tool From Upshur County, Texas, Christopher Lintz, Floyd Largent

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

During the period August 6-27, and November 18-20, 2003, archeologists from Geo-Marine Inc. (GMI), of Plano, Texas, conducted a pedestrian survey of a 51.5 km-long corridor for the proposed Southside Regional Water System in Marion, Harrison, Upshur, and Gregg counties, Texas. The proposed waterline is intended to draw water from Lake O The Pines in the Big Cypress drainage system and distribute it to various communities in both the Big Cypress and Little Cypress Creek basins in the aforementioned counties. Specifically, the pipeline will benefit the communities of Ore City, Old Diana, Diana, and James before the pipeline crosses Little …

Mapping A Novaculite Quarry In Hot Springs National Park, Mary Beth D. Trubitt

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

Novaculite quarries in the Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas and Oklahoma were created through largescale extraction of lithic raw materials, used for stone tools by Caddos and other Native Americans over the past 11,000 years and in recent centuries by Euro-Americans for whetstones. Quarry sites are characterized by surface features like large pits. trenches, battered boulders, and debris piles. This article summarizes the results of an Arkansas Archeological Survey research project that described and mapped surface features at one site (3GA22J to provide a better understanding of the problems and potential of documenting novaculite quarries.

The Pine Saddle Site (3pl1080) In The Ouachita Mountains, Polk County, Arkansas, Timothy K. Perttula, Bo Nelson

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

Novaculite was procured and knapped by aboriginal Indian populations living in southwestern Arkansas for thousands of years, and there are numerous prehistoric novaculite quarries in the Ouachita Mountains. In Late Archaic times. this desirable material was widely traded and exchanged with other groups to the south, east, and west, particularly with the peoples living at the Poverty Point site and environs in the lower Mississippi valley in northern Louisiana. Later groups such as the Caddo also made considerable use of this material, since it was in their traditional homelands, and many habitation sites and mound centers in the region contain …

Caddo Archives And Economies, Paul S. Marceaux

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

This article is a discussion of archival research on contact through historic period (ca. A.D. 1519 to 18th century) Caddo groups in eastern Texas and west central Louisiana. First, I describe general objectives for current and long-term research on the Caddo Indians, followed by the central issues the article will address. A brief summary of protohistoric and historic events, actors, and sources will be followed by methodological considerations, as well as a discussion of Caddo economies, concluding with some reflections on Caddo archives and economies. This article explores the complex and interrelated economies of Native American and European populations during …

Cavanaugh: A Late Prehistoric Platform Mound In Western Arkansas, Gregory Vogel

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

Cavanaugh Mound (3SB3, also known as Etter's Mound, Jones Mound, Site Zeta, and occasionally misspelled Cavenaugh) is a largely intact Late Prehistoric platform mound on the Arkansas River just east of the Oklahoma border, about 14 km from the Spiro Mounds complex. The site is situated on a high terrace above the Arkansas River as it runs between the Ouachita Mountains to the south and the Ozarks to the north. The Poteau River enters the Arkansas River floodplain just west of Cavanaugh, creating one of the widest stretches of bottomland in the region. The area immediately around Cavanaugh Mound is …

Bossier Tribes, Caddo In North Louisiana's Pineywoods, Jon L. Gibson

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

Clarence Webb (1948) christened Bossier more than a half century ago. Its namesake was the northwestern Louisiana parish where several Bossier sites were located, but it could just as easily been named after Webster, Claiborne, Harrison, Columbia, or other political subdivisions in northwestern Louisiana, southwestern Arkansas, or eastern Texas where its distinctive pottery was found. This is Caddo country, linguistically and ethnically. Bossier is the issue of Caddoan cultural tradition, a culmination of agents, practices, and histories that transpired in the Red River valley and adjoining Pineywoods hills between ca. A.D. 1300 and 1500.

Bossier is best known for its …

Casanas, Hidalgo, And Espinosa: A Spanish Leaming Curve, Mariah F. Wade

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

In 1690, Alonso de Leon arrived in East Texas to establish two missions among the Asinai. He was accompanied by Fr. Fontcuberta, Fr. Casanas, Fr. Bordoy, Fr. Massanet, and Brother Antonio. Fr. Massanet returned to Mexico to inform the Viceroy about the trip, and came back to East Texas with Teran de Los Rios in August 1691. Fr. Fontcuberta died in February 1691 of an epidemic that, according to Fr. Casanas, killed about 3,000 natives in the area. Fr. Casanas who died in New Mexico in 1696, left us the first intimate view of the Caddoan-speaking groups in East Texas. …

The Crabb Site (41tt650), A Prehistoric Caddo Site On Tankersley Creek, Titus County, Texas, Bo Nelson, Marty Crabb, Timothy K. Perttula, Leeannaa Schniebs

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

In this article, we discuss the archaeological findings at the Crabb site (411T650), a prehistoric Caddo settlement on an upland remnant/knoll in the Tankersley Creek floodplain in Titus County, Texas. Tankersley Creek is one of the principal tributaries of Big Cypress Creek, and it flows south past the Crabb site to merge with the larger creek a few miles downstream. This part of Titus County is in the Pineywoods, an area with abundant moisture and a warm, moderate climate in modem times, with an overstory vegetation of pines and a variety of hardwoods (principally several species of oaks and hickory). …

Certain Caddo Sites In The Ouachita Mountains Of Southwestern Arkansas, Timothy K. Perttula, Bo Nelson

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

In the last few years, we have had the opportunity to study a number of prehistoric Caddo Indian sites in the Ouachita Mountains of southwestern Arkansas through conducting archeological surveys of more than 2700 acres at three lakes constructed and managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Vicksburg District. The three lakes are DeGray Lake on the Caddo River, Lake Ouachita on the Ouachita River, and Lake Greeson on the Little Missouri River.

Our purpose in this article is to summarize the archeological character of the prehistoric Caddo sites in these three different parts of the Ouachita Mountains. We …

Book Reviews: Tribal Cultural Resource Management: The Full Circle To Stewardship, Robert Cast

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

With only ten chapters, Tribal Cultural Resource Management provides model strategies of what it takes to properly “manage” cultural resources. Although it is geared toward tribal governments and creating the right combination of preservation and protection of their culture, don’t let the title fool you, this book is for any person who has a responsibility as a land manager. Those currently involved in Cultural Resource Management (CRM) work should give this book a close read. Off hand, I can think of several federal agencies, especially those operating without Cultural Resource Management Plans, who could truly benefit from following the practical …

A Spatial Analysis Approach To Understanding Caddoan Mounds In The Arkansas River Drainage, Gregory Vogel

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

In this article I present a theoretical framework for understanding Caddoan mounds in the central Arkansas River drainage and the implications they may hold for the social structure and environmental adaptations of the people who made them. The power and efficiency of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) modeling now allows for large-scale, computationally intensive spatial analysis simply not possible before. Questions of landscape organization or spatial relationships that previously would have taken months or even years to answer can now be solved in a matter of minutes with GIS and related technologies, given the appropriate datasets. Quite importantly, though, such analyses …

41sm195a, The Browning Site, Mark Walters

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

A surface collection of early 19th century historic sherds led to archeological investigations in 2002 and 2003 at the Browning site (41SM195A) in Smith County, Texas. My interest was whetted by mention in the original land abstract that the property had once been deeded to the Cherokee. In all, a total of 6.5 cubic meters was excavated, including twenty-two shovel tests and 10 1 x 1 m test units, and a fine-screen sample was taken from the midden. As a result, 1076 prehistoric and historic artifacts were recovered, along with new information about the Woodland period archeology in this part …

Excavation Of An Earth Mound, Bowie County, Texas, A. T. Jackson

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

This large artificial mound is known as Site ET-30, A.J. Hatchel place [41BW3], Bowie County. The mound, located on what seems to be an old channel of Red River about one mile from the present stream, is part of an extensive village, perhaps related to other mound and village groups within a radius of three miles. The entire area, containing nine or more mounds, shows evidence of long-continued occupation by fairly large numbers of people. Judging from its size, and the surrounding indications of a large village, this particular mound may have been the early cultural center of the region. …

Titus Phase Archeology At The S. Stockade Site (41tt865) On Tankersley Creek, Titus County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Bo Nelson, Leeanna Schniebs

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

The S. Stockade site was discovered on a small rise (330 feet amsl) in the Tankersley Creek floodplain during a recent archeological survey for the Texas Department of Transportation. Tankersley Creek is a southward-flowing tributary to Big Cypress Creek, and enters that creek’s floodplain a few miles below the Lake Bob Sandlin dam. There is a dense concentration of prehistoric archeological sites throughout the Tankersley Creek valley, particularly post-A.D. 800 Caddo Indian sites. This paper discusses the archeology of the S. Stockade site, a Late Caddoan Titus phase settlement.

The rise at the S. Stockade site is grass-covered (with a …

Book Reviews: Thinking About Cultural Resource Management: Essays From The Edge, Robert Cast

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

The Guru of Section 106 has just compiled a book of essays that every CRM professional, archeologist, anthropologist, historic preservationist, environmentalist (have I covered all the pertinent “ists”?), and Native Americans concerned with preserving, protecting, and managing historic properties should read. There is even a nifty glossary of terms for those readers who may not be familiar with the compliance lingo that goes along with Section 106, the National Environmental Protection Act, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, and the whole host of other federal laws related to historic preservation.

The Caddo Indian Burial Ground (3mn386), Norman, Arkansas, Ann M. Early, Mary Beth D. Trubitt

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

Human burials were exposed accidentally during construction of a city sewer treatment plant in Norman, Arkansas, in October 1988. Archeological salvage excavations in the days following, directed by Ann Early of the Arkansas Archeological Survey’s Henderson Research Station, identified two burials, a small cluster of residential features, and artifacts dating from the Archaic through Caddo periods. After discussions between the various agencies and groups involved, a new location was found for the sewer treatment plant. The human bone and associated grave goods were returned to the Caddo Tribe for reburial, and the site was covered up for protection. The site, …

The James Owens Site (41tt769) In The Sulphur River Basin Of Northeast Texas, Mark Walters, Bryan Boyd, Bo Nelson, Leeanna Schniebs, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The James Owens site (41TT769) is an apparent Middle to Late Caddoan settlement that was investigated in June 2001 at the request of the landowner, Mr. James Owens of Irving, Texas. The landowner is planning on building a house here in the future, 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, regional archeologist for the Texas Historical Commission, led to the limited investigations reported on here. The work …

Hatchel Site And Paul Mitchell Cemetery, A. T. Jackson

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

A WPA-University of Texas archaeological unit excavated in the vicinity of Texarkana from November 1, 1938, to August 25, 1939, on the A. J. Hatchel place [41BW3], Bowie County. During that time a large earthen mound and adjacent cemeteries were excavated under the direction of William C. Beatty, Jr.

The mound, 190 x 145 x 30 feet, was located on what seemed to be an old channel of Red River about a mile from the present stream. The site was part of an extensive village, perhaps related to other mound and village groups within a radius of three miles. The …

Book Reviews: The Hasinais: Southern Caddoans As Seen By The Earliest Europeans, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The writing and eventual publication of The Hasinais by Herbert Eugene Bolton, the founder of Spanish borderlands studies, has had a long and storied journey that is well-laid out in an introduction by Russell Magnaghi, the editor of the original 1987 hardback and 2002 paperback editions of the book. Bolton became interested in the Hasinai Caddo peoples of East Texas shortly after he arrived at The University of Texas at Austin in 1901, as he became aware “that American history had always involved the Indians and that, as he began to study southwestern history, he also had to study the …

Temporal And Spatial Patterns In The Prehistoric Settlement Of The Lake Bob Sandlin Area, Big Cypress Creek Basin, Northeastern Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Bo Nelson

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

Since many of the archeological sites documented during the course of previous archeological investigations at Lake Bob Sandlin contain temporally diagnostic lithic, ceramic, and/or historic artifacts, we have the opportunity to investigate prehistoric temporal and spatial trends in the use of this part of the Big Cypress Creek basin in Northeastern Texas. The discussion of temporal trends in the prehistoric settlement of the Lake Bob Sandlin area is based on the findings from the 108 sites reported by Nelson and Perttula, the different components identified by Thurmond in the 95 sites recorded and investigated in the 1960s and 1970s, and …

The Caddo, Edward R. Jelks, Timothy K. Perttula

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

Knowledge of early Caddo culture comes from both archaeological and ethnographic sources. Enough archaeological research had been completed by the early 1970s to provide a fairly thorough chronology for the major pre-Columbian developments in the Caddoan area. and archaeological research has been extensive since that time.

Accounts of the DeSoto expedition of 1541-1542 constitute the earliest source of ethnohistoric data on the Caddo. Translations of the De Soto documents may be found in Bourne, Robertson, Varner and Varner, and more recently, Clayton. Some scholars think it likely that Coronado reached the edge of Caddo territory in 1541, but the consensus …

Phelps Lake And Jim Burt: Two Middle Woodland Period Mounds In Northwestern Louisiana, Jeffery S. Girard

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

Clarence Webb defined the pre-Caddoan Bellevue focus on the basis of investigations at several isolated mounds located in upland settings in northwestern Louisiana. With the exception of the Bellevue Site (16B04), little detailed information is available about these mounds. Most were excavated many years ago and few notes, photographs, or other records exist This paper describes the results of recent cleaning of an old excavation trench through one of the Bellevue focus sites the Phelps Lake Mound (16B024). The work has provided a relatively detailed look at the mound strata. A radiocarbon assay on a sample of charcoal underlying the …

Archeological Investigations At The Frank Benson Site (41tt310), Titus County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Bo Nelson

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

The Frank Benson site (41TT310) is an extensive and significant prehistoric Caddo and historic 19th century archeological site on a broad upland landform (352- 372 feet amsl) overlooking the Big Cypress Creek Valley in Titus County, Texas. In this paper we discuss recent archeological investigations at the site, which identified extensive and well-preserved Middle and Late Caddo components associated with a clay mound and extensive daub deposits from at least one burned Caddo structure.

Three Mid-1800s Caddo Vessels From The Brazos Reserve, Timothy K. Perttula

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

Although a considerable body of historic archival and documentary information is available on the Caddo Indian peoples that lived in Texas between ca. 1836 and 1859 -- the removal period -- not much archaeological evidence has been uncovered for their settlements. By the late 1830s and early 1840s, most of the Caddo groups had been removed from Northeast Texas as their traditional homelands were taken and settled by Anglo-American farmers and planters. Instead, they took up residence in Oklahoma, or settled with other affiliated groups (such as the Delaware, Cherokee, and others) on the Brazos River in north central Texas. …

Initial Findings From The Archeological Investigations Of The Hardin A Site (41gg69), Gregg County, Texas, Bryan E. Boyd, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The Hardin A site (41GG69) is a prehistoric Caddo Indian settlement located on a high terrace overlooking the Sabine River flood-plain in Gregg County, Texas. The modem channel of the river is about 650 m to the south, and there is a small, intermittent tributary ca. 180 m to the west. The senior author discovered the Hardin A site in 1997, after he was told about it by informants who were looting a midden and cemetery area, and he formally recorded it in February 2000.

In an effort to better understand the temporal and archeological context of the prehistoric Caddo …