Other American Studies Commons^™

41sm91: A Frankston Phase Settlement On The Neches River At Lake Palestine, Smith County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

Site 41SM91 is an ancestral Caddo habitation site on an upland landform east of the Neches River, in the area of Lake Palestine, a large reservoir constructed on the Neches River in the East Texas Pineywoods; the dam is located about 11 km south of the site. The site was found and recorded during a 1957 survey of the proposed reservoir flood pool, and Johnson described it as “a large Frankston Focus habitation site located in a cultivated field on the slope of a large hill to the east of the Neches floodplain”. A large assemblage of ceramic vessel sherds …

Another Look At The Urbankte Site (41cv26) In Coryell County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Harry J. Shafer

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

Perttula (2016) had analyzed ceramic sherds and other material culture remains curated at the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at The University of Texas at Austin (TARL) from four sites in the Brazos River basin in the Central Texas prairie that had been identified as Prairie Caddo sites by Shafer; one of the sites was the Urbankte site (41CV26). The Urbankte site is on the Leon River in Coryell County, at Belton Reservoir; the Leon River is a southward-flowing tributary to the Brazos River. The term “Prairie Caddo” used by Shafer refers to Caddo groups affiliated with Caddo communities in East …

Native American Ceramic Assemblages From Sites In Tyler County, In Southeast Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

As part of a WPA-funded project, Gus E. Arnold of the University of Texas carried out archaeological survey investigations in Tyler County, Texas, between October 1939 and August 1940. During that time he recorded three sites in the Neches River basin with Native American ceramic vessel sherd assemblages, in an area just south of the known southern boundary of the Southern Caddo Area in East Texas. These ceramic assemblages, curated at the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at The University of Texas at Austin (TARL), are the subject of this article.

Obsidian Artifacts From East Texas Archaeological Sites, Timothy K. Perttula, Thomas R. Hester

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

Obsidian artifacts are one of the few material culture remains on East Texas sites that provide direct evidence of distant links between East Texas’s native American peoples and native American communities in the Southwest or the Northwestern Plains. Other such material culture items include marine shells from the Gulf of California, turquoise from New Mexico sources, and sherds from ceramic vessels made in the Puebloan Southwest. Such artifacts, however, are rarely recovered in East Texas archaeological sites. In this article, we summarize the available information on obsidian artifacts from East Texas archaeological sites, much of it gathered from Hester’s Texas …

The Newt Smith Site (41he78), Henderson County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The Newt Smith site (41HE78) is probably an ancestral Caddo cemetery and habitation site in the Coon Creek valley of the Post Oak Savannah in the Trinity River basin in East Texas. In April 1931, a Mrs. A. G. Hughes of Poynor, Texas, donated a single Caddo vessel to The University of Texas. That vessel is in the collections of the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at The University of Texas at Austin (TARL).

18th Century Mexican Majolica Sherds From 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

During the late 17th-early 18th century, Spanish forces colonized the middle reaches of the Neches River and its tributaries when several missions were established for the Tejas and other Hasinai tribes in this locale: Mission San Francisco de los Tejas, 1690-1693, Mission El Santisimo de Nombre Maria (1690-1692), and Mission Nuestra Padre de San Francisco de Tejas (1716-1719, 1721-1730), otherwise known as Mission San Francisco de los Nechas. These missions were established along the Hasinai Trace, later known as El Camino Real de los Tejas . None of these missions have been located and identified in the many archaeological investigations …

The De Rossett Farm (41he75) And Quate Place (41he81) Sites In The Cobb Creek Valley 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 De Rossett Farm and Quate Place sites were among the earliest East Texas archaeological sites to be investigated by professional archaeologists at The University of Texas (UT), which began under the direction of Dr. J. E. Pearce between 1918-1920. According to Pearce, UT began work in this part of the state under the auspices of the Bureau of American Ethnology, and that work “had led me to suppose that I should find this part of the State rich in archeological material of a high order.”

The two sites were investigated in August 1920. They are on Cobb Creek, a …

Additional Material Culture Remains From The Bowles Creek Site (41ce475) In Cherokee County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Kevin Stingley

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

The Bowles Creek site is on a low alluvial rise in the Bowles Creek floodplain; Bowles Creek is a southward-flowing tributary of the Neches River. Stingley found the site in early 2015 during a surface walk over, when Caddo ceramic sherds were noted in a number of gopher mounds. He excavated a number of shovel tests (n=13) and three units (generally 1 x 1 m in size); the units were excavated to between 50-80 cm bs. The site covers at least an estimated 55 m (east-west) x 20 m (north-south) area.

The initial archaeological investigations at the Bowles Creek site …

Titus Phase Ceramics From The Pine Tree Farm Site (41wd51) In The Lake Fork Creek Basin, Wood County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The Pine Tree Farm site, an ancestral Caddo site occupied during the Titus phase (ca. A.D. 1430- 1680), was recorded by Bob D. Skiles in June 1977, on the basis of investigations conducted there by Skiles and James E. Bruseth, then a graduate student at Southern Methodist University, as well as work done by Skiles in 1970. The site is on a flat upland landform (400 ft. amsl) ca. 300 m northeast of Myrtle Springs Branch, a tributary to Dry Creek in the Lake Fork Creek drainage in the East Texas Pineywoods.

The Goldsmith site (41WD208) is ca. 0.4 km …

Radiocarbon Dates From The Henry M. Site (41na60), Nacogdoches County, In East Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Tom Middlebrook

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

1980s and early 1990s excavations at the Henry M. site (41NA60) on Bayou Loco in the Angelina River basin exposed a well-preserved Historic Caddo midden deposit that partially overlapped a ca. 8.8 m circular Caddo structure (apparently rebuilt to some extent) marked by a variety of cultural features and stains, including two central posts from sequent structure use. There is a probable storage platform or arbor just outside the north wall of the structure. The Patton Engraved sherds in the recovered ceramic assemblage, the two gunflints, and one European glass bead suggests that the Henry M. site was occupied by …

Radiocarbon Dates From The Pine Snake Site (41ce467), Cherokee County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The Pine Snake site is a late 17th to early 18th century Caddo Indian archaeological site located on private land in the northwestern part of Cherokee County, Texas, in the valley of the westward-flowing Flat Creek, a tributary to the Neches River. This is an area of the Pineywoods of East Texas that contains extensive numbers of Caddo archeological sites along all major and minor streams. Post-A.D. 1400 Frankston phase and post-A.D. 1650 Historic Caddo Allen phase sites, especially cemeteries dating to either phase, are particularly abundant in this part of East Texas. However, not many of these sites in …

Plant Remains From The Washington Square Mound Site (41na49), Nacogdoches, Texas, Leslie L. Bush

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

Botanical remains were identified from 27 lots from the Washington Square Mound site (41NA49). The primary occupation at the site is Middle Caddo period in age. The first pooled set of calibrated radiocarbon dates from the site fell into the period A.D. 1268-1302, while a recent set of five calibrated dates from samples of plant remains discussed in this article range from A.D. 1279 + 17; (2) A.D. 1358 + 57; and three dates on charred corn from Features 36, 81, and 86 range from as early as A.D. 1394 to as late as A.D. 1437. These dates as a …

Documentation Of Artifacts From Sam Whiteside Collection From Sites In The Sabine And Neches River Basins, Upshur, Smith, And Cherokee Counties, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

Sam Whiteside was an active avocational archaeologist in East Texas in the 1950s and early 1960s, and investigated a number of important ancestral Caddo sites in Smith and Upshur counties. Much of his collection of artifacts and notes has been donated to the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at The University of Texas, and there have been several published studies of the archaeological findings from these sites. In this article, I document select collections that have recently become available for study from sites in the Sabine and Neches River basin in Upshur, Smith, and Cherokee counties.

Analysis Of The Recovered Artifacts From The Controlled Surface Collection At The Peach Orchard Site (41ce477), Cherokee County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Kevin Stingley

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

The Peach Orchard site is one of several historic Caddo archaeological sites recently recorded by Kevin Stingley in the Bowles Creek drainage in the middle Neches River basin in Cherokee County, Texas. The Peach Orchard site had been exposed in erosion along a county road that bisects the southern end of the upland landform, while the remainder of the landform was primarily grass-covered when it was first recorded earlier in 2015. In November 2015, the landowner decided to shallowly plow the site area to improve its grass cover, and this plowing provided an opportunity to complete a surface collection of …

Ancestral Caddo Ceramic Vessels From The Wright Plantation (41rr7) And Rowland Clark (41rr77) Sites In The Harris Collection At The National Museum Of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The collection of R. King Harris at the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) at the Smithsonian Institution has ancestral Caddo ceramic vessels from the Wright Plantation (41RR7) and Rowland Clark (41RR77) sites along the Red River in East Texas. Other than the site provenience and the burial number of two of the vessels at the Rowland Clark site, there is no more detailed documentation available on when or where within the sites that Harris obtained the ceramic vessels. Nevertheless, it is important as part of the broader study of the history of Caddo ceramic vessel forms and decorative motifs …

Big Hole (41tv2161): Two Stratigraphically Isolated Middle Holocene Components In Travis County, Texas Volume I, J. Michael Quigg, Benjamin G. Bury, Robert A. Ricklis, Paul M. Matchen, Shannon Gray, Charles D. Frederick, Tiffany Osburn, Eric Shroeder

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

During April and May 2006, an archeological team from the Cultural Resources Section of the Planning, Permitting and Licensing Practice of TRC Environmental Corporation’s (TRC) Austin office conducted geoarcheological documentation and data recovery excavations at prehistoric site 41TV2161 (CSJ: 0440-06-006). Investigations were restricted to a 70 centimeter (cm) thick target zone between ca. 220 and 290 cm below surface (bs) on the western side of site 41TV2161 – the Big Hole site in eastern Travis County, Texas.

This cultural investigation was necessary under the requirements of Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), the implementing regulations of 36CRF …

Cultural Resource Survey Of The U.S. Highway 67 Water Improvement Project, City Of Presidio, Presidio County, Texas, Benjamin G. Bury, Paul M. Matchen, Ashleigh Knapp, J. Michael Quigg

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

The City of Presidio is proposing to upgrade their water distribution system, provide services to the Colonia of Las Pampas, north of Presidio, and improve the overall water system reliability to accommodate these additional demands. Following a review of the proposed undertaking, the Texas Historic Commission (THC) recommended that a cultural resource survey be performed (THC letter dated October 21, 2015). To meet its responsibilities under existing State and Federal statutes, the City contracted TRC Environmental Corporation (TRC) of Austin to conduct the necessary cultural resource survey. Subsequently, TRC archeologists submitted a Texas Antiquities Permit Application to the THC, and …

Cultural Resources Investigations Of The Vista Ridge Regional Water Supply Project In Burleson, Lee, Bastrop, Caldwell, Guadalupe, Comal And Bexar Counties, Texas, Laura I. Acuña, Brandon Young, Rhiana D. Ward

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

On behalf of VRRSP Consultants, LLC and Central Texas Regional Water Supply Corporation (CTRWSC), SWCA Environmental Consultants (SWCA) conducted cultural resources investigations of the Vista Ridge Regional Water Supply (Vista Ridge) Project in Burleson, Lee, Bastrop, Caldwell, Guadalupe, Comal, and Bexar Counties. The work will involve installation of a 139.45-mile-long, 60-inch-diameter water pipeline from northcentral San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas, to Deanville, Burleson County, Texas. The report details the findings of investigations from June 2015 to December 2015, on the alignment dated December 8, 2015 (December 8th). The Vista Ridge Project is subject to review under Section 106 of the …

Intensive Archeological Survey Of Old Airport Road At Burgess Creek In Parker County, Texas, Brandon S. Young, Timothy B. Griffith, Maryellen Russo

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

On August 10 and 11, 2011, Blanton & Associates, Inc. (B&A) conducted an intensive non-collection archeological survey (augmented by backhoe trenching) at the request of Aguirre & Fields, LP and on behalf of the Texas Department of Transportation’s (TxDOT) Ft. Worth District, of Old Airport Road at Burgess Creek in Parker County Texas (CSJ: 0902-38-062). Investigations occurred prior to proposed roadway improvements including the relocation of approximately 1,600 feet of Old Airport Road southwest of its existing location and a new bridge at Burgess Creek. Survey efforts discovered two historic archeological sites; 41PR147 and 41PR148. Site 41PR147 is a hand-dug …

A Cultural Resources Survey Of The Bp-Fletcher No.1 Proposed 4.4-Acre Well Pad, 1.5-Acre Well Pad, And 2.4-Mile Pipeline Project, Within Village Greek State Park, Hardin County, Texas, Jennifer Cochran, Zachary Overfield, Abby Peyton, Allyson Walsh

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

Perennial Environmental Services, LLC (Perennial), on behalf of Upstream Exploration, LLC (Upstream) conducted an intensive cultural resources survey of the BP – Fletcher No. 1 well pads and pipeline Project (Project) located east of Lumberton, Texas on the recently acquired Hancock Tract within the Village Creek State Park. The Project will include vegetation clearing, equipment staging as well as construction and installation of an approximately 4.4-acre pad site, 1.5-acre pad site, and a 3.8-kilometer- (km-) (2.4-mile- [mi-]) long 10.2-centimeter- (cm-) 4.0-inch- [in.-]) diameter pipeline. The pipeline portion of the Project will run adjacent to an unnamed road that bisects the …

Intensive Archeological Survey For The Barton Oaks Road At Bartons Creek Bridge Replacement, Bastrop County, Jon Budd

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

On March 3, 2016, SWCA Environmental Consultants conducted an intensive cultural resources survey of new bridge installation and associated roadway approaches (approximating 1 acre) along Barton Oaks Drive in Bastrop County, Texas. These investigations for the Austin District were conducted for the proposed bridge replacement across Bartons Creek. The work was conducted in compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (54 United States Code 306108) and the Antiquities Code of Texas (9 Natural Resources Code 191). Jon Budd served as Principal Investigator under Texas Antiquities Code Permit No. 7555.

The area of potential effects (APE) comprises new …

Archaeological Survey Of The Proposed Bear Creek Corporate Center Dallas County, Texas, Molly A. Hall, Allen M. Rutherford

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

EVP Developmental/Avere Real Estate is proposing to construct the Bear Creek Corporate Center at the southeast corner of SH161 and Conflans Road in Irving, Texas on approximately 16 acres. This is located in the Bear Creek floodplain 300 meters form the creek channel.AR Consultants, Inc. was contracted to survey the entire property. The survey and shovel testing were conducted on May 17, 2016.

The water table was relatively high at the time of survey, inundating almost a third of the property. No prehistoric or historic archaeological sites were found during the survey. This follows the predictions made prior to field …

Csj 0151-09-036, Proposed Us 183 From Us 290 To Sh 71 Travis County, Austin District, Jon Budd

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

Previously unrecorded site 41TV2509 was discovered post-review during construction for the widening of US 183 from US 290 to SH 71. The project, conducted under Texas Antiquities Permit No. 7627, consisted of examining and reporting a multi-component site, 41TV2509, which was discovered post-review during vegetation clearing and grading in association with the widening of US 183. Fieldwork was conducted between April 20 and April 25, 2016. The project area covered an area of approximately 0.02 acres, completely situated within existing TxDOT right of way. A pile of roughly 100 yellow bricks, some still mortared together, was encountered during mechanical operations …

Proposed Salado Creek Trail, Lions Park Lake To Se Military Drive, San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas, Mark P. Luzmoor, Kristi Miller Nichols

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

In December 2015, Vickrey & Associates, Inc. (Client) contracted with Raba Kistner Environmental, Inc. (RKEI), to perform an intensive pedestrian survey for a proposed 3.2 mile hike and bike trail along Salado Creek near San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas. The proposed trail is an extension of the existing South Salado Creek Greenway Trail which was installed in 2008. The project is owned by the City of San Antonio. Since the project area is currently owned by a political subdivision of the state, the project falls under the Antiquities Code of Texas as administered by the Texas Historical Commission (THC). The …

Cultural Resources Survey Of A Proposed Reverse Osmosis Water Treatment Plant, El Paso County, Texas, Peter C. Condon, Katherine Jones

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

On July 31, 2015 Versar Inc. performed a linear pedestrian survey which followed the standards outlined under THC’s Archaeological Survey Standards for Texas and Rules of Practice and Procedure for the Antiquities Code of Texas on 8.8 acres of land in east El Paso, El Paso County, Texas. The proposed survey parcel is positioned between Global Reach Drive and the Kay Bailey Hutchison Desalination Plant, north of Montana Avenue (U.S. Highway 62/180). The area of potential effect is on property owned by El Paso International Airport, a sub-entity of the City of El Paso. The project goal was to identify …

Archaeological Monitoring And Test Excavations At The 1722 Presidio San Antonio De Bexar (Plaza De Armas Buildings), San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas, Clinton Mckenzie, Lindy Martinez, Raymond Mauldin, Kristi Nichols, Melissa Eiring, Leonard Kemp, Tamra Walter, Adriana Ziga, Kelly Harris, Steve Tomka

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

From April 2013 to November 2014, the Center for Archaeological Research (CAR) at The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) conducted archaeological monitoring and test excavations at the site of the 1722 Presidio San Antonio de Bexar, also known in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries as the Plaza de Armas Buildings (Vogel Belt Complex) within Military Plaza in San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas. The project was performed for Ford, Powell and Carson, Architects and Planners, Inc. under contract with the City of San Antonio in anticipation of renovations and improvements to the Plaza de Armas Buildings (Vogel Belt Complex) …

Bioarchaeological Investigations Of Nineteenth-Century African American Burials At The Pioneer Cemetery (41bo202) In Brazoria, Texas, Aaron R. Norment, Jeremy W. Pye, Cory J. Broehm, Douglas K. Boyd

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

A search for unmarked graves in the state-owned right of way and underneath the pavement of State Highway 332 resulted in the discovery and archeological excavation of 11 unmarked graves associated with Pioneer Cemetery, an African American burial ground in Brazoria, Texas. Prewitt and Associates, Inc., conducted the fieldwork for the Texas Department of Transportation’s Archeological Studies Program. Between 2008 and 2012, the 11 unmarked graves were discovered, exhumed, analyzed, and then reinterred in Pioneer Cemetery in September 2012. This report describes the bioarcheological investigations of those burials along with 3 other unmarked burials that were previously exhumed and reburied …

An Unusual Late Aboriginal Assemblage From The Wilson Site (41ss186), San Saba County, Central Texas, Charles A. Hixson, James K. Feathers

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

The late aboriginal component in the Wilson Site in San Saba County is unusual in that most of the assemblage is consistent with that of Classic Toyah, but the diagnostic projectile point is an unnotched triangular arrow point instead of the typical Perdiz point. The absence of Perdiz points suggests that this component is associated with non-Toyah people and possibly dates to after 1700. Archaeological testing by the Llano Uplift Archeological Society (LUAS) to find supporting evidence for a historic date identified an Austin phase shell midden and a “Late Component” composed of triangular arrow points, end scrapers, a beveled …

Cultural Resources Survey Of The Proposed North 2 Elevated Storage Tank And Access Road, El Paso County, Texas, Peter C. Condon, Katherine Jones

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

On 23 November 2016, Versar Inc. performed a pedestrian survey for the proposed No 2. Elevated Storage Tank and access Road. The inventory followed the standards outlined under THC’s Archaeological Survey Standards for Texas and Rules of Practice and Procedure for the Antiquities Code of Texas for 5.94 acres of land in northeast El Paso, El Paso County, Texas. The proposed survey parcel is positioned adjacent to U.S. Highway 54-along the east-northeast margin of the highway. The rectangular parcel terminates immediately south of the existing Kinder Morgan pipeline ROW corridor. The area of potential effect is on property owned by …

Archeological 3d Mapping: The Structure From Motion Revolution, Mark D. Willis, Charles W. Koenig, Stephen L. Black, Amanda M. Castañeda

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

Mapping is a critical aspect of systematic documentation no matter where archaeologists work. From hand-drawn maps of excavation units to maps created with Total Data Stations or LiDAR scanning, today’s archaeologists have a suite of mapping techniques and technologies to choose from when documenting a site. Typically, spectacular sites often receive high resolution mapping, whereas everyday sites rarely do. Recently, however, a revolutionary technology and technique has been created that can produce highly accurate and precise three-dimensional maps and orthophotos of archaeological sites, features, and profiles at a fraction of the cost and time of LiDAR and intensive TDS mapping: …