Other History of Art, Architecture, and Archaeology Commons^™

Documentation Of Ancestral Caddo Ceramic Vessels And Other Artifacts From East Texas Sites In The George T. Wright Collection At The Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum Of Natural History, Timothy K. Perttula, Mark Walters, Bo Nelson

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

From the early 1900s to the mid-1940s George T. Wright was a landowner (Kiomatia Plantation) and Vice-President of the Kiomitia Mercantile Company: General Merchandise in Kiomatia and Paris, Texas. He was also an avid Indian artifact collector at sites along the Red River in Red River County, Texas, as well as in McCurtain County, Oklahoma, especially the collection of Caddo ceramic vessels, and also dug at sites he knew in the area, including the Wright Plantation site (41RR7), which he owned, and the Sam Coffman site (now known as Sam Kaufman, 41RR16, and for a short time known as the …

Current Research: Ceramic Production And Distribution During The Formative Caddo Period: A Stylistic And Provenance Investigation Of The Arkansas River Valley, Shawn Lambert

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

The Formative Caddo Period (A.D. 850-1100) of eastern Oklahoma was marked by dramatic material and ritual changes, culminating in the construction of aggregated villages and ceremonial centers. Formative Caddo groups are notable for their highly complex and ritually-charged ceramic vessels that were unlike anything archeologists have seen in the American Southeast. Tracing the rapid development and spread of this early fine ware assemblage across a variety of social, ritual, and mortuary contexts is key to understanding the shared religious and ritual traditions of the pre-Columbian Arkansas River valley and surrounding Coastal Plain drainages. Yet despite nearly 60 years of archeological …

Current Research: Recent Documentation Of Ceramic Vessels And Other Funerary Objects In The Titus Phase Cemetery At The Tuck Carpenter Site, Camp County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Mark Walters, Kevin Stingley, Tom Middlebrook

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

Recently, we had the opportunity to complete the documentation of Late Caddo period Titus phase ceramic vessels and other funerary offerings from the Tuck Carpenter site (41CP5) in the Big Cypress Creek basin in Camp County, Texas. This portion of the funerary assemblage from the site has been in the hands of R. W. Walsh since the 1960s. Unable to properly care for the assemblage, he recently donated his collection to an anonymous individual, who graciously allowed us to fully document these funerary offerings.

The Tuck Carpenter site (41CP5), on Dry Creek several miles from its confluence with Big Cypress …

Addressing The Cosmological Significance Of A Pot: A Search For Cosmological Structure In The Craig Mound, Shawn Lambert

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

Ceramic vessels and cosmological structure at first may seem quite unrelated. Many argue the basic and perhaps only function of a pot was a simple human-made container which held foodstuff for cooking and serving purposes. Pre-Contact communities also used ceramics to display complex iconography, some of which may represent important cosmological meanings in time and space. For this paper, I examine the temporal and spatial placement of pottery in 98 Craig Mound burials at the Spiro site in search for cosmological patterns in the imagery of the vessels. Only burials unassociated with the Great Mortuary and the Spirit Lodge were …

Feature-Scale Analysis Using Ground-Penetrating Radar And Low Altitude Prospection At The Collins Mounds Site, Northwest Arkansas, Stephanie M. Sullivan, Tiago Attore

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

Geophysical survey and other non-invasive methods are, in some cases, the only options available for archaeological investigation. This is exemplified at the Collins site, a possible Late Woodland to Middle Mississippian period, multi-mound, civic ceremonial center in Northwest Arkansas. The site is located on private property and although excavation is not allowed, non-invasive survey methods are permitted on its northern section. This paper presents the results of a ground-penetrating radar survey over Mounds B, C, and D. The results reveal a number of features that are interpreted as mortuary structures as well as evidence of multiple building episodes over time …

The Effects Of Horses And Raiding On The Salt Industry In Northwest Louisiana, Paul N. Eubanks

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

When French explorers first arrived in northwest Louisiana, the local Caddo Indians had already earned a reputation for being important players in the salt trade. Likewise, many western Caddo groups living near the southern Plains were known for their involvement in the horse trade. In the first part of this paper, the relationship between the local salt industry and the introduction of the horse is considered. It is suggested that at least some of the salt made in northwest Louisiana was being fed to horses and other livestock acquired either directly or indirectly from the Spanish. In addition to its …

The Cosmos In Clay: An Analysis Of Avery Engraved Vessel Motifs, Louisa Nash

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

This study seeks to provide new interpretations for the abstract and geometric Avery Engraved vessel motifs created by the prehistoric Caddo. I argue that certain motifs represent wings, feathers, and the Upper World, while other motifs act as locatives and are representative of the Lower World in the Caddo conception of a tiered universe. Given the nature of archaeological research, it is not possible to ascertain all of the implications, nuances, and complexities of the motifs that appear on Avery Engraved vessels. However, this study and others like it, which work to extrapolate the meaning of motifs through comparative analysis …

Current Research At Arkansas Archeological Survey’S Henderson State University Research Station, Mary Beth D. Trubitt, Chelsea Cinotto

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

During 2017, the Arkansas Archeological Survey celebrated its 50th anniversary with a series of website postings (http://archeology.uark.edu/who-we-are/50moments/), a forum at the annual meeting of the Arkansas Archeological Society, and a symposium at the annual Southeastern Archaeological Conference in Tulsa. In addition, the Survey made strides in documenting and archiving its history and collections. The Survey’s Henderson State University (HSU) Research Station in Arkadelphia continued to inventory curated artifact collections and scan older paper records and color slides. Trubitt and Cinotto, assisted by volunteers during weekly Archeology Lab Days, are updating the station’s curated collections database with artifact counts and weights, …

Current Research: Current Research In The Upper Mcgee Creek Drainage, Oklahoma, James Briscoe

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

In recent years the Choctaw Nation has acquired a roughly 80 square mile ranch in the western edge of the Winding Stair Mountains of southeastern Oklahoma. The land is currently a working ranch and timber management area. Choctaw Forestry manages timber activities and range management with the intention of returning the land to an oak savanna setting. Active logging of pine and selected hardwoods and on-going controlled surface burns are included in Forestry activity on the ranch. The project is supported by the Choctaw Nation Historic Preservation Department, which is responsible for the inventory and protection of the cultural resources …

Middle Caddo Whole Vessels From The Ferguson Site (3he63), Pritam Chowdhury

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

The Ferguson site (3HE63) is a Caddo ceremonial center in Hempstead County, Arkansas. The Arkansas Archeological Survey and Arkansas Archeological Society excavated Ferguson between 1972 and 1974, under the direction of Dr. Frank Schambach. The site has a middle Caddo Haley phase (A.D. 1200- 1400) component consisting of two mounds, several structures, and a small cemetery area, set atop a 2-acre Woodland period Fourche Maline village. One of the mounds included several elite Caddo shaft graves rich with ceramic artifacts. My recent research with Ferguson site collections included a metric and stylistic analysis of whole vessel ceramics from the Haley …

Current Research: Toward A Collaborative Development Of A Truly Comprehensive Multi-State Material Culture Database, Duncan P. Mckinnon

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

Throughout the past several years, I have been compiling, with the help of several Caddo researchers, a comprehensive multi-state database primarily composed of whole Caddo vessels from published excavations, private collections, and archaeological reports. At present, the database contains over 13,000 vessel entries from over 500 sites ranging from a single vessel recorded at a site to hundreds. Over the years, the database has evolved to contain, where applicable, attribute fields on type, variety, motif designs (largely using the Glossary of Motifs published in the Spiro shell engravings, collegiate assignment, form, temper, decorative method (incised, brushed, etc.), context (burial #, …

Cultural Resources Investigations For The Crownquest City Of Midland Oil And Gas Project, Midland And Glasscock Counties, Texas, Sophia Salgado, Zachary Overfield, Cody Roush

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

SWCA Environmental Consultants (SWCA) was retained by CrownQuest Operating, LLC, to complete an intensive cultural resources investigation for the proposed CrownQuest City of Midland Oil and Gas Project (Project). The Project includes newly proposed oil and gas well pads, crude oil pipeline, and associated access roads on City of Midland property in Midland and Glasscock Counties, Texas. These new components will be constructed within an existing upstream oil and gas system. The 149.9-acre (60.7-hectare) Project area is located approximately 15 miles southeast of Midland, Texas, immediately south of Highway 158, and is situated along and between Johnson and Pemberton Draws. …

Results From Magnetic Gradient Surveys At The Walnut Branch (41ce47), Ross I (41ce485), And Ross Ii (41ce486) Sites In Cherokee County, Texas, Duncan Mckinnon, Kevin Stingley

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

The use of magnetic gradient surveys at Caddo sites located throughout the Caddo people’s ancestral lands within the current areas of East Texas, Southwest Arkansas, Northwest Louisiana, and eastern Oklahoma has been very successful in the elucidation and mapping of the distributional characteristics of buried cultural features. In March 2018, three Caddo sites in East Texas (41CE47, 41CE485, 41CE486) were surveyed and the results add to the growing corpus of remote sensing spatial data. The recent survey work was conducted in order to assess the nature of sub-surface preservation of archaeological deposits in different environmental and historical contexts and to …

The Ancestral Caddo Ceramic Vessel And Vessel Sherd Assemblage From The Nawi Haia Ina Site (41rk170) In The Angelina River Basin, Rusk County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The Nawi haia ina site (41RK170), translated as “Our mother dwells below” (Mooney 1896:1096) in the Caddo language, contains habitation features and midden deposits from an ancestral Caddo residential occupation, as well as a small and spatially discrete cemetery (Perttula and Nelson 2003). These deposits date, based on the OxCal calibration of 11 C14 dates, between cal. A.D. 990-1190, A.D. 1185-1270, and A.D. 1297-1410 for the midden area and the Feature 2 burial, and between cal. A.D. 1432-1527 (see Selden and Perttula 2013) for the two investigated burials in the cemetery. The small cemetery appears to be contemporaneous as well …

The R. F. Wallace Farm (41ce20) And W. T. Brooks Farm (41ce18) Sites In The Neches River Basin, Cherokee County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The R. F. Wallace Farm (41CE20) and W. T. Brooks Farm (41CE18) sites are ancestral Caddo sites in the Neches River basin in the East Texas Pineywoods, not far to the north and northwest, respectively, from the well-known Caddo village and mound center at the George C. Davis site (41CE19). Both sites are on tributaries to the Neches River: the R. F. Wallace Farm site is on Bowles Creek, and the W. T. Brooks Farm site is on Box’s Creek.

The Decorated Ceramic Sherds, Plain Rim Sherds, And Clay Pipe Sherds From The Stallings Ranch Site (41lr297), Lamar County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

Excavations at the Gene and Ruth Ann Stallings Ranch site (41LR297) during the 2005 and 2006 Texas Archeological Society Field Schools, as well as 2004 excavations by the Valley of the Caddo Archeological Society, recovered an interesting assemblage of prehistoric ceramics. In this article, I analyze the 88 decorated sherds, the 99 plain rims, and the 67 clay pipe sherds found during that work. In addition to characterizing the assemblage of vessel sherds and pipes in terms of decorative style and various technological attributes (i.e., temper and paste, firing conditions, surface treatment, etc.), I am also concerned with establishing the …

A Partial Magnetometer Survey Of The Archaeological Conservancy’S Portion Of The A. C. Saunders Site (41an19), Dale Hudler, Jonathan Jarvis, Tim Griffith

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

The Texas Archeological Research Laboratory (TARL) at The University of Texas at Austin conducted a partial magnetometer survey of The Archaeological Conservancy-owned portion of the A. C. Saunders site (41AN19) during the period between 6-8 December 2005. This survey was sponsored by the Texas Department of Transportation Environmental Affairs Division (TxDOT/ENV) due to a proposed expansion of the right-of-way of U.S. Highway 175 and was conducted under a research design approved by The Archeological Conservancy and TxDOT/ENV. The work was conducted under the direction of Dale Hudler (Principal Investigator) from TARL with a joint TARL/Prewitt and Associates, Inc. field crew …

The Ancestral Caddo Cemetery At The H. R. Taylor (41hs3) Site, Harrison County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The H. R. Taylor site (41HS3) is an ancestral Caddo community cemetery in the lower reaches of the Big Cypress Creek basin in East Texas. The cemetery was used by Caddo peoples affiliated with the Late Caddo period Titus phase (ca. A.D. 1430-1680), probably between ca. A.D. 1600-1680, an archaeological construct. Its affiliation with a specific named Caddo group or tribe is not known, and by the early 18th century much of the Big Cypress Creek basin was not inhabited by Caddo peoples, or peoples of any other American Indian group. The H. R. Taylor site is one of more …

Leroy Johnson At Mcgee Bend Reservoir (Lake Sam Rayburn) In 1956, Edward B. Jelks

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

McGee Bend was one of some 40 reservoir and dam projects in Texas where salvage archaeological excavations were carried out as part of the nationwide River Basin Surveys program administered by the Smithsonian Institution and the National Park Service between 1947 and 1968 (see Jelks 1965, 2006, 2014, 2017). In 1956, I rented an old vacant farmhouse for our McGee Bend field headquarters where our crew lived without indoor plumbing, and it was there that the photo of LeRoy Johnson bathing in a washtub was taken by one of our crew, Milburn Lathan (Figure 1).

The William Farrar Site (41tt1) In The Sulphur River Basin,Titus County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The William Farrar site (41TT1) is an ancestral Caddo settlement and cemetery on an alluvial terrace of the Sulphur River (Figure 1) in the East Texas Post Oak Savannah, a few miles downstream from the W. A. Ford site (41TT2) (see Goldschmidt 1935; Perttula 2016). University of Texas (UT) archaeologists completed excavations at the site in August 1934, but they had known about the site since as early as 1932, when they purchased or had donated several Caddo vessels from a Henry William Martin and, in 1934, purchased a vessel from a John Bowman, who had previously dug at the …

The Lake Wright Patman Cache, Robert L. Brooks

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

Thirty-nine bifaces found in the collections of the Museum of the Red River were recently analyzed. Mr. Donald Stewart recovered these bifaces from the vicinity of Lake Wright Patman during lake construction. Analysis of the biface cache was undertaken to gain some understanding of these specimens, despite the absence of provenience information and other details pertaining to their collection. Basic metric data and non-metric observations were taken. I also detail the collection of the biface cache, the history and archaeological background of Lake Wright Patman, results of the analysis, and some thoughts on the function of the bifaces.

A Woodland Period Goose Creek Plain, Var. Unspecified Sherd From 41wm1382 In Central Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

41WM1382 is in the Brushy Creek valley in Williamson County, Texas, near the community of Normans Crossing. Brushy Creek is an eastward-flowing tributary of the San Gabriel River in the Blackland Prairie natural region in the Brazos River basin. The site’s principal archaeological deposits date to the Late Archaic period (between ca. 4000-1200 years B.P.), but one ca. A.D. 900-1200 Kiam Incised sherd has been found here (Perttula and Mikulencak 2018).

Continued Documentation Of Ancestral Caddo Ceramic Vessels From East Texas Caddo Sites In The Buddy Jones Collection At The Gregg County Historical Museum, Timothy K. Perttula, R. Bo Nelson

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

In this article, we document 33 recently acquired ancestral Caddo ceramic vessels to the Buddy Jones Collection held by the Gregg County Historical Museum in Longview, Texas. These vessels had until recently been kept separate from the remainder of the collection. We documented this part of the vessel collections in April 2018.

Ancestral Caddo Ceramic Vessel Sherds From Sites In The White Oak Creek Basin, Hopkins County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The ancestral Caddo ceramic vessel sherd assemblages discussed in this article are from five sites in the White Oak Creek basin in the Blackland Prairie of East Texas (Figure 1). They are the E. B. Minter Farm (41HP2), R. H. Taylor Farm (41HP4), Hilman Hathcoat (41HP9), Avery Rasurer (41HP10), and Tom Cannon Farm (41HP11) sites. They were investigated by archaeologists from The University of Texas in 1931 or 1934 who were in search of whole Caddo vessels and burial features, and the collections obtained from the sites (including donated or purchased collections) are held by the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory …

Caddo Ceramic Vessel Sherd Assemblages From Sites In The Sabine River Basin, Harrison County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

Ancestral Caddo ceramic vessel sherd assemblages from three sites in the Sabine River basin in Harrison County, Texas, are documented in this article. The sherds from the three sites (n=272 total sherds) are held in the collections of the Gregg County Historical Museum in Longview, Texas.

Site Significance Testing Report Of Site 41bp920 On The 140-Mile-Long Vista Ridge Water Pipeline In Bastrop County, Texas, Daniel Rodriguez, Brandon Young

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 archaeological significance test excavations at multicomponent site 41BP920 within the proposed alignment of the Vista Ridge Regional Water Supply Project (Vista Ridge) in Bastrop County. The Vista Ridge project will involve construction of an approximately 140-mile-long, 60-inch-diameter water pipeline from north-central San Antonio, Bexar County, to Deanville, Burleson County, Texas. The project will also include three pump station locations in Guadalupe, Bastrop, and Burleson Counties. The majority of the alignment will follow existing utilities and traverse undeveloped, agricultural parcels in rural …

Intensive Archeological Survey Of Fort Richardson State Park And Historic Site, Julie Shipp, Brandy Harris, Katie Canavan

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

On March 28 and 29, 2018, aci consulting conducted a cultural resources survey of the Fort Richardson State Park and Historic Site in Jack County, Texas for the proposed wastewater system and lift stations. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) proposes to replace a 50-year old wastewater system, water distribution system, and main lift station with a modernized and efficient system.

The Area of Potential Effect (APE) for the Fort Richardson State Park and Historic Site (FRSPHS) project is the water and wastewater replacement system which is approximately 1.49 miles in length with a 20-foot buffer, resulting in approximately …

An Intensive Cultural Resources Survey Of The 13.0-Acre Manadas Wastewater Treatment Plant Project In Laredo, Webb County, Texas, Briana N. Smith, Russell K. Brownlow, Jeffrey D. Owens

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

On 29 November 2017, Horizon Environmental Services, Inc. (Horizon) conducted an intensive cultural resources survey of the City of Laredo’s (City) proposed 13.0-acre Manadas Wastewater Treatment Plant Project in Laredo, Webb County, Texas (Project Area). To facilitate its construction, the City is pursuing federal funding through the Texas Water Development Board’s (TWDB) Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF). As these funds are ultimately federal monies issued by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the undertaking falls under the regulations of Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) of 1966, as amended. Additionally, the Project Area will be located …

Archeological Survey Of The Port Of Calhoun, Llc. Dock Facility Calhoun County, Texas, Eric Schroeder

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

The Port of Calhoun, LLC. is planning to construct a commercial facility for transporting and storing sand. The facility includes the construction of a number of onshore deadmen for barge mooring, a bulkhead for loading and unloading barges, buildings for sand storage, and an area for the disposal of dredge material. Because the project will involve the placement of fill within the ordinary high water mark of the Victoria Barge Canal, the project will require a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Galveston District (Corps). Since the issuance of this permit is a federal undertaking, the Corps must …

Archaeological Investigations For The Proposed Mission County Park Tree Planting Project, San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas, Antonio E. Padilla

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

Raba Kistner Environmental, Inc. (RKEI), was contracted by the Bexar Heritage Program (CLIENT) to conduct archaeological investigations of two areas of Mission County Park in anticipation of the planting of 22 trees. The Mission County Park Tree Planting Project will be funded and managed by Bexar County, an entity of the State of Texas. As such, the project falls under the jurisdiction of Chapter 35 of the City of San Antonio Unified Development Code, as well as the Antiquities Code of Texas (Texas Natural Resource Code, Title 9, Chapter 191), by virtue of it representing a public undertaking.

The investigations …