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Documentation Of Caddo Ceramic Vessels In The Texas Parks And Wildlife Department Holdings From Goliad State Park, Timothy K. Perttula, Robert Z. Selden Jr.

CRHR Research Reports

On February 6, 2015, three Caddo vessels from an unknown site or sites were documented at the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Archeology Laboratory, where the standard suite of metadata was collected, accompanied by photographs and 3D models of each vessel. While the donor of these vessels remains unknown, stylistic and technological attributes can be used to posit the potential region of origin.

There are three 3D models included in this report of NAGPRA documentation. To manipulate, measure, and otherwise quantify variability in the models, this document must be downloaded, then opened in either Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader. These …

Effigy Vessel Documentation, Caddo Collections At The Texas Archeological Research Laboratory At The University Of Texas At Austin, Timothy K. Perttula, Robert Z. Selden Jr.

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

Ceramic vessels from ancestral Caddo sites in East Texas are diverse in form, size, manufacture, and decoration, both spatially and temporally. Variation in these attributes, including vessel form as well as any attachments, also “is connected with particular local and regional traditions” (Brown 1996:335). To both appreciate and understand the meaning of vessel form diversity in Caddo vessel assemblages in East Texas—or any other part of the much larger southern Caddo area—the consistent identification of different vessel forms and vessel shapes is crucial. The formal identification of the diverse vessel forms and vessel shapes, in conjunction with other vessel attributes, …

Caddo Ceramic Vessels From The Goode Hunt (41cs23) And Clements (41cs25) Sites In The East Texas Pineywoods, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The Goode Hunt (41CS23) and Clements (41CS25) sites are early historic Nasoni Caddo cemeteries and settlements in the Pineywoods of East Texas. The Clements site was first investigated in 1898 by W. T. Scott, and then again in 1932 by archaeologists from the University of Texas (UT). The nearby Goode Hunt site was also investigated by UT in 1932.

In this publication, the concern is with the 153 Caddo ceramic vessels recovered from burial features at the two sites during these various investigations, including the 34 vessels from the Clements site being curated by the American Museum of Natural History, …

Excavations At The Early Caddo Period Mound Pond Site (41hs12) In Harrison County, Texas, Glenn T. Goode, Timothy K. Perttula, Leslie L. Bush, Shawn Marceaux, Leeanna Schniebs, Jesse Todd

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

This publication summarizes major archaeological findings from the July 1977 excavations at the Mound Pond site (41HS12), in the Pineywoods of Harrison County, Texas. The site lies on the south, or right, bank of Big Cypress Creek in the upper reaches of Caddo Lake, approximately 4 km north of the village of Uncertain.

The Mound Pond Site was recorded by Dr. E. Mott Davis (The University of Texas at Austin) in the 1950s, during the time that he was conducting investigations at nearby Lake O’ the Pines Reservoir. Early in 1977, Forrest Murphey, of Marshall, Texas, approached Glenn Goode about …

Caddo Ceramic Vessels From The Hatchel Site (41bw3) On The Red River In Bowie County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

This monograph concerns the analysis and study of the ancestral Caddo ceramic vessels (n=68) recovered at the Hatchel site (41BW3) on the Red River in Bowie County, Texas. These vessels were excavated from burial and non-burial features in the platform mound, village areas, and cemetery areas (burial plots 1-4) excavated by University of Texas archaeologists during 1938-1939 Works Progress Administration (WPA) investigations. The vessels are curated at the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at The University of Texas (TARL).

The Caddo Ceramic Assemblage From The Hardin A Site (41gg69) On The Sabine River In Gregg County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The Hardin A site (41GG69) is an ancestral Caddo settlement on a high alluvial terrace landform overlooking the Sabine River floodplain in Gregg County, Texas, a few miles west of Longview, Texas. The modern channel of the river is ca. 650 m to the south. The site, which is in the East Texas Pineywoods, has well preserved midden deposits, pit features, as well as a looted cemetery area.

East Texas Caddo Ceramic Sherd Database, Timothy K. Perttula

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

A considerable amount of effort has been expended over the years by archaeologists in the identification, description, and classification of ancestral Caddo ceramic vessels and sherds recovered from sites across East Texas, beginning with the masterful efforts of Alex D. Krieger. These analyses have led to an appreciation of the stylistic, technological, functional, and morphological character of Caddo ceramics, as well as their age, and their role in the identification and scale of social networks of different Caddo communities in existence as early as ca. A.D. 850 to the early 19th century.

The purpose of the compilation of attribute-level data …

Additional Radiocarbon Dates From East Texas Caddo Sites, Timothy K. Perttula, Robert Z. Selden Jr.

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

This article reports on two new radiocarbon dates obtained from ancestral Caddo sites in East Texas. These dates provide new information on the ages of Caddo occupations at the sites, and they contribute to the further expansion of the East Texas Caddo radiocarbon database.

The Womack Site (41lr1), An Ancestral Caddo Settlement On The Red River In Lamar County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The Womack site (41LR1) is an ancestral Caddo settlement situated on an alluvial terrace in a horseshoe bend of the Red River in north central Lamar County in East Texas. Harris completed the analysis and study of their 1938-mid-1960s investigations at the site, but the findings from the earlier archaeological investigations conducted at the site by the University of Texas (UT) in 1931 have not been previously published. In this article I discuss the 1931 investigations by UT at the Womack site, and also summarize the character of the artifact assemblage recovered at the site during this work. Lastly, I …

The Harling Site (41fn1): An Ancestral Caddo Mound Site On The Red River In Fannin County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The Harling site (41FN1), also earlier known as the Morgan Place, is a little-known ancestral Caddo mound site located on the first alluvial terrace of the Red River in the northeastern corner of Fannin County in East Texas. The only professional archaeological investigations at the Harling site took place in November-December 1960 by a University of Texas crew led by Dr. E. Mott Davis, in advance of proposed mound leveling by the landowner. Other than short summary articles by Davis, the results of the excavations and analyses of the recovered artifacts from the Harling site have not been previously published. …

The T. N. Coles Site (41rr3): An Early Caddo Period Burial Mound Site On The Sulphur River, Red River County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The T. N. Coles site (41RR3), also known as the Mustang Creek site, is an Early Caddo period (ca. A.D. 1000-1200) site with a single burial mound constructed on a tributary to the Sulphur River in East Texas. The site was never investigated by a professional archaeologist, but the available information about the site and the artifact findings indicate that the burial mound contained (and may still contain) at least one burial with multiple interments, very similar to Early Caddo period shaft tombs at the Gahagan and Mounds Plantation sites on the Red River in Northwest Louisiana, the Crenshaw site …

The Sanders Site (41lr2): A Middle To Historic Caddo Settlement And Mound Center On The Red River In Lamar County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Bo Nelson, Mark Walters, Robert Z. Selden Jr.

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

The T. M. Sanders site (41LR2) is one of the more important (although still not well known or intensively studied) ancestral Caddo sites known in East Texas, primarily because of its two earthen mounds and the well-preserved mortuary features of Caddo elite persons buried in Mound No. 1 (the East Mound). Archaeological work began at the site in 1931 by The University of Texas at Austin, with sporadic work by members of the Dallas Archeological Society in the 1940s and 1950s. Archaeological and bioarchaeological interpretations of the findings from this work at the Sanders site began with Krieger’s analyses of …

The R. L. Jaggers Site (41fk3): An Early Caddo Period Settlement And Cemetery In The Sulphur River Basin, Franklin County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The R. L. Jaggers site is an Early Caddo period (ca. A.D. 1000-1200) settlement and cemetery in the Sulphur River basin Post Oak Savannah in East Texas. The University of Texas (UT) completed archaeological investigations at the site in 1930. The site has received no professional archaeological investigations since that time. Thurmond has provided a short and cursory review of the funerary offerings recovered in the excavated burials at the site.

The Colony Church Site (41ra31): A Caddo Mound Center In The Upper Sabine River Basin, Rains County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The Colony Church site (41RA31) is an ancestral Caddo mound center in the Post Oak Savannah of the upper Sabine River basin in East Texas; it is the westernmost Caddo mound site on the Sabine River. The site was recorded in the late 1960s, as part of an archaeological survey of the proposed Mineola Reservoir on the Sabine River. The reservoir was never constructed.

The Temporal And Spatial Distribution Of Catlinite And Redstone Pipes On Caddo Sites, Timothy K. Perttula

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

Catlinite and redstone pipes are widely distributed on post-A.D 1450 native American sites across eastern North America, including the Caddo area of the far Southeast. As Rodning indicates, however, catlinite pipes are much more widespread from the late seventeenth century to the early eighteenth century, where the smoking of catlinite pipes is associated with calumet ceremonialism, and the spread of calumet ceremonialism associated with the “spread of European colonists and colonialism.”

In this article, I discuss the temporal and spatial distribution of catlinite and redstone pipes on Caddo sites across the northern and southern Caddo areas. These pipes occur in …

The A. C. Gibson Site (41wd1), A Middle Caddo Period Component On The Sabine River In Wood County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The A. C. Gibson site (41WD1) is an ancestral Caddo site of probable Middle Caddo period (ca. A.D. 1200-1400) age in the Sabine River basin in the Post Oak Savannah of East Texas (Figure 1). The site is on a natural alluvial knoll in the floodplain of the Sabine River and Cottonwood Creek, just north of Cedar Lake, an old channel of the river. The site has been known since the early 1930s by collectors and site looters, early University of Texas (UT) archeologists, and then by later archaeologists from UT and Southern Methodist University, but it has heretofore not …

The Peterson Ranch Site (41hs253), A Late 17th To Early 18th Century Ancestral Caddo Cemetery In The Little Cypress Creek Basin, Harrison County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The Peterson Ranch site (41HS253) is a late 17th to early 18th century Caddo cemetery in the Little Cypress Creek basin in the East Texas Pineywoods. The cemetery, on Gray’s Creek, was found and excavated in 1962 by a number of collectors from the Marshall, Texas, area. In 1963 the cemetery area was destroyed by the construction of an oil well pad.

Most of the collectors kept cursory notes on their excavations at the site, which consisted of plan maps showing the orientation of the burial pits, the human remains in the graves, and the location and kinds of some …

Two Caddo Sites In The Attoyac Bayou Basin In The East Texas Pineywoods, San Augustine County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

This article concerns two ancestral Caddo sites in San Augustine County on tributaries to Attoyac Bayou in the East Texas Pineywoods: 41SA7 and 41SA13. Both sites were recorded in April and May 1940 by G. E. Arnold of The University of Texas in Austin as part of a larger archaeological survey of East Texas.

Caddo Archaeological Sites On San Pedro Creek In Houston County, Texas: San Pedro De Los Nabedaches, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The Nabedache Caddo that lived on San Pedro Creek in Houston County in the East Texas Pineywoods were a prominent nation during the early years of European contact, from ca. A.D. 1687-1730. Their villages, hamlets, and farmsteads sat astride an aboriginal trail that came to be known as El Camino Real de los Tejas, and thus their community was a principal gateway to Europeans and other Native American tribes who came from the west in Spanish Texas to meet with the Tejas or Hasinai Caddo peoples. The first Spanish mission in East Texas was established amidst the Nabedache Caddo community. …

Upper Sabine River Basin Caddo Mound Sites: The Seaton Bros. (41ra38) And Fruitvale (41vn35) Sites In Rains And Van Zandt Counties, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

There are a number of ancestral Caddo-constructed earthen mounds on sites in the upper Sabine River Basin in East Texas. Perhaps the best known are the multiple mound centers at the Early Caddo period Boxed Springs site (41UR30) and the Middle Caddo period Jamestown site (41SM54). The Seaton Bros. and Fruitvale sites are two of the least known ancestral Caddo mound sites in the upper Sabine River basin.

Both sites were recorded by Malone during the archaeological survey of the proposed Mineola Reservoir, but because the reservoir was not constructed, these mound sites were only investigated during cursory survey efforts. …

Caddo Sites On Patroon, Palo Gaucho, And Housen Bayous In Sabine County In The Sabine River Basin Of East Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The 13 ancestral Caddo sites and collections discussed in this article were recorded by G. E. Arnold of The University of Texas at Austin between January and April 1940 as part of a WPA-funded archaeological survey of East Texas. The sites are located along the lower reaches of Patroon, Palo Gaucho, and Housen bayous in Sabine County, Texas. These bayous are eastward-flowing tributaries to the Sabine River in the Toledo Bend Reservoir area, but only 41SB30 is located below the current Toledo Bend Reservoir flood pool. This is an area where the temporal, spatial, and social character of the Caddo …

Armstrong Landing Site (41cs37): An Ancestral Caddo Site On The Sulphur River, Cass County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The Armstrong Landing site (41CS37) is an ancestral Caddo site on an alluvial terrace of the Sulphur River at Lake Wright Patman. It was formally recorded by Briggs and Malone (1970) prior to a planned enlargement of Lake Wright Patman. According to records on file at the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory, The University of Texas at Austin (TARL), collectors from the Texarkana area had worked the site in the early 1960s, digging four burials there and noting extensive midden deposits. The site remains above the normal conservation flood pool of the lake at present, but is subject to erosion from …

Traditional Caddo Potter, Chase K. Earles

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

Although I originally set out to find an art form that I was comfortable with and would be inspired by, for myself, I ended up discovering an ancient art form that would benefit not just myself, but the generations of Caddo people that would come after me. I feel that eventually they will see the benefit from its rediscovery. But also, I quickly realized the need to make public the distinction of our ancient pottery legacy for the sake of those Caddo that would pick up the craft. The Native American art world in the American Southeast is much different …

Ancestral Caddo Sites In The Lower Sulphur River Basin At Lake Wright Patman, Bowie And Cass Counties, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The three sites discussed in this article are within the Lake Wright Patman project area on the lower Sulphur River in East Texas. Two of the sites (Clayborn Springs [41BW55] and Mill Creek [41CS125]) are along the existing shoreline and flood pool, but Swen Farm (41BW65) is mostly submerged, except that the crest of the alluvial terrace the site is on is occasionally an island in the lake. All three sites have been eroded by wave action since the creation of Lake Wright Patman in the 1950s, and the Mill Creek site is still being looted.

The Brooks-Lindsey Site (41ce293), A Probable Post-A.D. 1650 Caddo Site 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 Brooks-Lindsey site is a probable post-A.D. 1650 Caddo settlement in the Neches River basin in the East Texas Pineywoods. The site was brought to professional archaeological attention in 1986, when collectors who were working the site contacted archaeologists at the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at The University of Texas at Austin (TARL), and allowed them to examine the ceramic vessel sherd collection they had assembled at that time from surface collections and various excavations.

The Doug Martin Site (41an88), A Late Caddo Period Frankston Phase Settlement In The Trinity River Basin In East Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The Doug Martin site (41AN88) is a Late Caddo period Frankston phase settlement on a southern-flowing tributary to the Trinity River in the Post Oak Savannah of East Texas (Figure 1). Several avocational archaeologists from the Palestine, Texas, area, principally including Clyde Amick, worked at the site in the early 1980s, and donated a collection of artifacts from the site, along with some information about the work done there, to the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at The University of Texas at Austin (TARL) in November 1985.

Diversity In Ancestral Caddo Vessel Forms In East Texas Archaeological Sites, Timothy K. Perttula

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

Ceramic vessels from ancestral Caddo sites in East Texas are diverse in form, size, manufacture, and decoration, both spatially and temporally. Variation in these attributes, including vessel form, also “is connected with particular local and regional traditions." In this study, I am concerned with defining the character and formal identification of Caddo vessel forms on sites in the region. To both appreciate and understand the meaning of vessel form diversity in Caddo vessel assemblages in East Texas— or any other part of the much larger southern Caddo area—the consistent identification of different vessel forms and vessel shapes is crucial. The …

Some Ancestral Caddo Sites On Bayou Loco In The Angelina River Basin, Nacogdoches County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

Archaeological research has been ongoing since the 1930s along Bayou Loco in the western part of Nacogdoches County in the East Texas Pineywoods. Bayou Loco is a southward-flowing tributary to the Angelina River.

Jackson note that it was the proposed construction of the Bayou Loco Reservoir (Lake Nacogdoches) in 1972 that led to an important surge in the extent of archaeological research along Bayou Loco, beginning with an archaeological survey, followed up by excavations at several sites that would be inundated by the lake, principally the Mayhew site (41NA21) and the Deshazo site (41NA13/27). The Deshazo site’s Caddo cemetery had …

41an28: An Ancestral Caddo Settlement On Mound Prairie Creek In The Neches River Basin In East Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

Site 41AN28 is an extensive ancestral Caddo settlement on an alluvial terrace on the west side of Mound Prairie Creek in the Post Oak Savannah of East Texas. Mound Prairie Creek is an southward- and eastward-flowing tributary to the Neches River. The confluence of the two streams lies about 20 km to the east.

Directly to the east of 41AN28 on the east side of Mound Prairie Creek lies the Pace McDonald site (41AN51). This site is an important Middle Caddo period (ca. A.D. 1200-1400) mound center with at least two earthen mounds and a settlement that covers more than …

Woodland And Caddo Period Sites At Toledo Bend Reservoir, Northwest Louisiana And East Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Mark Walters

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

Toledo Bend Reservoir is one of the largest artificial lakes in the United States and the largest reservoir in the South. The lake is approximately 65 miles long and contains over 1200 miles of shoreline in both Louisiana and Texas. Construction began in 1964 with completion of the power plant, with the subsequent filling of the lake in 1969. Archaeological investigations at Toledo Bend Reservoir on the Sabine River and tributaries in both Louisiana and Texas took place primarily took during the 1960s, with survey and excavations, sometimes of a very limited nature by the University of Texas (UT) and …