Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Archaeology Of Sam Rayburn Reservoir, Edward B. Jelks

CRHR Research Reports

This is an archeological study of the McGee Bend Reservoir (Sam Rayburn Reservoir) area of eastern Texas as revealed through the analysis of 14 sites that were excavated there between 1956 and 1962. The reservoir, currently under construction on the Angelina River near Jasper, will be some 50 miles long when completed in 1965, with major arms extending up Ayish and Attoyac bayous. The lake will be named for the late Sam Rayburn.

Most of the archeological work was done during extended field seasons in the fall months of 1956, 1957, and 1960; a brief season in the fall of …

2016 Archaeological Investigations At The Sanders Site (41lr2), Timothy K. Perttula, Bo Nelson, Mark Walters

CRHR Research Reports

The T. M. Sanders site (41LR2) is a large and impressive ancestral Caddo mound center and village situated on an alluvial terrace (450 ft. amsl) at the mouth of Bois d’Arc Creek and the Red River. With the permission of the landowners (the Crawford family and the Sanders family), periodic archaeological and geophysical investigations have been conducted across much of the 200+ acres of the Sanders site since 2013; this article primarily discusses the work done in March 2016. These archaeological investigations, including controlled surface collections and shovel testing, recovered significant new information from many of the 39 non-mound habitation …

Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (Inaa) Of Shell-Tempered Ceramics In The Ancestral Caddo Region: Rethinking Methods, Robert Z. Selden Jr., Timothy K. Perttula

CRHR: Archaeology

The geochemical analysis of shell-tempered ceramics in the ancestral Caddo region has been a matter of confusion since the mid-1990s. While Caddo archaeologists have long perceived most or all of the shell-tempered ceramics in East Texas to have originated from two different areas within the Red River basin, the geochemical data and interpretations remain inconsistent with that idea. This poster takes another look at this dataset, and considers an approach that was initially put forth by MURR, and then seemingly abandoned. Using only the geochemical data from shell-tempered sherds, we take a closer look at the contributions of calcium (Ca), …

Synthesis: What We Have Learned From The East Texas Radiocarbon Database, Robert Z. Selden Jr., Timothy K. Perttula

CRHR: Archaeology

This poster provides a short overview of what we have learned from the East Texas Radiocarbon Database since it became available on the Council of Texas Archeologists’ website in 2011. These successes are numerous and include the advancement of novel methodological approaches; an improvement in our comprehension of the temporal nuances within the East Texas Archaic; the division of the East Texas Woodland period into Early, Middle and Late; the refinement of Caddo temporal chronology – particularly from a geographic perspective -- and it has provided one line of evidence to use to argue for the fluorescence of corn-based agriculture …

Epistemology And Synthesis: Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis And The Caddo Tradition, Robert Z. Selden Jr.

CRHR: Archaeology

The statistical groupings illustrated herein represent the current iteration of Caddo INAA compositional groups based upon the chemical composition of archaeologically-recovered ceramics. For some time, a number of Caddo archaeologists have thought these results to be lacking. This poster symbolizes the first step toward a new interpretation of chemical composition groups, and the initial instancce within which GIS has been employed as an analytical tool.

The East Texas Caddo: Modeling Tempo And Place, Robert Z. Selden Jr., Timothy K. Perttula

CRHR: Archaeology

Analysis of the Caddo sample (n=889 dates) from the East Texas radiocarbon database is used to establish the tempo and place of Caddo era (ca. A.D. 800-1680) archaeological sites, site clusters, and communities across the region. The temporal and spatial distribution of radiocarbon ages from settlements, mound centers, and cemeteries across the region have utility in exploring the development and geographical continuity of the Caddo peoples; establishing the specific times when areas were abandoned or population sizes diminished; and defining times and areas illustrating an intensification in mound center construction and large cemeteries became a focus of community social practices.

Design Of A Comprehensive Geographic Information System For The Administration Of El Camino Real De Los Tejas National Historic Trail, Jeffrey M. Williams

Faculty Publications

Stephen F. Austin State University’s Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture’s (ATCOFA) Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Laboratory were engaged by the National Park Service (NPS) National Trails System-Intermountain Region to provide GIS services supporting the NPS’s development of a Comprehensive Management Plan for El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail (ELTE). The scope of work was completed under an agreement with the Gulf Coast Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit sponsored by the Texas AgriLife Research Program at Texas A&M University. ATCOFA assisted the NPS in the coordination of local landowner and other local stakeholder contacts, conducted archival research …

Gis Aided Archaeological Research Of El Camino Real De Los Tejas With Focus On The Landscape And River Crossings Along El Camino Carretera., Jeffrey M. Williams

Faculty Publications

Many generations of indigenous pathways through the forests of eastern Texas have their origins obscured in antiquity. Utilized by early European explorers, these pathways became modified through heavy use and the expansions and improvements needed to accommodate easy passage of European horses and carts and finally the heavy wagons of Anglo-American settlers. The first road through Texas, El Camino Real de Los Tejas, utilized portions of these early trails.

El Camino Carretera (known as the cart road) is an early segment of El Camino Real de los Tejas that crossed the Sabine River at the boundary between Texas and Louisiana. …