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Caddo Ceramic Vessels From Lake Sam Rayburn Sites, Timothy K. Perttula, Mark Walters

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

The distinctive Caddo ceramic vessels from the lower Neches–Angelina (i.e., Lake Sam Rayburn) and the lower Sabine (i.e., Toledo Bend Reservoir) river basins are not well understood, due to current cultural phase taxonomic difficulties and poorly defined ceramic assemblages. Sites in these areas were included in the Angelina focus by Jelks, which was a “broadly defined unit encompassing the entire Caddoan [sic] sequence in the Lake Sam Rayburn locality; needs reevaluation in light of larger sample of sites which are known in the area." Perttula used the term late Angelina focus to refer to sites in these localities that date …

Bird Bone Flageolet From The Walter Bell Site (41sb50) At Lake Sam Rayburn, Sabine County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The Walter Bell site (41SB50) at Lake Sam Rayburn in the Neches–Angelina river basins in the deep East Texas Pineywoods was excavated by an National Park Service team in 1957. This was a small prehistoric Caddo farmstead or hamlet with two circular houses, a portion of a third house in the area of House 2, midden deposits, and six burials. Based on the kinds of artifacts found at the site (i.e., clay elbow pipes, a high proportion of brushed utility ware sherds from Broaddus Brushed vessels, and lower proportions of Pineland Punctated–Incised vessel sherds), the Walter Bell site was apparently …

Bone Tools From Caddo Sites In The Angelina River Basin In East Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Mark Walters

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

In addition to the use of stone for tools, ancestral Caddo communities in East Texas also relied on organic materials for tools, including animal bones and plant parts (i.e., cane and wood). Bone tools were an important part of the technological system of Caddo groups and their study helps to understand the range of activities that occurred at Caddo sites in particular locations and regions. However, they are often not preserved in habitation deposits and features on East Texas Caddo sites due to bioturbation and erosion of sandy sediments where artifacts came to accumulate during an occupation or series of …

The E. Williams Site On Martin Creek In Panola County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The E. Williams site is an ancestral Caddo site on the north side of Martin Creek, an eastward–flowing tributary to the Sabine River, in Panola County in the East Texas Pineywoods. The site is just a few miles west of the confluence of Martin Creek and the Sabine River. Buddy Calvin Jones located the site (which he labeled as Panola–2) and obtained a small collection of ceramic vessel sherds, probably from surface contexts. This collection is among the holdings of the Gregg County Historical Museum.

The Woodland Period Component At The Wolfshead Site (41sa117), San Augustine County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Mark Walters

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

The Wolfshead site (41SA117) was excavated by the Texas Archeological Salvage Project at The University of Texas in the fall and winter of 1960 prior to the inundation of the site by the waters of Lake Sam Rayburn in the Angelina River basin in East Texas. The site was located on a sandy terrace and covered ca. 1 acre in size; the sandy deposits were a maximum of ca. 60 cm in thickness below an historic plow zone.

The excavations were in the northern and southern parts of the site, and indicated that the Wolfshead site had an extensive Late …

Incised–Punctated Utility Ware Sherds From Lake Sam Rayburn Ancestral Caddo Sites, Timothy K. Perttula, Mark Walters

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

One of the more distinctive of the decorative methods represented in the ancestral Caddo ceramic assemblages from Lake Sam Rayburn sites is sherds and vessels with incised–punctated decorative elements. This diversity in the range and character of sherds and vessels with incised–punctated decorative elements is also the case in ancestral Caddo sites on the Sabine River and tributaries in the Toledo Bend Reservoir area of East Texas and Northwest Louisiana.

Jelks included the incised–punctated vessels and sherds from the Lake Sam Rayburn sites in a newly defined type: Pineland Punctated–Incised. Pineland Punctated– Incised is a grog and/or bone–tempered utility ware, …

The Jonas Short Site (41sa101), San Augustine County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Mark Walters

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

The Jonas Short site (41SA101) is one of a few known and investigated Woodland period mounds in the Trans–Mississippi south (i.e., East Texas, Northwest Louisiana, Southwest Arkansas, and Southeast Oklahoma). In fact, the site is one of only four identified mound sites of possible Woodland period age—and Mossy Grove cultural tradition—in the Neches–Angelina and Sabine river basins in East Texas and Northwest Louisiana: Coral Snake (16SA48), Anthony (16SA7), Jonas Short, and Westerman (41HO15).

The Jonas Short site was located on an alluvial terrace of the Angelina River. It was investigated in 1956 by archaeologists from the University of Texas and …

Ceramic Pipes From Lake Sam Rayburn Caddo Sites, Angelina River Basin, East Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Mark Walters

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

Ceramic pipes are an important part of the ancestral Caddo material culture in all parts of the Caddo area from as early as ca. A.D. 800, and there are also ceramic pipes known from Woodland period sites in the Caddo area. The Caddo pipe forms known include long–stemmed (up to 61 cm in length) Red River pipes, elbow pipes of several varieties, and platform pipes. All three pipe forms are known from Caddo sites at Lake Sam Rayburn in the Angelina River basin in East Texas.

Funerary Offerings From The Keasler Site Cemetery (41hs235), Harrison County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Mark Walters, Bo Nelson

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

The Keasler site (41HS235) is a post-ca. A.D. 1430 Late Caddo period, Titus phase cemetery with at least 31 burials in the East Texas Pineywoods. The site was excavated by collectors in the late 1970s on the property of Sid Keasler of Hallsville, Texas. Minimal records on the burials at the site, and their contents, were provided by Red McFarland, one of the collectors, to the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at The University of Texas (TARL).

The Keasler site is near Little Creek, a northward-flowing tributary to Little Cypress Creek. It is perhaps one of the easternmost-known Titus phase cemeteries …

New Radiocarbon Dates From Four East Texas Caddo Sites, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The East Texas Radiocarbon Database is an important and relatively new database concerning one key aspect of the archaeological record of the Caddo peoples that lived in East Texas from as early as ca. A.D. 800/850. To date, there are a total of approximately 920 radiocarbon dates available from ancestral Caddo sites in the region in the East Texas Radiocarbon Database.

Late Paleoindian–Early Archaic Dart Points From The Wolfshead Site (41sa117) In The Angelina River Basin In East Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Mark Walters

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

The Wolfshead site (41SA117) was excavated by the Texas Archeological Salvage Project at The University of Texas in 1960 prior to the inundation of the site by the waters of Lake Sam Rayburn in the Angelina River basin in East Texas. The site was located on a sandy terrace and covered ca. 1 acre in size; the sandy deposits were a maximum of ca. 60 cm in thickness below an historic plow zone.

The excavations in the northern and southern parts of the site indicated that the Wolfshead site had an extensive Late Paleoindian–Early Archaic San Patrice culture occupation estimated …

Possible Engraved Canebrake Rattlesnake Motifs On Sherds From The Etoile Site (41na11) In The Angelina River Basin In East Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Mark Walters

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

Engraved canebrake rattlesnake motifs on bottles has been found in ceramic assemblages in at least 18 Middle (ca. A.D. 1200–1400) and Late Caddo (ca. A.D. 1400–1680) period sites in the Big and Little Cypress Creek, mid–Sabine, Red River, and Angelina River basins in East Texas. The motif consists of “representational images of snakes with entwined or interlocking tails."

Caddo Ceramic Vessels From The S. E. Watson (41rr8) And Hook’S Ferry (41rr9) Sites, Red River County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Mark Walters

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

There are 15 ancestral Caddo ceramic vessels from the S. E. Watson (n=13) and Hook’s Ferry (n=2) sites in the collections of the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at The University of Texas at Austin. The S. E. Watson site is a Caddo mound center, village, and cemetery on Pecan Bayou near its confluence with the Red River. Another Caddo mound was reported at nearby 41RR67, on the Chapman Plantation, although it may have been destroyed by Red River flooding. The Hook’s Ferry site (41RR9) is situated in the Red River floodplain just east of the Jonesborough site (41RR15), north of …

Caddo Ceramic Vessels From The Eli Moores Site (41bw2), Bowie County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The Eli Moores site (41BW2) is an important ancestral Caddo mound center and habitation site on the Red River in the East Texas Pineywoods, likely part of the Nasoni Caddo village visited by the Teran de los Rios entrada in 1691. The Eli Moores site is situated on a natural levee of the Red River, currently about 2.5 km north of the site.

The site, occupied from the 17th to the early 18th century, may have been the residence of the Caddi of the Nasoni Caddo when it was visited by the French and Spanish, and the Xinesi lived in …

Early Caddo Period Ceramic Vessels From The Roger D. Simmos Site (41tt321), Titus County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The Roger D. Simmons site (41TT321) is in the Sulphur River basin in East Texas. A single ancestral Caddo burial was exposed in 1984 during the removal of sand from the site for the construction of a school in Talco, Texas. Associated with the burial were three ceramic vessels—documented herein—as well as a large (ca. 18 cm in length) chipped stone bifacial tool made from non-local chert (identified as Edwards formation chert on the site form), an adze, and a celt.

The Archaeology Of The Archaic Periods In East Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The archaeology of the Archaic periods—Early, ca. 10,000–8000 years B.P., Middle, ca. 8000–5000 years B.P., and Late, ca. 5000–2500 years B.P.—in East Texas is not well understood in broad terms, although valuable information on the archaeological character of the Archaic peoples in the region has been gained over the years from the detailed investigation of a few specific sites. New knowledge concerning the archaeology of the Archaic periods in East Texas is slow in coming, due in part to the kinds of Archaic sites that have been identified by archaeologists during survey investigations and/or recommended by archeologists, state agencies, and …

Caddo Ceramic Vessels From The W. J. Barnett Site (41sm2), Smith County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

Ancestral Caddo ceramic vessels were found along the bank of an eroded ditch in the early 1930s at the W. J. Barnett site (41SM2). They were purchased by The University of Texas about 1935. The site is in the uplands about 6 km south of the Sabine River floodplain and ca. 2 km east of the Jamestown (41SM54) mound center.

Ceramic Vessels From Caddo Sites In Wood County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Mark Walters

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

This article concerns the documentation of 54 ceramic vessels in the collections of the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at The University of Texas at Austin (TARL) from seven ancestral Caddo sites in Wood County in East Texas (Figure 1). This includes vessels from A. C. Gibson (41WD1, n=2 vessels), J. H. Reese (41WD2, n=26), H. D. Spigner (41WD4, n=17), Mattie Dial (41WD5, n=2), B. F. Cathey (41WD14, n=2), J. H. Baker (41WD33, n=4), and 41WD117 (n=1 vessel).

The A. C. Gibson site is situated in the floodplain of the Sabine River near the confluence with Cottonwood Creek. In 1932, looters …

Caddo Ceramic Vessels From The Joseph Fabion (41sy24) And S. H. Latham (41sy25) Sites In Shelby County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

There are ancestral Caddo vessels in the collections of the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at the University of Texas from the Joseph Fabion (41SY24, n=4 vessels) and S. H. Latham (41SY25, n=3) sites in Shelby County, Texas. Those vessels from the Joseph Fabion site were exposed along the bank of a county road some time prior to October 1930, while those from the S. H. Latham site were exposed by 1920s flooding and collected by the landowner.

A Middle Caddo Period Cemetery (41fk97/139) On Big Cypress Creek In Franklin County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Bo Nelson

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

In the early 1990s, an ancestral Caddo habitation site and cemetery was reported to the junior author in the Big Cypress Creek valley in Franklin County in East Texas by a local collector. The site is in an area of other known ancestral Caddo cemeteries, including the Bruce J. Connally Farm (41FK5) and the P. G. Hightower Farm (41FK7). In this article we summarize the available information about this important but still little known ancestral Caddo site.

Caddo Ceramic Vessels From The E. B. Minter (41hp2) And Roger Attaway (41hp15) Sites In Hopkins County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Mark Walters

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

A number of ancestral Caddo ceramic vessels are in the collections at the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at the University of Texas at Austin from the E. B. Minter (41HP2, n=4 vessels) and Roger Attaway (41HP15, n=5 vessels) in Hopkins County, Texas. We recently had the opportunity to fully document these vessels as part of our long-term efforts to characterize ancestral East Texas Caddo vessel forms, temper usage, and stylistic/decorative elements.

The University of Texas conducted excavations at the E. B. Minter site, in the upper White Oak Creek and Sulphur River basin, in May 1931. A 60 x 35 …

Caddo Ceramic Vessels From The Fred Yarbrough Site (41vn6) In The Upper Sabine River Basin, Van Zandt County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

Excavations in 1940 by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) at the Fred Yarbrough site (41VN6) in the upper Sabine River basin recovered a number of ceramic vessels from Area B of the site. Johnson provided an initial description of the vessels as well as drawings of a number of the reconstructed vessels. In this article, I reexamine the nine vessels from the Fred Yarbrough site held in the collections of the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at the University of Texas at Austin (TARL), employing the vessel documentation protocol used in recent years to document ancestral Caddo vessels from sites in …

Archaeological Evidence Of The Use Of The Horse By Caddo Indian Peoples, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The introduction of the horse to the Americas by Europeans, particularly the Spanish, after 1492 played a very important role in Native American history and societal change. As Peter Mitchell has commented in his book Horse Nations: “the horse was so very widely introduced to population across the world after 1492. It can thus provide a constant against which to evaluate the many changes that those populations experienced after European contact, while highlighting the ‘radically different meanings and impacts in distinctive cultures’ that its arrival heralded.” Among the Caddo Indian peoples, the horse was introduced in the late 1600s from …

Caddo Vessels From The Susie Slade Site (41hs13), Harrison County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The Susie Slade site (41HS13) is an ancestral Nadaco Caddo settlement and cemetery on a sandy knoll in the Potters Creek valley in the Sabine River basin. The site is known to have had a large cemetery (> 90 burials) that was excavated by a number of East Texas collectors and amateur archaeologists in 1962, University of Texas (UT) archaeologists; one burial reportedly had 36 stacked Simms Engraved vessels as funerary offerings. Ceramic vessels from the UT investigations at the Susie Slade site are in the collections of the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory (TARL), along with vessels donated to TARL …

Documentation Of Early Caddo Period Ceramic Vessels From The George C. Davis Site On The Neches River In Cherokee County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The George C. Davis site (41CE19)/Caddo Mounds State Historic Site in Cherokee County, Texas, is a Caddo site that was occupied by ancestral Caddo peoples between ca. A.D. 940 and the late 1200s (based on an extensive suite of calibrated radiocarbon dates, see below) on a large alluvial terrace of the Neches River in East Texas. The site is a planned civic-ceremonial center that has three earthen mounds—Mound A, a large platform mound with elite residences and special purpose structures; Mound B, a second platform mound; and Mound C, a burial mound used as a cemetery for the elite or …

Caddo Vessels From The W. O. Ziegler Farm (41wd30) And Claude Burkett (41wd30) Sites In The Upper Sabine River Basin In Wood County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

Caddo ceramic vessels were collected at the W. O. Ziegler Farm (41WD30) and Claude Burkett (41WD31) sites in 1930 during archaeological investigations in Wood County by The University of Texas. The one vessel from the W. O. Ziegler Farm site, located in the Lake Fork Creek drainage in the upper Sabine River basin, was found in 1918 at a depth of ca. 1.2 m by the landowner while digging a storm cellar. University of Texas archaeologists purchased the vessel in August 1930.

The Claude Burkett site is in the Big Sandy Creek basin in the upper Sabine River basin. The …

Historic Caddo Archaeological Sites In Cherokee County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Kevin Stingley, Mark Walters

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

The historic archaeology of the Caddo Indian peoples in East Texas has been the subject of considerable interest by Caddo archaeologists for a number of years. Much of that interest has been focused on the investigation of the effects of European contact on Caddo cultural traditions and practices, particularly the impact of introduced European epidemic diseases, and the impact of Spanish, French, and American colonization efforts.

In recent years, another focus of Historic Caddo archaeological investigations has been on characterizing the material culture record of the different clusters of Caddo Indian sites in East Texas, most notably the study of …

An Unusual Caddo Bottle From The Walters Collection, Mark Walters

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

In this article, I discuss an unusual Caddo bottle in the Walters Collection. This vessel came from either Smith or Wood counties, Texas. The design on the bottle appears to depict a deer body with a human head. My purpose is to look at the vessel in more depth, explore the relationship between Caddo people and deer, and make information about the vessel available to the public. Plans are in place to curate this vessel at the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at The University of Texas at Austin.

Analysis Of A 1940 Caddo Sherd Assemblage From The Millsey Williamson Site (41rk3), Rusk County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The Millsey Williamson site (41RK3) is an 18th century Nadaco Caddo settlement and cemetery situated on an alluvial terrace on the east side of Martin Creek in the Sabine River basin. Some portions of the site are now covered by the waters of Martin Creek Lake, constructed in the 1970s. The site was first investigated in the 1930s, when at least 11 historic Caddo burials were excavated in the cemetery at the western end of the landform. In 1940, Jack Hughes, then an East Texas resident, but later a prominent Texas archaeologist, gathered a small collection of sherds from the …

The Caddo Ceramic Sherd Assemblage From The Hawkins Site (41sm144) On The Sabine River In Smith County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The Hawkins site is an ancestral Caddo habitation site on a Sabine River bluff about 1.7 km southwest of the confluence of Little White Oak Creek with the river, in the Pineywoods of Smith County. The site was located and investigated in the 1950s by Sam Whiteside of Tyler, Texas. This article is concerned with the analysis of the Caddo ceramic wares from the site, as well as an assessment of the probable age and cultural affiliation of the Caddo occupation.