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National Register Of Historic Places (Nrhp) Eligibility Determinations For Previously Recorded Archaeological Sites At Wright Patman Lake, Bowie And Cass Counties, Texas, Bryan C. Harrell, Chris Sypniewski, Alex Decaro, Nick Linville

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

Between 19 October and 11 November 2015, SEARCH conducted National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) eligibility determinations at previously recorded archaeological sites at Wright Patman Lake in Bowie and Cass Counties, Texas. This project was conducted under Contract W912HY-11-D-0002, Task Order 0006, between the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Fort Worth District, and SEARCH.

The USACE, Fort Worth District, is proposing to raise and operate the current pool level at Wright Patman Lake to 228.64 feet (ft) above mean sea level (amsl), thereby meeting the Ultimate Rule Curve for the provision of water to the local area. The purpose …

Intensive Archeological Survey Of County Road 246 At Clear Fork Brazos River, Fisher County, Texas, Timothy B. Griffith

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

On January 30, 2013, Blanton & Associates, Inc. (B&A), at the request of the Texas Department of Transportation, Abilene District, conducted an intensive non-collection archeological survey of proposed bridge replacement on County Road (CR) 246 at Clear Fork of the Brazos River in Fisher County, Texas (CSJ: 0908-23-032). The 100 percent visual inspection, pedestrian survey, and backhoe trenching, was negative for cultural resources within the proposed project area. Based on these data, B&A recommends that the proposed bridge replacement on CR 246 at the Clear Fork of the Brazos River in Fisher County, Texas, be allowed to proceed as planned …

Caddo Ceramic Vessels From The T. M. Sanders Site (41lr2) On The Red River In Lamar County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Mark Walters, Bo Nelson

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 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). The Sanders site is located on a broad alluvial terrace just south of the confluence of Bois d’Arc Creek and the Red River. The terrace has silt loam soils, which have a shallow dark brown silt loam A-horizon overlying thick B- and C-horizons that range from dark reddish-brown, reddish-brown, dark brown, to yellowish-red in color. These soils …

Caddo Ceramic Vessels From The Paul Mitchell Site (41bw4) On The Red River, Bowie County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Bo Nelson, Mark Walters

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

The Paul Mitchell site (41BW4) is an ancestral Caddo habitation site and cemetery in the larger ancestral and historic occupation of the Upper Nasoni Village on the Red River in Bowie County, in the northeastern corner of the present state of Texas (Figure 1). Extensive excavations were conducted at the site in the 1930s by both professional and avocational archaeologists, and in the 1940s by an avocational archaeologist. The Paul Mitchell site is located in the McKinney Bayou floodplain about 2 miles from the current channel of the Red River to the north. The site is part of a large …

Caddo Archaeology In The Caddo Creek Valley Of The Upper Neches River Basin, Anderson And Henderson Counties, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Mark Walters

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

Caddo Creek is a generally eastward-flowing tributary of the Neches River that originates in Henderson County in East Texas. The creek flows ca. 30 km to its confluence with the Neches River, just south of the A. C. Saunders site (41AN19), one of the more important ancestral Caddo mound centers in this part of East Texas.

Caddo Creek flows from west to east across the eastern edge of the Post Oak Savannah and into the Pineywoods physiographic regions of East Texas (see Figure 1b; see also Diggs et al. 2006). The Pineywoods cover large parts of East Texas, have medium-tall …

Sam Whiteside’S Prairie Creek Sites In Smith County, Texas, Mark Walters, Timothy K. Perttula

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

During primarily the late 1950s Sam Whiteside investigated a slate of sites on the upper reaches of Prairie Creek in eastern Smith County, Texas. Archaeological investigations ranged from fairly extensive efforts at a couple of sites, including the Chapman site (41SM56), to fairly limited excavations at others based on the amount of recovered artifacts. Artifacts and notes from a number of the sites were donated by Sam Whiteside to the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at The University of Texas at Austin. However, artifacts and notes from other Prairie Creek sites were kept by the family and after Mr. Whiteside’s death …

The Caddo Ceramic Sherd Assemblage From The W. T. Robinson Farm (41an4), Anderson County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The W. T. Robinson Farm site (41AN4) is one of a number of ancestral Caddo sites known in the Caddo Creek valley in the upper Neches River basin in East Texas. The site, about 2.5 miles northwest of Frankston, Texas, was investigated by archaeologists from the University of Texas (UT) in 1931 in an area where locals had reportedly excavated 15 Caddo vessels some 20 years earlier. The UT investigations found no Caddo burials or vessels, and recovered only a small assemblage of ceramic vessel sherds.

Prairie Caddo Sites In Coryell And Mclennan Counties In Central Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

Did ancestral Caddo peoples live and settle on the prairies of Central Texas in prehistoric times (i.e., before A.D. 1680)? Story had noted that there is little known about “the nature of the Caddo connections” in these sites, and she wondered what these settlements represented: “(1) groups from the east who occupied the area year round and/or seasonally; or (2) local groups who were interacting with Caddoans [sic] through trade, marriage, and visitations…?” In this article, I am concerned with the consideration of “Caddo connections” as expressed in the character of the ceramic assemblages from four sites in Central Texas …

Archaeological Sites Along Cuthand Creek And The Sulphur River In The Mid–Sulphur River Basin, Red River County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Gary W. Cheatwood

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

The Cuthand Creek and Little Mustang Creek drainage basins in the mid–Sulphur River basin are in the Post Oak Savannah of East Texas. Prehistoric archaeological sites are abundant in both basins and along the Sulphur River, dating from as early as Paleoindian times to the Late Caddo periods. Nevertheless, this area remains poorly known and there have been few professional archaeological investigations conducted here. In this article, we present information on a range of prehistoric sites and associated artifact assemblages known along Cuthand Creek and the Sulphur River in the mid–Sulphur River Basin, in Red River County, Texas. The artifacts …

The A. S. Mann (41he7/41an201) And M. S. Roberts (41he8) Sites In The Upper Neches River Basin, Henderson County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Waldo Troell

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

The upper Neches River basin in East Texas has been the scene of archaeological research since the early 1900s, with a particular focus on the post-A.D. 1000 archaeological record of the Caddo peoples in the region. The A. S. Mann (41HE7) and M. S. Roberts (41HE8) sites are ancestral Caddo sites located in the modern-day Pineywoods that were investigated by University of Texas (UT) archaeologists in the 1930s. I want to thank Waldo Troell for bringing these sites to my attention.

Ceramic Beads From The Cloud Hammond Site (41sm244), Smith County, Texas, Mark Walters, Timothy K. Perttula

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

During investigations at the Cloud Hammond site (41SM244) during the 1960s, J. A. Walters recovered Caddo ceramics, two clay beads, Perdiz arrow points, and two Gary dart points. The site is located in northern Smith County, Texas, about 400 m east of the Middle Caddo period Jamestown Mound site (41SM54).

Of the artifacts reported to have been recovered from the site, only one clay bead was available for study. No record survives of the extent of investigations at the Cloud Hammond site or if any cultural features such as burials were found during the 1960s work.

The Wollard #2 Site (41he22) 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 Wollard #2 site (41HE22) was first identified by Leroy Johnson, Jr. and Edward B. Jelks in August 1957 during their survey of then proposed Blackburn Crossing Reservoir, now Lake Palestine, in Henderson County, Texas. The site was described by Johnson as located in an old cultivated field on the high ground directly to the west of Caney Creek and the Neches River floodplain, is one of the most prolific sites located in the reservoir area…The midden soil at the site extends to a depth of 16 inches and is rich in animal and shell remains as well as stone …

A Late Caddo Period Vessel From The De Long Farm Site (41an16) In The Upper Neches River Basin, Anderson County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The De Long Farm site (41AN16) is in the Caddo Creek valley in the upper Neches River basin in East Texas, about 3.2 km northwest of the small town of Frankston, Texas. A Caddo midden area was about 200 m to the east.

The site was found by a local farmer after a vessel was discovered in a gully in a field after plowing. University of Texas archaeologists investigated the find spot in October 1935, but after excavating a large area around the vessel find spot, no other vessels or any evidence of burials were found. UT did purchase the …

The Frank Norris Farm Site (41rr2) On The Red River In East Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Mark Walters

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

The Frank Norris Farm site (41RR2) was an ancestral Caddo settlement and mound center, with an associated cemetery, on the bank of the Red River, about five miles northeast of the community of Manchester, Texas, and just southeast of the Sam Kaufman/Roitsch site (41RR16). The site was reported by B. B. Gardner of the University of Texas to have three earthen mounds. Apparently the site eroded into the Red River in 1936.

The three mounds at the site were located east of a local farm road, and the bank of the Red River was a short distance to the east. …

Ancestral Caddo Ceramic Vessels From The J. B. Sparkman Site (41hp26), Hopkins County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

Two ancestral Caddo vessels were excavated by a J. B. Sparkman from a burial that had been exposed by erosion. The burial was found on the site in the Caney Creek valley in the upper Sabine River basin near the community of Black Oak in southeastern Hopkins County, Texas. The University of Texas purchased the two vessels from Mr. Sparkman in May 1931.

Further Surface Collecting And Shovel Testing Investigations At The Sanders Site (41lr2), Lamar County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Bo Nelson

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

Archaeological investigations at the Sanders site (41LR2), an important ancestral Caddo mound center and village on the Red River in Lamar County, Texas, have been ongoing since 2013. The latest round of work at the Sanders site primarily concerned Dr. Chester P. Walker’s conducting geophysical work there in December 2014. Bo Nelson went to the site to show Walker the areas where artifactual materials have been collected from surface clusters in earlier investigations.

The weather was cold and rainy the entire time. Dr. Walker was able to work in between rain episodes. The fields were wet and muddy. Most of …

Recent Artifact Surface Collections From The M. S. Roberts (41he8) Mound Site In The Upper Neches River Basin In East Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Mark Walters

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

In January 2015, the junior author obtained, with the assistance of the landowners, a surface collection of artifacts from the M. S. Roberts site (41HE8), a long-forgotten ancestral Caddo mound center and settlement in the upper Neches River basin in Henderson County, Texas. This collection of artifacts is discussed in this article, and comparisons are made to the larger assemblage of Caddo ceramic vessel sherds obtained during 1931 investigations at the site by Pearce and Jackson.

Two Radiocarbon Dates From The Salt Lick Site (16sa37a) At Toledo Bend Reservoir, Sabine Parish, Louisiana, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The Salt Lick site (16SA37) is an ancestral Caddo site at Toledo Bend Reservoir in Sabine Parish, Louisiana. Before the creation of the reservoir, archaeological investigations 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 and Southern Methodist University. The Salt Lick site was investigated by McClurkan in the Fall of 1964.

The Salt Lick site (16SA37a) was a Caddo habitation site (with midden deposits) on a natural rise south of La Nana bayou, a westward-flowing …

Caddo Ceramic Assemblage From A Site Across The Road From The Millsey Williamson Site In Rusk County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

In archaeological investigations by Jones at the Nadaco Caddo Millsey Williamson site (41RK3), he identified a burial area on the western tip of an alluvial terrace landform on the east side of Martin Creek, as well as a village area to the east. The burial area and the village area were separated by a road, a paved segment of the 19th century Trammel’s Trace. Trammel’s Trace was an Anglo–American version of the aboriginal Caddo Trace “that led from the Hasinai Caddo settlements in East Texas to the Kadohadacho settlements on the Red River in the general area of Texarkana, Texas, …

The W. A. Ford Site (41tt2), Titus County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The W. A. Ford site (41TT2) is an ancestral Caddo cemetery on a natural sandy knoll on an alluvial terrace about 2 km south of the Sulphur River, along Sanders Slough, in the northwestern part of Titus County, Texas. There are also habitation deposits of both Woodland and Caddo age at the site, but no features were identified in these habitation deposits during the 1934 University of Texas investigations. The site is located in the modern Blackland Prairie habitat, but just to the north of the northern extent of the modern Post Oak Savannah. In this article, I focus on …

An Artifact Assemblage From Area B At The Grace Creek Site (41gg33), Gregg County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The Grace Creek #1 site (41GG33, GC–1) was situated on a natural alluvial rise on the east side of Grace Creek, about 0.4 km north of its confluence with the Sabine River. On the north side of the site was an abandoned Sabine River lake bed, while to the south was an old channel, as well as a channel lake (Muddy Lake), of the Sabine River. Jones divided the site into three areas (A, B, and C); a midden deposit was apparently located in Area B on the central part of the rise.

Buddy Calvin Jones identified and worked at …

Eagle Burials On Red River Caddo Sites, Timothy K. Perttula

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

A wide variety of birds are found in faunal assemblages from Caddo sites in southwest Arkansas, northwest Louisiana, eastern Oklahoma, and East Texas, particularly turkey as well as ducks and geese. One of the rarest avifauna recovered on Caddo sites of any age is that of the eagle, including bald eagles and golden eagles.

An Ancestral Caddo Site On Mill Creek In Rusk County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

Site RC–15 (the 15th site recorded in Rusk County by Jones) in Rusk County, Texas, in the Pineywoods, was identified by Buddy Calvin Jones during his wide–ranging survey investigations in East Texas in the 1950s–1960s. This ancestral Caddo site is on Mill Creek, a tributary stream in the mid–Sabine River basin, a few miles south of its confluence with Tiawichi Creek. The Oak Hill Village site (41RK214), a large ancestral Caddo settlement that was occupied between ca. A.D. 1150–1450, is on Mill Creek not far south of Site RC–15.

Reaping The Whirlwind: The Caddo After Europeans, Timothy K. Perttula, Robert Cast

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

The De Soto chronicles introduce us to the Caddo Indian peoples of East Texas in what we can arbitrarily call “historic times.” The Gentleman of Elvas had this to say when the Spaniards reached the Caddo province of Naguatex on the Red River in the Great Bend area of southwestern Arkansas in August of 1542.

The cacique [of Naguatex], on beholding the damage that his land was receiving [from the Spanish forces], sent six of his principal men and three Indians with them as guides who knew the language of the region ahead where the governor [Luis de Moscoso] was …

The Oil Road Site In Rusk County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The Oil Road site (D–2) in Rusk County is along Tiawichi Creek in northern Rusk County in the East Texas Pineywoods, about 1 mile east of the small town of Monroe, Texas. Tiawichi Creek is a tributary to Cherokee Bayou, which is in turn a northeastern–flowing tributary to the Sabine River. The Early Caddo period Hudnall–Pirtle mound site (41RK4) is on the Sabine River just east of its confluence with Cherokee Bayou.

The site was located by Buddy Calvin Jones, probably in the 1950s; it has not been formally recorded or received a site trinomial. The recovered artifacts discussed in …

Ceramic Sherd Assemblage From The Cherokee Lake Site (41rk132), Rusk County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The Cherokee Lake site (41RK132), also called the Tiawichi Creek Burial site, was discovered by Buddy Calvin Jones in 1956, on a terrace area along Tiawichi Creek at its confluence with Mill Creek, inundated by the construction of Lake Cherokee in 1947, that had been graded for the construction of fish hatcheries there. Tiawichi Creek is a tributary stream in the mid–Sabine River basin. Jones identified a single burial and a large storage pit in Area A at the southern end of the terrace, where there was a shallow (0–30 cm bs) midden deposit.

The burial in Area A is …

Ceramic Sherds 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. Buddy Calvin Jones excavated a disturbed historic burial at the site in 1955, and also occasionally collected glass beads from the surface of …

A Ceramic Sherd Assemblage From A Caddo Site 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

This article reports on a collection of ancestral Caddo artifacts from an unrecorded site in the upper Neches River basin in northeastern Henderson County in East Texas. The collection had been found by landowners on an unreported Caddo site in this locale—which appears to be in the Caddo Creek valley west of the Neches River—and the collection was recently relocated by Debbie Shelley of Frankston, Texas. Mrs. Shelley brought the collection to the 2015 East Texas Archeological Conference, and provided the opportunity to fully document the ceramic and lithic artifacts in the collection.

Caddo Ceramic Sherd Assemblage From A Hearth Feature At The Cherokee Lake Site (41rk132) In Rusk County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

There is a collection of plain and decorated ceramic sherds in the Gregg County Historical Museum from a feature, described as either a fire pit or a hearth, excavated by Buddy Calvin Jones in March 1956 at the Cherokee Lake site (41RK132) on Toawichi Creek in northern Rusk County, Texas. This assemblage is discussed in this article.

The Cherokee Lake site is best known for its early 18th century Nadaco Caddo component, but it also has a Middle Caddo period (ca. A.D. 1200–1400) component. In Jones’ discussion of work he conducted at the Cherokee Lake site, he mentions the excavation …

The Ceramic Sherd Assemblage From The C. D. Marsh Site (41hs269) In Harrison County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Mark Walters, Patti Haskins

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

The C. D. Marsh site (41HS269) is an ancestral Caddo settlement and cemetery on Eight Mile Creek, a southwestward–flowing tributary to the Sabine River in southeastern Harrison County, Texas. It is on an alluvial terrace about 1.6 km from the confluence of Eight Mile Creek and the Sabine River.

Buddy Calvin Jones discovered the site in January 1958, and he estimated that the habitation area covered ca. 1–2 acres, with substantial midden deposits. Jones collected a substantial sample of plain and decorated ceramic vessel sherds (n=1736) from the habitation deposits (Jones 1968:96), in addition to a number of ceramic vessels …