Archaeological Anthropology Commons^™

Caddo Sites In The Saline Creek Basin In Northern Smith 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 the artifacts from four prehistoric Caddo sites in the Saline Creek drainage basin in the Post Oak Savannah in northern Smith County, Texas. Saline Creek is a northward-flowing tributary to the Sabine River. The Caddo sites are ca. 10 km south of the confluence of Saline Creek with the Sabine River. Saline Creek enters into the Sabine River about 6 km east (downstream) of the confluence of a major tributary, Lake Fork Creek, with the river.

Certain Caddo Sites On Stone Chimney Creek, Cherokee County, Texas, Mark Walters, Timothy K. Perttula, Leeanna Schniebs

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

Limited archaeological investigations coupled with private landowner’s surface collections on Stone Chimney Creek in northwestern Cherokee County, Texas has resulted in the recording of nine new Caddo sites, several of which appear to have been occupied after ca. A.D. 1650 in the Allen phase. The landowner had collected artifacts on his farm and contacted the Texas Historical Commission (THC) about getting information about them, who in turn contacted the author, a member of the Texas Archeological Stewardship Network. The landowner was interested in learning more about the native inhabitants who had once called this portion of Stone Chimney Creek home. …

The Killdeer Site (41sm379): A Middle Caddo Site In Northern Smith County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Mark Walters

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

The Killdeer site was reported in July 2007 by Mark Walters, based on a surface reconnaissance of the site area and a small surface collection of artifacts, primarily prehistoric Caddo pottery sherds. The site is situated on a lower upland slope (410 feet amsl) about 190m northeast of Loves Branch, a small stream in the Harris Creek drainage in the Sabine River basin. Soils are a Redsprings very gravelly sandy loam, 8-25% slopes. Darkly-stained sediments and burned animal bone suggest that there is a Caddo midden deposit at the northern end of the site.

The Caddo Ceramic Assemblage From The New Hope Site (41fk107), Franklin County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Bo Nelson

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

The New Hope site (41FK107) is located on an alluvial terrace (330-340 ft. amsl) on the west side of the Big Cypress Creek valley, about 200m west of the channel at the time it was inundated by Lake Bob Sandlin. The site covers an estimated 2.5 acres.lt is about I km north of the confluence of Brushy Creek and Big Cypress Creek. In addition to what would have been the broad floodplain of Big Cypress Creek, there are gently sloping upland landforms (340-490 ft. amsl) to the northwest, west, and south of the site, and these landforms are dissected by …

Caddo Pottery In Modern And Contemporary Art And Protection Of Native American Cultures In Fine Arts By The Iacb’S Indian Arts And Crafts Act, Chase K. Earls

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

Hello, my name is Chase Kawinhut Earles. I was named by Julia Edge, daughter of Pauline Washington, who was the granddaughter of the Caddo chief, George Washington. I recently, well, not that very long ago started creating Caddo pottery with the much appreciated guidance from Jeri Redcorn. I have been an artist all my life, but mostly only a painter, not much clay, sculpture or pottery. I was inspired to create pottery though, but my experiences were with the Southwest and the Pueblo artists, as this is what I grew up around and what I learned. But I never started. …

A Caddo Archeology Map, Timothy K. Perttula

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

Archeologists use the term “Caddo” to refer to the many archaeological sites and abundant material remains that the ancestors of the modern Caddo peoples left behind over a large area of four different states, including eastern Texas, northwestern Louisiana, southwestern Arkansas, and eastern Oklahoma, traditionally centered on the Red River and its tributary streams. That record is marked by the remains of farmsteads, hamlets, villages, family and community cemeteries, and many small and large mound centers with public structures on and off mound platforms, plazas, and the burials of the social and political elite in and off mounds, as well …

The Pickett Switch Site (34pn1) And The Presence Of Arkansas River Basin Caddoans In East Central Oklahoma, Robert L. Brooks

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

The expansion of Arkansas River Basin Caddoans westward along the Canadian River remains an intriguing subject of study. This paper examines the presence of Caddoans living in the Ada vicinity, Pontotoc County, Oklahoma. The focus is on the Pickett Switch site excavated by Herbert Antle from 1930-1934. This paper examines the work of Herbert Antle, the history of his excavations as well as others at the Pickett Switch site, and describes a collection from the Pickett Switch site at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History. Concluding comments continue to seek refinement in our understanding of the settlement practices …

M. R. Harrington And The Lost Mound In Hempstead County, Arkansas, Duncan P. Mckinnon

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

In the early months of 1916, Mark R. Harrington, under the auspices of the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, visited a mound site at the Battle Farm in Hempstead County, Arkansas. Harrington describes the location of the Hempstead County mound being three miles west of Fulton “on the brink of a low terrace of the Red river bottoms, perhaps half a mile north of that stream and a quarter of a mile east of Little River, which empties into the Red at this point.” Using historical maps and archaeological site reports, this paper explores the area around the …

Watershed Times For The Caddo Peoples Of The Far Southeast, Timothy K. Perttula

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

A.D. 1450 was a watershed year in the native history of the Caddo Indian peoples of the Far Southeast (southwest Arkansas, northwest Louisiana, eastern Oklahoma, and eastern Texas). For the first time, recognizable and relatively geographically coherent socio-political polities in several areas can be identified that arose out of the distinctive archaeological traditions of the Caddo area that first are recognizable about A.D. 900. These new Caddo polities that came into existence at ca. A.D. 1450 apparently lasted until at least A.D. 1680, if not later, but did not survive sustained European contact with the same socio-political organization intact that …

July 1, 1835: What Did The Caddo Believe They Were Selling, And Was The Price Paid Fair?, Jim Tiller, Gang Gong

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

Most Caddo scholars interested in the tribe’s last years in Louisiana would probably agree that the above questions are largely settled business. The authors, both geographers, would tend to concur that a consensus has probably been reached on these questions; however, those with a desire to get at the truth of the matter might want to at least consider the array of archival documentation that paints a somewhat different picture of this aspect of the land cession. In the pages that follow, a case will be presented that, from the Caddo perspective of the mid-1830s, the tribe knew exactly what …

Recent Investigations At The Mounds Plantation Site (16cd12), Caddo Parish, Louisiana, Jeffery S. Girard

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

Dr. Montroville Wilson Dickeson, born in Philadelphia in 1810, was a medical doctor, taxidermist and avid collector of fossils. Between 1837 and 1844 he pursued another interest—excavating Indian burial mounds in the Ohio and Mississippi River valleys. He claimed to have “opened up” more than a thousand mounds and collected more than 40,000 objects. He also made drawings of the mounds and later provided these to an artist by the name of John J. Egan, who, about 1850, converted the drawings into a series of large paintings on huge canvases. Dickeson toured the country in 1852 allowing the public to …

Toward A Regional Radiocarbon Model For The East Texas Woodland Period, Robert Z. Selden Jr., Timothy K. Perttula

CRHR: Archaeology

The East Texas Radiocarbon Database contributes to an analysis of tempo and place for Woodland era (ca. 500 B.C. - A.D. 800) archaeological sites within the region. The temporal and spatial distributions of calibrated radiocarbon (¹⁴C) ages (n=127) with a standard deviation (ΔT) of 61 from archaeological sites with Woodland components (n=51) are useful in exploring the development and geographical continuity of the peoples in East Texas, and lead to a refinement of our current chronological understanding of the period. While the analysis of the dates produces less than significant findings due to sample size, they are used …

Modeling Regional Radicarbon Trends: A Case Study From The East Texas Woodland Period, Robert Z. Selden Jr.

CRHR: Archaeology

The East Texas Radiocarbon Database contributes to an analysis of tempo and place for Woodland era (~500 BC–AD 800) archaeological sites within the region. The temporal and spatial distributions of calibrated ¹⁴C ages (n = 127) with a standard deviation (ΔT) of 61 from archaeological sites with Woodland components (n = 51) are useful in exploring the development and geographical continuity of the peoples in east Texas, and lead to a refinement of our current chronological understanding of the period. While analysis of summed probability distributions (SPDs) produces less than significant findings due to sample size, they are used …

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.

A Prehistoric Caddo Site On Black Fork Creek, Upper Neches River Basin, Smith County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Bo Nelson

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

During the course of recent archaeological survey investigations for a proposed waterline, a previously unrecorded prehistoric Caddo site Lakewood Gardens (41SM425)-was found near, but outside the right-of-way and construction casement of, the proposed waterline. This article provides summary details about the site, hopefully adding information to the sparse archaeological record of prehistoric Caddo sites along Black Fork Creek.

The site is situated on a natural upland rise (440 feet amsl) overlooking the Black Fork Creek floodplain less than 200 m to the north. Black Fork Creek is in the upper Neches River basin; the creek flows west into Prairie Creek, …

Analysis Of Artifacts From A 2010 Surface Collection At The Pace Mcdonald Site (41an51), A Probable Middle Caddo Mound Center In Anderson County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Mark Walters, Bo Nelson

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

The Pace McDonald site (41AN51) is a prehistoric Caddo mound center on Mound Prairie Creek in Anderson County, Texas, in the upper Neches River Basin. With the permission of one of the landowners, Mr. Johnny Sanford, the Friends of Northeast Texas Archaeology has initiated an archaeological research effort at the site in 2010, the first part of which was an April 2010 surface reconnaissance of the Sanford lands at the site, and the surface collection of artifacts exposed there following shallow disking of several tracts within the known boundaries of the site. This article discusses the character of the artifacts …

The Pipe Site, A Late Caddo Site At Lake Palestine In Anderson County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

Buddy Calvin Jones excavated a Late Caddo cemetery and midden site he called the Lake Palestine site, in Anderson County, Texas, in March 1968. His notes indicate that a total of 21 Caddo burials were excavated at the site, and the burials were situated primarily around a midden of unknown dimensions. Jones' notes do not specify how many of the burials he excavated at the Pipe site, but one photograph in the records suggests he excavated at least three, one burial of which is the focus of this article.

Mountain Fork Archaeology: A Preliminary Report On The Ramos Creek Site (34mc1030), Elsbeth L. Dowd

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

In May-June of 2010, the University of Oklahoma and the Oklahoma Archeological Survey co-sponsored a field school at the Ramos Creek site (34MC1030) in southeastern Oklahoma. Ramos Creek is located in the Ouachita Mountains along the Mountain Fork, a tributary of the Little River. Recently identified by the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), this site is the northernmost known site with a Caddo component along this stream (Figure 1). The best-known Caddo sites identified for this drainage were tested during the Oklahoma River Basin Survey project of the 1960s and today are covered by the man-made Broken Bow Lake. Archaeological investigations …

Some Notes On Replicating Prehistoric Pottery, John Miller

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

My interest in pottery replication began about 30 years ago. As an archeologist, I was often required to analyze collections of prehistoric pottery. My analytical techniques were limited but standard for the day and usually involved classifying pottery according to previously defined pottery types and varieties. While this type of classification helps archeologists develop chronologies and determine cultural affiliation, it provides little understanding of how pottery was actually made. I felt that I might be able to enhance my analytical skills and possibly glean a little more from the archeological record if I could learn more about how pottery was …

Reconstructing Ancient Foodways At The Jones Mill Site (3hs28), Hot Spring County, Arkansas, Mary Beth D. Trubitt, Kathryn Parker, Lucretia Kelly

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

Analyses of botanical and faunal samples and a new radiocarbon date provide a detailed picture of Indian foodways at the Jones Mill site on the Ouachita River in Arkansas. Hunting, plant processing, and fishing with nets is seen from Middle Archaic artifacts and features. Burned hickory nutshell found among clusters of fire-cracked rock shows the importance of nut masts as food between 6000-4300 B.C. By 1450 A.D., a more substantial community of people lived at Jones Mill. Refuse associated with traces of a Caddo period house provided direct evidence for the cultivation of maize and native Eastern Complex starchy seed …

Sourcing Red River Jasper: An Archaeological And Geological Investigation Of A Gravel Chert In The Red River Drainage, Elsbeth L. Dowd

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

Red River Jasper, a lithic material found in the Red River drainage, is an understudied chert that was widely used by prehistoric populations in this region from the Archaic to late prehistoric (Caddo) periods. Despite its common occurrence at sites along the Red River, this tabular chert has received little attention compared to other raw materials on the eastern margin of the Southern Plains. Although the material is macroscopically diverse, ranging in color from brown to yellow to red, microscopic analysis indicates that the material is relatively homogeneous and likely came from a limited set of sources. The archaeological distribution …

Digital Preservation And Spatial Representation At The Washington Square Mound Site (41na49), Nacogdoches County, Texas, Robert Z. Selden Jr.

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

Thirty-one years of excavations at the Washington Square Mound site (41NA49) have produced a large number of artifacts, excavation records, field notes, photographs, slides, maps, excavation profiles, and plan view maps. This article is the product of an effort to synthesize the aforementioned information for the initial field school which occurred in the summer of 1979. Through the use of geographic information systems (GIS), a digital grid was constructed atop aerial photography to house the digitized information within a spatial representation of the provenience from which it was recovered. This allows a query of the artifact catalog to produce the …

Foster Trailed-Incised: A Gis-Based Analysis Of Caddo Ceramic Distribution, Duncan P. Mckinnon

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

The use of a Geographic Information System (GIS) allows for dynamic visualizations in the analysis of spatial distributions and the modeling of data clusters and outliers. An on-going analysis of Foster Trailed- Incised vessels found within the Caddo Homeland seeks to construct a distributional framework that can be applied and compared to additional Caddo ceramic types and site location attributes using a GIS database. Preliminary results show high frequencies of Foster Trailed-Incised vessels along the Ouachita and Red River drainages as well as along the Saline, Arkansas, and Little Missouri rivers in Arkansas. Additional possible varieties of Foster Trailed-Incised have …

An Earspool From Near Ada, Pontotoc County, Oklahoma?, Robert L. Brooks

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

Earspools are generally acknowledged as status markers for ranking elites in Caddoan populations occupying the Arkansas River basin as well as the Caddo homelands in the Red River basin. In the Arkansas River basin, Baerreis and more recently Brown have discussed the attributes of earspools found at Spiro. There is also documentation for earspools found at other Arkansas River basin sites such as Harlan and Huffaker. Earspools at sites reported for the Red River basin include Gahagan and George C. Davis among others. However, the appearance of earspools at sites outside of the core areas is not well documented. Two …

A Radiocarbon Date From A Middle Caddo Period Habitation Site On Hickory Creek, Houston County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The National Forests and Grasslands (U.S.D.A. Forest Service) in Texas (NFGT) conducted Passports in Time (PIT) projects in 2006 and 2007 on Hickory Creek in the Davy Crockett National Forest, Houston County, Texas. The work took place at four prehistoric archeological sites: 41HO13, HC-1, Hickory Creek #2 (HC-2), and HC-3, with the majority of the work occurring at the Hickory Creek #2 site. Following discussions with the NFGT, the NFGT agreed to turn over the collections and available notes/records to me for the purposes of completing a volunteer analysis of these collections and preparing a report on the analytical findings. …

Luminescence Dates From The Tuinier Farm Site (41hp237), Hopkins County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, James K. Feathers

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

The luminescence dating of ceramics has been applied with some considerable success in a variety of settings—and on different ceramic wares—in North America, but since the days of Alpha Analytic (a subsidiary of Beta Analytic) in the early to mid-1980s, there have been no luminescence dating of Caddo ceramic wares in Northeast or East Texas. Given the abundance of ceramics of several different kinds and styles at all Caddo sites, the luminescence dating of both plain and decorated sherds recovered in situ from these many sites should be explored since it is a method “that dates the manufacture and use …

A Case For Dehahuit’S Village, Part Ii, Jim Tiller

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

In this, the second of a two part series on Dehahuit’s village, we will use period materials to further establish a circumstantial case for the location of the village of this historic figure on Paw Paw Bayou in eastern Harrison County, Texas. In our discussion we will make use of selected distances and directions noted in the archival record and present a time and distance problem based on the journals of the Freeman and Custis expedition. We conclude with an analysis of Father José Puelles’ 1807 map of Texas and William Darby’s 1816 map of Louisiana.

Architectural Variability In The Caddo Area Of Eastern Texas, T. Clay Schultz

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

This dissertation focuses on the nature of architectural space in the Caddo area of eastern Texas, in the southwestern portion of the Caddo archaeological area. The early European accounts and the archaeological record indicate there was a wide range in size, shape, form, and use of architectural space in the Caddo area. Buildings have a variety of structural attributes and may be found isolated or associated with plazas or earthen mounds. This dissertation is a detailed examination of this architectural diversity. The sites included in this study range from large multi-mound centers that have seen large-scale and long-term research, such …

Selected Prehistoric Caddo Sites In The Upper Sabine River Basin Of Northeast Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Leeanna Schniebs

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

Some years ago, I commented that the upper Sabine River basin in Northeast Texas had “a highly significant and diverse archaeological record, one that has intrigued professional and avocational archaeologists alike for at least 75 years." At the same time, I noted that “we still know very little about the prehistoric and early historic Caddoan groups who lived in the basin, and unfortunately it has been a number of years since dedicated archaeologists, professional or avocational, turned their attention to this region."

In this article, I present information on five different prehistoric Caddo sites in the upper Sabine River basin, …

Documentation Of Caddo Ceramic Vessel Sherds From The Shelby Site (41cp71) In The Vernon Holcomb Collection, Camp County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula

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

The Shelby site (41CP71) is an important Late Caddo period, Titus phase, religious and political center on Greasy Creek in the Northeast Texas Pineywoods. The site, occupied from the 15th century A.D. until at least the late 17th century A.D., is a large and well-preserved settlement with abundant habitation features as well as plant and animal remains, evidence of mound building activities in the form of a 1.5 m high structural mound, and a large community cemetery with at least 119 burial pits and perhaps as many as 200. The Shelby site is the nexus of one of a number …