bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Cultural Diversity in the Southern Caddo Region
Authors: Corbin James E.
Published: May 2019

The earliest expression of Caddo culture in the southern portion of the Southern Caddo region is well known. That Alto phase Caddo culture had any effect on coeval societies and the subsequent cultural development in the area cannot be demonstrated. What happened after ca. A.D. 1100 has been much discussed, but the realities of that subsequent cultural development are unknown. It can be argued that what followed was a part of a larger cultural phenomenon of regionalization of societies within the broader Caddoan area. Some researchers have argued that. at least in the extreme southern portion of the Caddo area, this localized regionalization reflects adaptations to changing environmental conditions. It can also be argued that the ensuing regionalization, a fact well demonstrated in the archaeological and ethnohistorical literature, may, at least in part, also be a continuation of a long standing ethnoenvironmental and macroeconomic adaptation that is as much Mossy Grove (Woodland) or even Archaic in its outlook as it is Caddo. I have suggested elsewhere a post-Alto phase phenomena of diffusion of some aspects of Caddo culture to Mossy Grove style cultures, an acculturative process that may have been still viable and ongoing in the early Historic period. The ethnographic literature suggests that southern Caddo cultural denota had expanded or was expanding beyond the traditional Hasinai linguistic area. This article addresses the first part of the discussion, the cultural variability evident in the archaeological and ethnohistoric literature and the possible sources of that diversity.
Seed Bead Color Patterns from Colonial Period Sites in Texas and Louisiana
Authors: Avery George
Published: May 2019

This article focuses on the seed beads recovered from the Spradley site (41NA206), a possible Nacogdoches village site located south of Nacogdoches, Texas, and compares the seed bead color pattern to that of other colonial period sites in the region, including Deshazo (41NA27), Stephens (41NA202), Pearson (41RA5), Gilbert (41RAI3), Roseborough Lake (41BW5), Vinson (41LTI), Womack (41LRI), 41H064, Atlanta State Park (41CS37), Ware Acres (41GG31), and the shipwreck of La Belle in Texas; and Los Adaes (16NA16) and Colfax Ferry (16NA15) in Louisiana. The possible meaning of different seed bead color patterns is briefly discussed.
Pottery from 41NA202: The Stephens Site in Nacogdoches County, Texas
Authors: Turner Robert L.
Published: May 2019

In late 1940 and early 1941, my father and I excavated the Stephens site (41NA202). The site is located on Bailey Creek approximately 5 km west of Central Heights in Nacogdoches County. The site had been identified by the land owner, who gave my father permission to excavate.

The purpose of this short article is to briefly describe the ceramic assemblage from the site. The assemblage is unique for this area of East Texas.

The excavated area from which the ceramic artifacts were recovered measured approximately 3 x 4.6 m with the long axis along the plow rows. The site was about 6 m north of the then stream bed and consisted of a scatter of European trade beads within the soil as well as numerous sherds of Caddo Indian manufacture. The area was excavated to the underlying clay, which was no more than 25 em or so below the surface, and the dirt was water screened in order to recover the artifacts. These artifacts consisted of European glass trade beads (more than 7420 beads of 21 different varieties) and ceramic sherds of Indian pottery. Other than two silver beads, no metal artifacts were found. Our conclusion concerning the site was that it resulted from at least one shallow grave of an individual that had been plowed up and the grave offerings scattered from the yearly cultivation of the area. One small skull fragment was the only trace of human remains.
Archaeological Investigations at the Edwards Creek Site (41FT549) in the Trinity River Basin, Freestone County, Texas
Authors: Perttula Timothy K. , Nelson Bo , Walters Mark , Schniebs LeeAnna
Published: May 2019

The Edwards Creek site (41Ff549) was found during the course of a 2005 archaeological survey of a proposed small lake project in the adjoining Indian Creek stream valley in southeastern Freestone County, Texas. The site was identified while reconnoitering the general project area, and at that time a darkly stained midden area was noted on the surface here, with animal bones and other artifacts visible across it. With the permission of the landowner, we returned to the Edwards Creek site to investigate the site and its midden deposits.
A Probable Early 19th Century Coushatta Village Site on Big Cypress Bayou in Northeastern Texas
Authors: Perttula Timothy K. , Boyd Bryan E.
Published: May 2019

In February 2002, avocational archaeologists from northeastern Texas and northwestern Louisiana conducted archaeological investigations in an area along Big Cypress Bayou in Marion County, Texas, to search for and identify a pre-1841 Coushatta Indian village depicted on a 1943 General Land Office map. That map showed a "Coushatti" village with at least seven to eight structures (a common way at the time to indicate an Indian village, but not necessarily an accurate characterization of the number of structures once present at the site) near the confluence of Black Cypress Bayou and Big Cypress Bayou. This article describes the results of these archaeological investigations..

Other Alabama (Alibamu) and Coushatta (Koasati) villages have been documented in recent years through archaeological and historical investigations in the Caddo Lake and Red River areas of northeastern Texas and northwestern Louisiana. These villages were first established around 1803 or 1804 by these members of the Creek Indian confederacy who had moved or resettled as a group from the Alabama River area of east-central Alabama. The Alabama and Coushatta chose to resettle in traditional Caddo lands rather than "associate with the British and American traders and settlers who moved into Creek Territory after the French and Indian War, which ended in 1763, and the American Revolution".
Caddo Origins, A Smith County Perspective
Authors: Walters Mark
Published: May 2019

Attempting to trace Caddo Origins in Smith County and surrounding counties depends a lot on what we end up defining as Caddo. Separating the Caddo culture from previous cultures in East Texas becomes tedious when trying to fit the available archaeological record to existing models of Woodland cultures. Krieger stated that there was no evidence in East Texas of a Woodland (or Hopewellian) culture, with Mississippian culture beginning as early as 500 B.C. I mention this partly for the sake of argument, but also to point out that in this area there is not such a clearcut difference between the archaeology of Woodland and Early Caddo cultures. If Krieger is correct, it might make better sense to have a Formative phase of Caddo rather than trying to make a Woodland culture fit the transition from Archaic to Caddo.

Based on current thinking, Caddo culture developed around A.D. 800-900, based primarily on work conducted at the George C. Davis site. In Smith County there seem to be few sites that fit into what has been termed either the Formative and Early Caddo (A.D. 800-1200) periods or Alto phase sites as defi ned at the Davis site. Rather, in this area, Caddo culture reached a florescence during the following Middle Caddo (A.D. 1200-1400) time period, at least in the number and visibility of sites on the landscape. Then, for reasons that we do not fully understand, this area was apparently abandoned by prehistoric groups.
The Henry Chapman Site (41SM56)
Authors: Walters Mark
Published: May 2019

In the mid-1950s, Sam Whiteside conducted excavations at the Henry Chapman site, his site P-5 (41SM56), on Prairie Creek in eastern Smith County, Texas, some 18 miles east of Tyler, Texas. Mr. Whiteside was an amateur archaeologist who discovered and explored numerous sites up and down Prairie Creek as well as other important sites in Smith and adjoining counties. The Chapman site was one of the first sites to be investigated by Mr. Whiteside, and the major part of the work took place there in 1957 and 1958.

In August 1957, the site was visited by Edward B. Jelks and Leroy Johnson, who viewed the excavations and examined artifacts collected from there. Mr. Jelks, in notes on record at the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory (TARL) at The University of Texas in Austin, Texas, on August 21, 1958, indicated after observing the artifacts from the Henry Chapman site that the ceramics indicated an Alto focus occupation. He recognized Hickory Engraved and Holly Fine Engraved wares as well as Dunkin Incised and possible Pennington Punctated-Incised sherds. He mentioned that no Crockett Curvilinear Incised or Weches Fingernail Impressed sherds were present (two common types present at the Alto focus type site, the George C. Davis site [41CE19]). E. Mott Davis also visited the site in late 1957, and in February 1959, Davis, Lathel F. Duffield, and William A. Davis collected skeletal material from the site. In a June 15, 1958, newsletter from the East Texas Archeological Society (ETAS), Mr. Whiteside described excavations at the Henry Chapman site that had revealed refuse pits, post holes, and an abundance of pottery sherds indicative of an Alto focus occupation.

In the summer of 1983, Mr. Whiteside visited the University of Texas Field School at the George C. Davis site, where he loaned some of his notes and collections from the Chapman site for recording purposes (these are on file at TARL).

After Mr. Whiteside’s death, his family graciously allowed me access to his notes and artifacts. Not all of the artifacts have survived, having been stored in paper bags and subjected to several moves, but thanks to Mr. Whiteside’s writing lot numbers on artifacts and listing them in a journal, a majority of them have survived, and thus are suitable for study. Although 50 years have passed since Mr. Whiteside’s work at the Henry Chapman site, it is my intent to now make that work public.
History of the East Texas Caddoan/Caddo Research Group, 1996-2008
Authors: Perttula Timothy K. , Middlebrook Tom
Published: May 2019

Recently, the senior author of this article has been working with Hester Davis (Arkansas Archeological Survey) regarding the editing of her manuscript on the history of the Caddo Conference, which had its 50th meeting in March 2008. In her manuscript she laments the fact that there is very little time being spent by its participants in keeping track of its history: either in the form of transcripts of the meetings, notes on each conference, saving photographs and images, or actively maintaining an archive of materials resulting from each Conference. Davis pointed out that it was important to maintain a record of each Conference, and take steps to do a better job in preserving for others that record for present and future Caddo Conference participants and researchers.

Hester’s points, which we agree with, led directly to our discussing the need to put on record a history, as best we can recall it, of the East Texas Caddoan/Caddo Research Group. This informal group has met a number of times since 1996, with the purpose of advancing the general understanding of Caddo archaeology in the East Texas region. The meetings have been held to discuss pertinent and current problems and research issues concerning East Texas Caddo archaeology.

As we recall, the East Texas Caddoan [now Caddo] Research Group (ETCRG) developed out of discussions between Perttula and Middlebrook in January 1996. Middlebrook’s own interests in the idea had been piqued by reading the obituary of Fred Plog in the October 1995 American Antiquity that described his founding of the Southwestern Anthropological Research Group, the success that group had in working together on common research problems, and in working together to improve understandings of the prehistory of the American Southwest. This seemed to both of us like an idea worth emulating for the Caddo archaeological area, or at least the East Texas part of the area since we were more familiar with this region’s archaeology and the archaeologists working in that area.
A Case for Dehahuit’s Village Part I
Authors: Tiller Jim
Published: May 2019

During the late 1700s, the Kadohadacho (hereafter Caddo), a peaceful tribe of agriculturists and hunters, weakened by near-constant pressure from the more war-like Osage and the ravages of various epidemics, began to migrate from their traditional homeland near the Great Bend of the Red River south into northwestern Louisiana and adjacent East Texas. By the time of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the Caddo villages under their caddi Dehahuit were concentrated in the Sodo Lakes region west and northwest of modern-day Shreveport. Much of what we know today about the location of these settlements, and specifically Dehahuit’s village, are found in the writings of Indian agents and the field notes and plat maps of period surveyors. In this article we will examine these and other relevant documents and present a case for the location of the village of this historic figure.

It is the contention of the author, based on material to be presented in the pages to follow, that Dehahuit’s village will ultimately be found to lie northwest of Waskom, Texas on the southern terraces of Paw Paw Bayou beneath the neatly manicured lawns of the Victoria Wood subdivision. The site is depicted on the 1838 American surveys of northwestern Louisiana as lying on the Natchitoches-to-Pecan Point Road on the section line between Sections 2 and 3 of T17N, R17W. In support of this argument, we will examine in this article (1) a relatively definitive 1840 statement regarding the location of Dehahuit’s village by Jehiel Brooks, long-time Caddo Agent and the individual who engineered the sale of the Caddo lands to the United States; (2) the well-known 1805 statement of Red River Agent John Sibley in which he noted that the Caddo lived some 35 miles west of the Red River on a bayou “called, by them, Sodo;” and (3) a memorial statement by the Caddo themselves regarding the re-location of some of their villages as required by Article 4 of the 1835 treaty cession.
Analysis of the Prehistoric Caddo Ceramics from 41LR351, Lamar County, Texas
Authors: Perttula TImothy K.
Published: May 2019

Site 41LR351 was first recorded during the 2005 Texas Archeological Society summer field school on the Stallings Ranch in Lamar County, Texas. This prehistoric site is on a natural knoll (420-430 feet amsl) in the headwaters of Pine Creek, a northward-flowing tributary of the Red River. The site is currently being excavated by the Valley of the Caddo Archeological Society, and a large prehistoric Caddo ceramic assemblage has been recovered that warrants study. In addition to characterizing the assemblage of vessel sherds in terms of decorative style and various technological attributes (i.e., temper and paste, firing conditions, surface treatment, etc.), I am also concerned with establishing the temporal and cultural affiliation of the recovered ceramics from 41LR351.
An Earspool from near Ada, Pontotoc County, Oklahoma?
Authors: Brooks Robert L.
Published: May 2019

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 exceptions from central Oklahoma are Bell’s 1981 discussion of an earspool from the Allcorn site (34ML1) in McClain County and Schaeffer’s description of earspools from the Nagle site in Oklahoma County. This paper reports an earspool from near Ada in Pontotoc County, Oklahoma, examines earlier data pertaining to the presence of Caddoan populations in this area of east-central Oklahoma, and discusses the implications for isolated reports of earspools outside the core culture areas.
Luminescence Dates from the Tuinier Farm Site (41HP237), Hopkins County, Texas
Authors: Perttula Timothy K. , Feathers James K.
Published: May 2019

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 of…ceramic objects [that] provide a closer relationship between the target event [when a site is occupied] and the dated event [the age determined by the luminescence on a sherd]. Luminescence is particularly well suited for the dating of ceramics since the method measures the time elapsed since vessels were last heated, usually corresponding to manufacture or use." In this article, we discuss the results of recent luminescence dating on a small sample of Caddo ceramic sherds at the Tuinier Farm site (41HP237).
A Case for Dehahuit’s Village, Part II
Authors: Tiller Jim
Published: May 2019

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.
Recent Investigations at the Mounds Plantation Site (16CD12), Caddo Parish, Louisiana
Authors: Girard Jeffery S.
Published: May 2019

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 view the canvasses and his artifact collections for a fee of 25 cents. The panorama, titled “Monumental Grandeur of the Mississippi Valley”, was nine feet high, 400 feet long, and consisted of 27 scenes. The canvasses later were curated at the University Museum, University of Pennsylvania until 1953 when purchased by the St. Louis Art Museum where they remain today.

Dickeson’s lecture notes refer to Scene 21 as follows: “The following picture shows a group of connected mounds in Caddo Parish, in Northwestern Louisiana, with some of the aboriginal inhabitants of the region . . .” The scene depicts a cluster of nine mounds, some of which are connected by low earthen walls. In the background are mountains, and a group of Indians with elaborate headdresses are shown in front of tents. Similar mountains and the same Indian scene appear in other segments of the Mississippi Panorama and are understandable in light of the Romantic artistic style of the times, as well as the fact that the panorama was part of a show intended to evoke wonder and awe in its audience. Today we know of only one place in Caddo Parish where there is a cluster of at least nine mounds. Located on the western side of the Red River, north of the present city of Shreveport, is the Mounds Plantation Site (16CD12), the single largest Caddo ceremonial center in northwestern Louisiana. It seems fitting that the earliest reference that we have to a prehistoric site in northwest Louisiana likely pertains to Mounds Plantation, a place of primary importance to its ancient Caddo inhabitants, as well as to modern archaeological research.
Spatial Patterning of Material Culture Remains and Animal Bone at an Early 18th Century Caddo Site in East Texas
Authors: Perttula Timothy K. , Nelson Bo , Walters Mark
Published: May 2019

The J. T. King site (41NA15) is an early 18th century Caddo habitation site on King Creek, a tributary to the Angelina River. It is situated on the northern route of El Camino Real de los Tejas, about 5 km east of the Camino Real’s crossing of the Angelina River. This is an area where Historic Caddo sites are relatively common, and there are sites generally contemporaneous with the J. T. King site both north and south some distance along King Creek.

Archaeogeophysical and archaeological investigations were conducted intermittingtly at the J. T. King site since May 2008, following the relocation of the site by Tom Middlebrook in 2006. The archaeogeophysical work was led by Dr. Chester P. Walker, and covered a 6.1 acre area of the site. During that work, a considerable number of geophysical anomalies were defined, including 10 circular to sub-round anomalies that range from 3.7 to 12.5 m in diameter. A number of them have smaller anomalies situated in or near their centers that are likely central hearths or large post holes (i.e., center posts) inside Caddo structures.
Analysis of the Prehistoric Artifact Assemblage of Ceramic and Lithic Artifacts from 41LR351, Lamar County, Texas
Authors: Perttula Timothy K.
Published: May 2019

Site 41LR351 was first recorded during the 2005 Texas Archeological Society summer field school on the Stallings Ranch in Lamar County, Texas. This prehistoric site is on a natural knoll (420-430 feet amsl) in the headwaters of Pine Creek, a northward-flowing tributary of the Red River, in the Post Oak Savannah. The site has been excavated by the Valley of the Caddo Archeological Society, and a large prehistoric Caddo ceramic assemblage has been recovered, along with a substantial chipped stone tool and debris assemblage. The analysis of the ceramic and lithic artifact assemblages from the site is the subject of this article.
Towards a Common Understanding: A Revision of Forurche Maline Chronology in Oklahoma
Authors: Leith Luther J.
Published: May 2019

Answering the question of what Fourche Maline is has long been hampered by lack of consensus on the terminology and chronology within the ancestral Caddoan area of the four corners area of southeast Oklahoma, southwest Arkansas, northeast Texas and northwest Louisiana. To address this problem an evolution of the Oklahoma concept of Fourche Maline is presented, and developing a new chronology based on seriation of temporally sensitive artifact categories is discussed. It is concluded that Fourche Maline is a solely Woodland period culture, with a chronology that makes identifying changes over time possible. This conclusion will facilitate the understanding of Fourche Maline within the Caddon homeland.
The Distribution of Negative Painted Pottery in the Caddo Area
Authors: Perttula Timothy K.
Published: May 2019

Negative painted pottery (NPP) is one of the most distinctive kinds of pottery made by Mississippian peoples during the Middle Mississippian period (ca. A.D. 1200-1500) in eastern North America. This pottery is decorated with a “resist painting technique, which creates a lighter-colored design outlined by a black pigment” over an underlying slip/wash.

Principal production areas for NPP include the lower Ohio River valley, the Nashville Basin, and the Bootheel of southeast Missouri, and there are four main types: Kincaid Negative Painted, Nashville Negative Painted, Sikeston Negative Painted, and Angel Negative Painted. This NPP has been found in several sites in the southern and northern Caddo areas, and its occurrence in Caddo sites constitutes compelling evidence for some form of contact and interaction between Caddo peoples and peoples from various Mississippian polities, most particularly Mississippian polities in the Nashville basin.
Caddo Ceramics from Mound Deposits at the Shelby Mound Site (41CP71) on Greasy Creek, Camp County, Texas
Authors: Perttula Timothy K.
Published: May 2019

Archaeological evidence from 15th to 17th century (dating from ca. A.D. 1430-1680) Caddo sites that have been investigated in the Big Cypress Creek and Sabine River basins of northeastern Texas indicate that many of the components have been identified as belonging to the Titus phase. They represent permanent, year-round, settlements of horticultural or agricultural peoples with distinctive cultural practices and material culture. The 15th to 17th century archaeological record in these two basins “refers to a number of distinctive socio-cultural groups, not a single Caddo group; these groups or communities were surely related and/or affiliated by kinship, marriage, and social interaction." There are several clusters of settlements that apparently represent parts of contemporaneous small communities. A political community as used here is a cluster of interrelated settlements and associated cemeteries that are centered on a key site or group of sites distinguished by public architecture (i.e., earthen mounds) and large domestic village areas. The Shelby Mound site is one of the premier sites in a political community centered in the Greasy Creek basin and neighboring Big Cypress Creek basin.

The social and cultural diversity that probably existed among Titus phase cultural groups is matched by the stylistic and functional diversity in Titus phase material culture, particularly in the manufacture and use of fine ware and utility ware ceramics, and the ceramic tradition is the surest grounds for evaluating attribution of archaeological components to the Titus phase. It is the character of their stylistically unique material culture, coupled with the development of distinctive mortuary rituals and social and religious practices centered on the widespread use of community cemeteries and mound ceremonialism as means to mark social identities, that most readily sets these Caddo groups apart from their neighbors in East and Northeast Texas and in the Red River basin to the north and east.

This article discusses the analysis of the plain and decorated ceramic sherds (focusing on the latter) from the mound deposits at the Shelby Mound site in the Robert L. Turner collection. Because of the stratified nature of the mound deposits it is possible that temporal changes in the stylistic character of the utility wares and fine wares in use at the site can be detected, and full documentation of the assemblage at Shelby Mound will be key in stylistic comparisons of the ceramic traditions among contemporaneous Titus phase communities in the Big Cypress Creek basin and the mid-Sabine River basin.
Caddo Ceramic Vessels from the Sipes Hill Site (41RK602) along Martin Creek in the Sabine River Basin in East Texas
Authors: Perttula Timothy K. , Selden Robert Z. , Nelson Bo
Published: May 2019

The Sipes Hill site (41RK602) is an ancestral Caddo site on Martin Creek, near Trammel's Trace, about 20 km from its confluence with the Sabine River. It is ca. 2 km downstream from the Martin Lake dam. The Sipes' Home site (41RK603) is about 100m to the northeast.

This site was found and investigated by Buddy C. Jones in the 1950s or early 1960s. He did an unknown amount of excavations at the site, and ended up excavating at least one Caddo burial at the site; there are no available notes concerning these excavations or the burial feature, however. Whole vessels from the Sipes Hill site in the Jones collection are at the Gregg County Historical Museum.
Caddo Ceramic Vessels from the Mrs. Martin Farm, Harrison County, Texas
Authors: Perttula Timothy K. , Nelson Bo
Published: May 2019

The Mrs. Martin Farm site is a Caddo site in the community of Darco, in south central Harrison County, in the Sabine River basin of the East Texas Pineywoods. The farm was investigated by C. W. Bailey in March 1941, and two Caddo ceramic vessels recovered in this work at depths of ca. 36 and 76 cm bs are now curated at the Gregg County Historical Museum. These vessels are likely funerary offerings from two different burials at the site.
A Whole Vessel from the Henry Brown #2 Site (41HS262), a Historic Nadaco Caddo Site in Harrison County, Texas
Authors: Perttula Timothy K. , Nelson Bo
Published: May 2019

The Henry Brown #2 site is a poorly known Historic Caddo site (dating after ca. A.D. 1685) affiliated with the Nadaco Caddo on Potters Creek in Harrison County, Texas. It is a cemetery site located about 0.5 miles from the J. O. and Henry Brown (or Brown #1) site (41HS261), another Historic Caddo cemetery. A single fragmentary ceramic vessel from the Henry Brown #2 site has been identified in the collections of the Gregg County Historical Museum in Longview, Texas, and we recently documented this vessel in July 2013.
A Reconstruction of the Caddo Salt Making Process at Drake’s Salt Works
Authors: Eubanks Paul N.
Published: May 2019

The Caddo salt makers at the Drake’s Salt Works Site Complex in northwestern Louisiana played a critical role in the production and trade of salt during the eighteenth century. Not only was salt used to season food, it would have also been important in the preparation of animal hides and the preservation of meat. Using archaeological data from recent excavations, as well as the historic record, this paper attempts to provide a reconstruction of the salt making process at Drake’s Salt Works. This process involved filtering salt-impregnated soil using water from nearby streams and boiling the resulting liquid brine in a thin-walled, standardized bowl. The salt bowls appear to have been made on site using clay deposits found beneath the salt flats. Once the liquid brine had evaporated leaving behind the solid salt, the salt cakes were removed from the salt bowl and prepared for short-term storage or traded to the French, Spanish, or other American Indian groups without direct access to this commodity.
The Frank Murphy Farm Site (41AN48), Anderson County, Texas
Authors: Perttula Timothy K.
Published: May 2019

The Frank Murphy Farm site (41AN48) is a Late Caddo period, Frankston phase occupation in the upper Neches River basin in the East Texas Pineywoods. The site was investigated by University of Texas (UT) archaeologists in 1935.
Ancestral Caddo Sites in the lower Sulphur River Basin at Lake Wright Patman, Bowie and Cass Counties, Texas
Authors: Perttula Timothy K.
Published: May 2019

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.
Two Caddo Sites in the Attoyac Bayou Basin in the East Texas Pineywoods, San Augustine County, Texas
Authors: Perttula Timothy K.
Published: May 2019

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.
The Joe Meyer Estate #1 Site (41SM73) on Saline Creek in the Upper Neches River Basin in East Texas
Authors: Perttula Timothy K.
Published: May 2019

The Joe Meyer Estate #1 site (41SM73) is an ancestral Caddo settlement and cemetery on an upland landform west of Saline Creek, a southern-flowing tributary of the Neches River in the upper Neches River basin. In the spring of 1957 members of the East Texas Archeological Society (ETAS), including John Mulligan, Sam Whiteside, Derrell Sanders, and Jowell Proctor, had located the site and commenced excavations. The site had substantial midden deposits as well as Caddo burial features.

W. A. Davis and E. Mott Davis of The University of Texas visited the site in April 1957, took notes on the burial features and associated funerary offerings, and obtained a surface collection of artifacts. The summer of 1957, LeRoy Johnson, Jr. visited the site and obtained a surface collection as part of a broader survey of Blackburn Crossing Reservoir (now Lake Palestine) on the Neches River. In December 1957, E. Mott Davis visited the site again, at which time ETAS members had excavated two test pits (A and B) in the midden deposits.

In June 1969 George Kegley and Dan Witter returned to the site, and made a small surface collection. They also noted that at least 25 Caddo burials (some, if not all, of apparent post-A.D. 1400 age based on the finding of Poynor Engraved vessels) had been excavated in 1966-1967 in another cemetery at the site; one of the main excavators of this cemetery was William “Red” McFarland of Whitehouse, Texas, a well known East Texas digger; this same cemetery may have also been explored by Buddy Jones and ETAS members some years before, where two burials were excavated. Finally, in August 1969 and March 1970, archaeologists from Southern Methodist University (SMU) returned to the Joe Meyer Estate #1 site as part of a more intensive survey of proposed Lake Palestine. A large assemblage of ceramic sherds (n=596) was collected from the surface of the site as part of this survey. About 86 percent of the decorated sherds in this assemblage were from brushed jars, suggesting the sherds were collected from a Late Caddo occupation area, probably an occupation dating to the 17th century given the very high proportion of brushed sherds in the decorated sherd assemblage. The Joe Meyer Estate #1 site was not one of the sites selected for excavation by SMU before construction of the reservoir, likely because the site was not to be inundated by the reservoir flood pool. There have been no professional archaeological investigations at the site since 1970.
Analysis of the Recovered Artifacts from the Controlled Surface Collection at the Peach Orchard Site (41CE477), Cherokee County, Texas
Authors: Perttula Timothy K. , Stingley Kevin
Published: May 2019

The Peach Orchard site is one of several historic Caddo archaeological sites recently recorded by Kevin Stingley in the Bowles Creek drainage in the middle Neches River basin in Cherokee County, Texas. The Peach Orchard site had been exposed in erosion along a county road that bisects the southern end of the upland landform, while the remainder of the landform was primarily grass-covered when it was first recorded earlier in 2015. In November 2015, the landowner decided to shallowly plow the site area to improve its grass cover, and this plowing provided an opportunity to complete a surface collection of the site area from November to December 2015.
Utility Ware Ceramic Metrics and Hasinai Caddo Archaeology in East Texas
Authors: Perttula Timothy K.
Published: May 2019

The use of ceramic metrics (i.e., ratios of various categories of decorated sherds as well as use of different tempers) has become an important analytical tool in assessing the stylistic similarity of different assemblages of Late Caddo and Historic Caddo ceramic assemblages in East Texas. In this article, I employ recent compilations of ceramic vessel sherd assemblages from sites in the Neches, Angelina, and Sabine River basins that focus on the distinctive character of Caddo utility ware vessel decorations, particularly the common use of brushing as a decorative method, and the ratio of brushed to other wet paste decorated sherds.
Titus Phase Ceramics from the Pine Tree Farm Site (41WD51) in the Lake Fork Creek Basin, Wood County, Texas
Authors: Perttula Timothy K.
Published: May 2019

The Pine Tree Farm site, an ancestral Caddo site occupied during the Titus phase (ca. A.D. 1430- 1680), was recorded by Bob D. Skiles in June 1977, on the basis of investigations conducted there by Skiles and James E. Bruseth, then a graduate student at Southern Methodist University, as well as work done by Skiles in 1970. The site is on a flat upland landform (400 ft. amsl) ca. 300 m northeast of Myrtle Springs Branch, a tributary to Dry Creek in the Lake Fork Creek drainage in the East Texas Pineywoods.

The Goldsmith site (41WD208) is ca. 0.4 km to the east on Dry Creek, and several kilometers below the dam at Lake Quitman. The Dry Creek drainage basin, as well as the Caney Creek arm of Lake Fork Reservoir, have clusters of Late Caddo period Titus phase sites.

The main known feature at the site was a large trash midden or midden mound that was ca. 20 x 22 m in size and approximately 35 cm in thickness. The midden deposits contained many Caddo ceramic vessel sherds, animal bones, mussel shell, charcoal and other charred plant remains (hickory nut shells), and ash deposits. Most of the trash midden was excavated in 1970, but there were intact midden deposits along the western and southern part of the trash midden, and in June 1977, several small units were excavated by Skiles and Bruseth in those areas. The ancestral Caddo ceramics discussed herein come from Units 2-4 in the southern part of the trash midden, but are not all of the sherds that were recovered in that work.
The Newt Smith Site (41HE78), Henderson County, Texas
Authors: Perttula Timothy K.
Published: May 2019

The Newt Smith site (41HE78) is probably an ancestral Caddo cemetery and habitation site in the Coon Creek valley of the Post Oak Savannah in the Trinity River basin in East Texas. In April 1931, a Mrs. A. G. Hughes of Poynor, Texas, donated a single Caddo vessel to The University of Texas. That vessel is in the collections of the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at The University of Texas at Austin (TARL).
A House Burning at Redwine (41SM193)
Authors: Walters Mark
Published: May 2019

I explore an unusual Caddo vessel from the Redwine site (41SM193), a Middle Caddo period (ca. A.D. 1200-1400) habitation/mound site located in Smith County, Texas. This vessel has been described as part of the Walters Collection by Perttula.
Caddo Vessels from the Susie Slade Site (41HS13), Harrison County, Texas
Authors: Perttula Timothy K.
Published: May 2019

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 by Forrest Murphey, one of the amateur archaeologists that worked at the site. These vessels are documented in this article, following the standard protocol for vessel documentation in use for several years in the analysis of Caddo ceramic vessels from East Texas sites.
Caddo Ceramic Vessels from the Joseph Fabion (41SY24) and S. H. Latham (41SY25) Sites in Shelby County, Texas
Authors: Perttula Timothy K.
Published: May 2019

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.
Ceramic Sherd Assemblage from the Cherokee Lake Site (41RK132), Rusk County, Texas
Authors: Perttula Timothy K.
Published: May 2019

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 an Historic Nadaco Caddo grave that probably dates to the early 18th century based on the recovery of 15 blue glass beads. This strand of beads was placed near the legs of the deceased individual. The Caddo person had been placed in an extended supine position in a pit that was 1.83 m long and 0.76 cm in width, with the head facing towards the west. The estimated depth of the grave was 0.76 m, and its fill was a dark charcoal–stained midden.

In addition to the strand of glass beads, three ceramic vessels had been placed as funerary offerings in the grave along with a Fresno arrow point by the upper left leg. One Simms Engraved vessel was on the left side of the body, near the foot of the grave, while a second Simms Engraved vessel had been placed by the individual’s right foot, along with a Maydelle Incised jar. A plain clay elbow pipe had been placed inside the jar.

A storage pit excavated by Jones in Area A at the Cherokee Lake site appears to have been primarily associated with a pre–A.D. 1200 Caddo occupation, based on the recovery of Hickory Engraved and Dunkin Incised pottery sherds, long–stemmed Red River clay pipe sherds, and Catahoula, Alba, and Bonham arrow points. This occupation probably created the midden deposits found in Area A.

In this article, I discuss ceramic sherds collected by Jones from Area A at the Cherokee Lake site. Some of the sherds were surface collected in March 1956 from the midden deposits, but it is not clear if this ceramic sherd assemblage is part of the sample of 300 sherds discussed by Jones from an Area A surface collection. The present ceramic sherd assemblage is curated at the Gregg County Historical Museum (GCHM).
Further Surface Collecting and Shovel Testing Investigations at the Sanders Site (41LR2), Lamar County, Texas
Authors: Perttula Timothy K. , Nelson Bo
Published: May 2019

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 the Crawford property was planted in winter wheat, except the fields just east of the mounds, that still had dried corn stalks covering the ground surface. The fields with the corn stalks had no surface visibility. The Sanders’ property was recently disked, and there was about 50–60 percent surface visibility.

Mr. R. P. “Dick” Crawford, Julia Crawford’s father, made several visits to the site while Nelson and Walker were there. He has a routine that involves checking for feral hogs, and seeing if there had been any damage they may have done to the fields since his last visit. During his visits, he was able to show to Nelson and Walker a small strip of property that was owned by the Crawford’s that we had originally assumed to be included with the Sanders’ family property. This strip of property extends up to the West mound, making the Sanders’ property “L–shaped” instead of a block–shaped tract.
A Caddo Ceramic Vessel Sherd Collection from a Site in the Upper Neches River Basin, Anderson County, Texas
Authors: Perttula Timothy
Published: May 2019

Frank H. Watt (1889-1981) was a well-known and well-respected avocational archaeologist that lived in the Waco, Texas, area and studied the archaeology of the central Brazos River valley. He made forays into other parts of the state, however, including the Caddo archaeological area of East Texas. At an unknown date, probably in the 1950s or 1960s, Watt investigated an ancestral Caddo site on the Dennis Farm six miles northwest of the community of Neches, in the upper Neches River basin (probably in the Walnut Creek valley), in Anderson County. He collected 42 sherds from Caddo ceramic vessels from the site, and these collections are in the holdings of the Mayborn Museum Complex at Baylor University.
Middle Caddo Whole Vessels from the Ferguson Site (3HE63)
Authors: Chowdhury Pritam
Published: May 2019

The Ferguson site (3HE63) is a Caddo ceremonial center in Hempstead County, Arkansas. The Arkansas Archeological Survey and Arkansas Archeological Society excavated Ferguson between 1972 and 1974, under the direction of Dr. Frank Schambach. The site has a middle Caddo Haley phase (A.D. 1200- 1400) component consisting of two mounds, several structures, and a small cemetery area, set atop a 2-acre Woodland period Fourche Maline village. One of the mounds included several elite Caddo shaft graves rich with ceramic artifacts. My recent research with Ferguson site collections included a metric and stylistic analysis of whole vessel ceramics from the Haley phase Caddo components. This paper reports on some results of this inventory and analysis.
Current Research: Recent Documentation of Ceramic Vessels and Other Funerary Objects in the Titus Phase Cemetery at the Tuck Carpenter Site, Camp County, Texas
Authors: Perttula Timothy K. , Walters Mark , Stingley Kevin , Middlebrook Tom
Published: May 2019

Recently, we had the opportunity to complete the documentation of Late Caddo period Titus phase ceramic vessels and other funerary offerings from the Tuck Carpenter site (41CP5) in the Big Cypress Creek basin in Camp County, Texas. This portion of the funerary assemblage from the site has been in the hands of R. W. Walsh since the 1960s. Unable to properly care for the assemblage, he recently donated his collection to an anonymous individual, who graciously allowed us to fully document these funerary offerings. The Tuck Carpenter site (41CP5), on Dry Creek several miles from its confluence with Big Cypress Creek, is perhaps the best known Titus phase cemetery in the Big Cypress Creek basin in East Texas. This is due to the careful analysis and reporting of the recovered funerary offerings and remains from 45 burials excavated by Robert L.Turner and R. W. Walsh between 1963-1967. More than 95 percent of the graves had the bodies of single individuals laid in an extended supine position on the floor of the pit, but two burial features had two individuals placed side by side in the burial pit.