bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Evidence of Resource Procurement and Manufacturing Techniques in Caddoan Ceramic Assemblages from the Sabine, Cypress, and Sulphur River Drainage Basins, Rusk and Titus Counties, Texas
Authors: Reese-Taylor Kathryn
Published: May 2019

Texas Utilities Services and Espey, Huston & Associates, Inc. have conducted ongoing archaeological investigations of cultural resources in Northeast Texas for the past 15 years. As a part of these studies, prehistoric Caddoan ceramic assemblages were recovered from 13 sites in three distinct drainage basins: three sites from the Sabine River drainage; three sites from the Cypress Creek drainage; and seven sites from the Sulphur River drainage. Recent research on the ceramic collections has emphasized variability in surface treatment, vessel form, and paste composition by means of a detailed attribute analysis and petrographic examination of a sample of the Caddoan sherds.

This paper focuses on the paste composition of a sherd sample selected to undergo petrographic analysis. The sample contains representatives among the sherds of the major tempering agents identified during a macroscopic examination of the pastes. The initial goal of the analyses was establishment of a baseline for paste composition in the study areas. A detailed point count, and grain size measurements, allowed for the identification of constituents in a range of frequencies from among the sites located in each of the three drainage basins. Upon completion of the initial studies, the results of the analyses from the three studies were compared. This paper presents a discussion of preliminary patterns identified in Caddoan ceramic assemblages of resource procurement and manufacturing techniques observed among the site samples.
Caddo Ceramics on the Red River in North Central Texas
Authors: Perttula Timothy K. , Martin Earnest R. , Nelson Bo
Published: May 2019

Caddo ceramics manufactured after A.D. 900 were widely traded in Texas, being found in some quantity on North Central, East Central, Central, and inland Southeast Texas archeological sites. They were also traded with prehistoric peoples in the Midwest (as far north as Iowa and Illinois) and the Southeastern U.S. While archeologists have known this for some time, much of the ceramic evidence for prehistoric Caddoan trade and exchange with other Native Americans has not been systematically compiled and studied, as became apparent during a recent review of the prehistoric and historic aboriginal pottery in Texas. Consequently, Caddoan archeologists are not yet in the position to confidently discuss the scope, timing, or direction of trade/exchange between Caddoan groups and surrounding non-Caddoan communities, or explore changes in the nature of social and economic relationships between particular Caddo groups and other prehistoric peoples.

This paper represents part of our initial efforts to begin systematically compiling archeological information on the distribution and character of Caddo ceramic sherds and vessels outside what is considered the southern Caddoan archaeological area. In it, we report on Early and Late Caddo ceramics found by Dr. Ernest R. Martin at two sites along the Red River in North Central Texas, some 130 km or more west of the westernmost Caddo settlements on the Red River in Northeast Texas.
Construction Damages a Prehistoric Caddo Indian Archaeological Site at the City of Gilmer's proposed Lake Gilmer, Upshur County, Texas
Authors: Perttula Timothy K. , Nelson Bo
Published: May 2019

In March 1996, the archaeological work being conducted at the proposed Lake Gilmer was called to a halt by the archaeological contractor (Horizon Environmental Services of Austin, Texas) and the City of Gilmer long before the required archaeological mitigation of important prehistoric Caddo sites had been completed. The reasons are still somewhat obscure.

After a delay of more than 1.5 years in the completion of the archaeological investigations at the proposed Lake Gilmer, a federal and state-permitted reservoir in Northeast Texas, the Division of Antiquities Protection at the Texas Historical Commission has taken up the task of completing the archaeological work, following the legal dictates laid down by State Representative Bob Glaze during the last legislative session. This work will apparently concentrate on completing the investigations of 4JUR133, a large Middle (ca. A.D. 1200-1400) and Late Caddoan (ca. A.D. 1400- 1680) period habitation site.

While the work at 41UR133 is long over-due, we believe that additional archaeological investigations are warranted at Lake Gilmer evaluation of the research significance of a recently discovered Caddo Indian site within the Lake Gilmer floodpool that has been damaged by reservoir construction-related activities, and evaluation of the research significance of the more than 30 archaeological sites discovered within the reservoir floodpool since 1996 by the Northeast Texas Archaeological Society. All of these sites must be considered by state law to be State Archeological Landmarks since they are on land owned by the City of Gilmer (a political subdivision), and they warrant further consideration.

In this paper, we discuss site 41UR210 (the 852 Bridge site), a previously unreported and newly discovered prehistoric Caddo Indian site that has been damaged by construction activities associated with the proposed Lake Gilmer project in Upshur County, Texas. The site is on a small alluvial terrace adjacent to Kelsey Creek, on property owned by the City of Gilmer, and it was not recorded during the archeological survey completed for the project several years ago. Kelsey Creek is a tributary of Little Cypress Creek.

This prehistoric Caddo Indian site has been damaged by construction-related activities associated with the construction of a new and higher bridge on FM 852 that will cross over the proposed Lake Gilmer. The site has been damaged by blading and bulldozing activities to obtain sand, and sediments have been removed to an unknown depth over an area more than 2 acres in size. Considerable amounts of prehistoric Caddoan vessel and pipe ceramic sherds have been exposed in this damaged area, and it is considered likely that prehistoric habitation features (middens and structural features)--as well as Caddo burial features--are present at the site, and may have already been damaged.
Notes on Caddoan Vessels Collected from the Mosquito Island Site (41AG66), Lake Sam Rayburn
Authors: Middlebrook Tom
Published: May 2019

This paper documents four Caddoan ceramic vessels from the Mosquito Island site (4IAG66) at Lake Sam Rayburn. The vessels were obtained from the site by two individuals who violated the provisions of the Archeological Resources Protection Act (ARPA), and were arrested on the site while in the act of disturbing the archaeological site. They were subsequently convicted under ARPA for their illegal actions.
The Caddoan Occupation of the Attoyac and Angelina River Basins in the Middle Caddoan Period
Authors: Middlebrook Tom
Published: May 2019

The Angelina River basin, including the drainage of its largest tributary, the Attoyac Bayou, encompasses all of Nacogdoches County and portions of Cherokee, Rusk, Angelina, San Augustine, Shelby, and Sabine counties in deep East Texas. Archaeological studies in the region that have illuminated our understanding of Caddoan developments have been meager and spotty at best.

There is no archaeological evidence in the Angelina River basin of extensive Caddoan occupation during the Early Caddoan period (ca. A.D. 1000-1200). Jelks presented the results of the largest archaeological project conducted in the area in his dissertation dealing with the archaeology of the McGee Bend Reservoir (Lake Sam Rayburn) by reviewing 13 sites excavated between 1956 and 1962. Every site excavated was multicomponent, and included at least some Archaic dart points, Early Ceramic period sandy paste sherds, and grog-tempered Caddoan ceramics. Jelks has been the other archaeologist to propose an archaeological taxonomic unit for the Caddoan sites based on work in the basin with his formulation of the "Angelina focus." This broad unit appears to include sites that date from ca. A.D. 1200 until historic Caddoan times, and was based, in part, upon the presence of Broaddus Brushed and Pineland Punctated-Incised ceramics at the sites.
Book Review: Exploring Ancient Native America: An Archaeological Guide, by David Hurst Thomas, 1994. Macmillan, New York, xxii + 314 pp., maps, photographs.
Authors: Perttula Timothy K.
Published: May 2019

This book on the sites, museums, and archaeological programs across the United States and Canada by David Hurst Thomas should be of great interest to the avocational and professional archaeological community. In the volume, he takes the reader on a guided tour of North American archaeology, focusing on places that "encourage visitation, provide interpretation, and can ensure adequate protection for both the visitor and for the surviving archaeological record." In return, his only request is for the help of the public in "protecting that past for others to enjoy as well." Throughout the text, he balances his views of archaeology from a scientific perspective with that of Native American colleagues, who not too surprisingly, see the archaeological world in a very different light.
A Study in Frustration: Analysis of Human Remains Removed from the Coker Mound Site (41CS1)
Authors: McCormick Derrick Sharon
Published: May 2019

Human skeletal remains were removed from the Coker Mound site (41CS1) by unidentified excavators sometime immediately prior to the Texas Archeological Society (TAS) meetings of 1995. Mike Turner, a Steward in the Office of the State Archeologists' Texas Archeological Steward Network and a founding member of the Friends of Northeast Texas Archaeology, was able to retrieve a cranium, mandible; and six cervical vertebrae from this collection for a brief period, bringing them to the TAS meetings. It was his dedication that provided the opportunity for these remains to be studied.
The Middle Caddoan Period in the Lower Sulphur River Area
Authors: Cliff Maynard B.
Published: May 2019

For purposes of this review, the Lower Sulphur River in Texas includes the area of the Sulphur River basin from the Arkansas border to the eastern edge of Titus County, and encompasses the area of what is today Wright Patman Lake and the White Oak Creek Wildlife Management Area. Traditionally, the Lower Sulphur River area has been tied to cultural constructs defined in the Red River basin, to the north and east. In his ambitious overview of the Caddoan Culture Area, Don Wyckoff generally placed the Lower Sulphur River area with the cultures of the Great Bend. As defined by current usage in Texas, the Middle Caddoan period dates from A.D. 1200 to A.D. 1400, but it is actually the middle portion of a long period of indigenous Caddoan cultural development, which began anywhere from A.D. 800 to 1000 and lasted until after the arrival of the Europeans. Several researchers have suggested that the strongest (and possibly the only) evidence for continuity from the Early Caddoan period to the Late Caddoan period can be found in the area of the Great Bend of the Red River.
Radiocarbon and Oxidizable Carbon Ratio Dates from Archaeological Sites in East Texas, Part II
Authors: Perttula Timothy K.
Published: May 2019

This paper presents a second compilation of recently obtained radiocarbon and oxidizable carbon ratio dates obtained from archaeological sites in East Texas. An analysis of the age ranges in the more than 585 dates from East Texas archaeological sites indicate that most pertain to prehistoric and protohistoric Caddoan Indian occupations, particularly the Early (A.D. 1000-1200) and Middle Caddoan (A.D. 1200-1400) periods when prehistoric Caddoan settlements were widely distributed throughout the region.
The Frequency of Fire in East Texas Forests
Authors: Jurney David H. , Ippolito John , Bergstrom Velicia
Published: May 2019

The debate over the use of fire by Native Americans has been a lively one for many years. Did they or did they not set fires? If they did, how frequently and for what purpose? If not, did they take advantage of naturally occurring fires for the same purposes? If so, how frequently and to what intensity did those natural fires occur? These seem like relatively simple questions that should elicit focused, directed research that would, in tum, produce straightforward answers. In some parts of North America, this has indeed been the case. Ethnographic documentation, corroborated by archaeological research, has produced unequivocal evidence that the first Americans used fire extensively to manipulate the environment in which they lived.

This article examines early historic accounts of Native American use of fire in Texas, and the frequency of natural fires. These data are important not only to our understanding of the extent to which humans altered the landscape, but also how plant communities adapted to fires. Often, we interpret paleoenvironmental data to reflect climatic changes. However, we must also understand the factors that may have contributed to these changes in pollen sequences and soil formation processes.
The Bryan Hardy Site (41SM55), Smith County, Texas
Authors: Walters Mark , Haskins Patti
Published: May 2019

The authors put on record archeological data obtained by Mr. Walters' late uncle Sam Whiteside from the Bryan Hardy site (41SM55) in Smith County, Texas. Mr. Whiteside was an active avocational archeologist in East Texas during the late 1950s and early 1960s, and he recorded numerous prehistoric sites on Prairie Creek and Ray Creek in Smith County, and the Jamestown (41SM54) and Boxed Springs (41UR30) mound sites on the Sabine River. An abrupt illness in mid-life prevented him from publishing his findings, and we hope that the publication of his investigations at the Bryan Hardy site will allow his work to be available to the interested public.
Prehistoric Ceramic Sherds from 41MM341 on the Little River, Milam County, Texas
Authors: Perttula Timothy K.
Published: May 2019

Site 41MM341 is a stratified Late Prehistoric site along the Little River in Milam County, Texas, not far from the confluence of the Little River and the Brazos River. Calibrated two-sigma radiocarbon dates from Zone 2 (ca. 70-90 em bs) range from AD 660-1190, and one two-sigma calibrated date of AD 1320- 1480 has been obtained from Zone I (0 to ca. 70 em bs). A few ceramic sherds were found in Zone 1 deposits. Based on the Zone 1 calibrated radiocarbon date, Mahoney and Tomka concluded that the latest occupation of 41MM341 took place during the Toyah phase, and they also concluded that "based on construction method and temper, these fcera.micj specimens are likely to date to the later part of the Late Prehistoric Period."
Three Mid-1800s Caddo Vessels from the Brazos Reserve
Authors: Perttula Timothy K.
Published: May 2019

Although a considerable body of historic archival and documentary information is available on the Caddo Indian peoples that lived in Texas between ca. 1836 and 1859 -- the removal period -- not much archaeological evidence has been uncovered for their settlements. By the late 1830s and early 1840s, most of the Caddo groups had been removed from Northeast Texas as their traditional homelands were taken and settled by Anglo-American farmers and planters. Instead, they took up residence in Oklahoma, or settled with other affiliated groups (such as the Delaware, Cherokee, and others) on the Brazos River in north central Texas. There they continued to farm and hunt bison, even after they had been placed on the Brazos Reserve (in present-day Young County, Texas) in 1854. The Caddo peoples on the Reserve, about 1050 in number, were removed in August 1859 to the Indian Territory and the Wichita agency in western Oklahoma.

In this paper, I discuss three ceramic vessels in the collections of the Brooklyn Museum in New York City. They were apparently collected in the rnid-1850s from the Caddo peoples living on the Brazos Reserve. As such, the vessels provide a unique record and look at the kinds of ceramic vessels being manufactured by the Caddo immediately before they were removed to Oklahoma, and has considerable cultural and archaeological significance.
Botanical Materials from the Griffin Mound (41UR142) and Underwood (41CP230) Sites
Authors: Dering J. Phil
Published: May 2019

This article presents the results of the macrobotanical analysis of samples from two Caddoan archaeological sites in Northeast Texas. Two flotation samples and 34 screen samples were examined from 41 UR 142, the Griffin Mound site, a Middle Caddoan settlement located on a tributary of Little Cypress Creek. Fifteen finescreen samples were examined from 41CP230, the Underwood site. The screen samples from the Underwood site were recovered from a Late Caddoan Titus phase midden on Big Cypress Creek, in the Lake Bob Sandlin area.
An Early Radiocarbon Date from a Prehistoric Site in Anderson County, Texas
Authors: Perttula Timothy K.
Published: May 2019

Clyre Amick and Ed Furman, avocational archaeologists, have been investigating a prehistoric archaeological site in Anderson Courty, Texas, that became expanded when an asphalt company began to mine sand from an alluvial terrace along Town Creek. The archaeological site (41AN115) is about 15 km west of Palestine, the county seat for Anderson County.
The Wolf Site (41SM195), Smith County, Texas
Authors: Walters Mark , Dering Phil
Published: May 2019

The Wolf site (41SM195) is a prehistoric Caddo site located in eastern Smith County, Texas, in the John Wolf land survey, approximately 12 miles east of Tyler, Texas. This article discusses recent excavations I conducted at the site, and summarizes the archeological findings, including features, the age of the archeological deposits, the various lithic and ceramic artifacts that were recovered, and offers speculations about why this part of Smith County was apparently abandoned by the Caddo peoples in the 15th century.

The Wolf site is an important part of my family's history. The abstract for the property begins with a treaty with Mexico on November 8th, 1822, with the Texas Cherokee. My great-great-grandfather, I. N. Browning, purchased the property on November 18, 1867, and this was part of the 4133 acres he owned in eastern Smith County. My grandfather was born on the property, and in 1950, the property again returned to the family's holdings when my father, J. A. Walters, purchased 150 acres of the original tract.
The South Lilly #4 Site (41UR279), Upshur County, Texas
Authors: Perttula Timohty K. , Nelson Bo , Walters Mark , Schniebs LeeAnna
Published: May 2019

The South Lilly #4 site was discovered in early 2003 by Bo Nelson during a survey of portions of the South Lilly Creek valley in Upshur County, Texas. During the course of his survey he recorded 13 prehistoric archeological sites on the north side of the valley,just upstream from the FM 556 crossing of South Lilly Creek. No archaeological sites had been previously known or recorded along this stretch of the valley, but his survey made it apparent that there was a high density of prehistoric sites along this creek, a tributary to Big Cypress Creek.

Nelson noted that several of these prehistoric sites had Caddo ceramic sherds, and/or were in locations where prehistoric Caddo habitation sites are often found in the northeastern Texas region. The South Lilly #4 site is in one such setting, namely a prominent upland ridge and knoll (360 feet amsl) that projects southward into the South Lilly Creek valley, but is elevated well above any seasonal flooding along the creek and its broad floodplain. The landform was in pasture at the time, and surface exposure was virtually nil.
The Crabb Site (41TT650), a Prehistoric Caddo Site on Tankersley Creek, Titus County, Texas
Authors: Nelson Bo , Crabb Marty , Perttula TImothy K. , Schniebs LeeAnna
Published: May 2019

In this article, we discuss the archaeological findings at the Crabb site (411T650), a prehistoric Caddo settlement on an upland remnant/knoll in the Tankersley Creek floodplain in Titus County, Texas. Tankersley Creek is one of the principal tributaries of Big Cypress Creek, and it flows south past the Crabb site to merge with the larger creek a few miles downstream. This part of Titus County is in the Pineywoods, an area with abundant moisture and a warm, moderate climate in modem times, with an overstory vegetation of pines and a variety of hardwoods (principally several species of oaks and hickory). Along Tankersley Creek itself, the vegetation would have been dominated by more mesic hardwoods that tolerated occasional inundation from seasonal floods and standing water in the floodplain, such as water oaks and sweetgum trees, bushes, vines, and shrubs.

The Tankersley Creek valley is well-known for its archaeological resources, particularly those of prehistoric Caddo age, and numerous prehistoric Caddo sites have been identified and recorded in the valley in the last 20 years. The Crabb site is one of several dozen prehistoric Caddo sites known in the creek valley, and one where limited investigations over the last 10 years have recovered interesting archaeological information about an intensive Caddo settlement that was apparently occupied at least 600-700 years ago, if not longer. Additional archaeological work is planned at the Crabb site should time and money become available to conduct more work at this significant site, but we believe it is important for future Caddo archaeological researchers that we make available now the archaeological information that has been obtained to date from the site.
Marine Shell Ear Disks from Protohistoric Caddo Sites on Stoots Creek, Hopkins County, Texas
Authors: Perttula Timothy K. , Green Lee
Published: May 2019

In this article, we discuss three engraved marine shell ear disks from two protohistoric (ca. A.D. 1670-1700) Caddo sites on Stouts Creek in Hopkins County, Texas. These rather unique engraved marine shell disks have only been reported from three other archaeological sites in the entire southern Caddo area. Stouts Creek is a tributary to White Oak Creek. The drainage is situated in the modern Post Oak Savanna, at the far western edge of the distribution of Late Caddo Titus phase sites in Northeast Texas.

The Stouts Creek marine shell ear disks we report on have been recovered from two different sites in the Stouts Creek valley. One came from a Caddo midden near the Culpepper site (41HP1), a protohistoric Caddo site excavated by The University of Texas in 1931. This particular marine shell disk has a central perforation and a 13.7 mm diameter engraved circle on its outer surface.
Archeological Investigations at the Polk Estates Site (41CP245), Camp County, Texas
Authors: Perttula Timothy K. , Nelson Bo
Published: May 2019

The Polk Estates site (41CP245) is a prehistoric Caddo archaeological site in the Big Cypress Creek Basin, located just downstream of the confluence of Walkers Creek with Big Cypress Creek. This area is within the Pineywoods of northeastern Texas. It was also occupied in Woodland (ca. 500 B.C. to A.D. 800) and Late Archaic (ca. 2500-500 B.C.) periods, based on the recovery of temporally diagnostic dart points dating to these periods.

The site is on a natural rise (300-310 feet amsl) atop an upland inter-stream divide, less than 300 m west from the current channel of Big Cypress Creek. The rise has deep Bowie fine sandy loam sediments, with 0-3% slopes. It covers about 4100 square meters (1.0 acres) in size.
Abstracts of Papers for the 14th Annual East Texas Archeological Conference, February 10, 2007
Authors: Avery George
Published: May 2019

A summary of the analysis of lithics at Los Adaes (16NA16) is presented. Aside from a small number of Late Paleoindian/Early Archaic diagnostics, all stone artifacts recovered at Los Adaes (16NA16) date to the colonial period or later. Colonial stone artifacts include gunflints, probable strike-a-lights, and ground stone fragments, mostly mano fragments. Most of the gunflints appear to be French, while most of the strike-a-light flint appear to be from Central Texas chert. The local gravel cherts do not appear to have been used as either gunflints or strike-a-light flints. The mano fragments are mostly of basalt, which was brought from Mexico.
Inverted Rim Engraved Vessels in Protohistoric and Early Historic Caddo Sites in Parts of Northeast Texas
Authors: Perttula Timothy K.
Published: May 2019

A distinctive vessel form makes its appearance in protohistoric and early historic Caddo sites in the upper Sabine and Sulphur river basins, and on the middle reaches of the Red River basin. This form is an inverted rim bowl and carinated bowl with engraved decorations, and these vessels arc frequently red-slipped or have red pigment smeared in the engraved lines.

The best known of these inverted rim engraved vessels is Womack Engraved. Womack Engraved vessels are decomted on the rim with a variety of engraved motifs, including cross-hatched pendant triangles and for our purposes here negative meandering scrolls. These negative meandering scrolls have a line running through the middle of the scroll, sometimes with tick marks, but not always. The scrolls are bordered by crosshatched triangular-shaped areas or scroll dividers on either side of the engraved line running longitudinally along the scroll. This central engraved scroll line is either a continuous line as from the Womack site, or is comprised of repeated tight scrolls that have two arms hooked together towards one another, but not actually touching.
A Survey of Historic Caddo Sites in Nacogdoches County, Texas
Authors: Middlebrook Tom
Published: May 2019

This review was originally prepared for presentation to the East Texas Caddo Research Group held in Nacogdoches, Texas on December 2 and 3, 2006. The primary purpose of this article is to summarize the archaeological resources currently known relating to the Historic Caddo period of Nacogdoches County. No attempt is made here to provide analysis of the data or to draw synthetic conclusions. The author's hope is that this survey will be helpful to workers in this area of inquiry by speeding access to available resources and exposing possible research problems.
Analysis of the Historic Caddo Ceramics from 41NA223 in Downtown Nacogdoches, Nacogdoches County, Texas
Authors: Perttula Timothy K.
Published: May 2019

In 1999, the late Dr. James E. Corbin of Stephen F. Austin University in Nacogdoches, Texas, recorded 41NA223 in a proposed parking lot associated with offices for the City of Nacogdoches. The site is located on the southern edge of an upland ridge (290 ft. amsl) between Banita Creek and La Nana Creek, southward-flowing tributaries of the Angelina River, and the area around it has a number of commercial buildings.

During the course of development of the parking lot for the County Courthouse of Nacogdoches, Caddo ceramics, animal bones, and late 18th early 19th century European artifacts were found on the surface in disturbed contexts. Corbin initiated some limited archeological investigations in the parking lot area to determine what these artifacts represented functionally and culturally, as well as to assess the contextual integrity of any remaining archaeological deposits. Although no final conclusions were ever reached, Corbin concluded that 41NA223 represented a protohistoric or historic Caddo site and/or the site of the 1804 Guadalupe del Pilar mission church.

In the course of those investigations-primarily a short trench and minimal hand excavations along the trench where a single pit feature had been exposed-a small assemblage of Caddo ceramic sherds (111 sherds and 60 sherdlets) were recovered from 41NA223. These sherds are the subject of this article.

The purpose of this study of the 41NA223 ceramics is two-fold. First, I wish to thoroughly analyze the sherd collection in stylistic and technological terms to ascertain if the sherd collection is Historic Caddo in age, and if so, determine the general characteristics of this assemblage. And second, since "understanding the Caddo ceramics of Historic natives will be essential for workers in this area", particularly in unraveling the archaeological signatures of different Caddo groups that lived in the Angelina River basin, I hoped to make some head way in comparing the nature of this Historic Caddo assemblage with other recently described Caddo sherd collections from Nacogdoches County and the Neches/Angelina river basins.
Historic Caddo Archaeology on the Red and Lower Sulphur River Areas of Northeast Texas
Authors: Perttula Timothy K.
Published: May 2019

Post-ca. A.D. 1685 Caddo archaeological sites are somewhat surprisingly uncommon on the Red and lower Sulphur rivers in Northeast Texas compared to other parts of this broad region. For instance, there are more Historic Caddo sites known in Nacogdoches County in the Neches and Angelina river basin in East Texas than there are in all of the Red and lower Sulphur river regions.

The low density of Historic Caddo archaeological sites on the Red and lower Sulphur river areas of Northeast Texas is a product of several factors, the most important likely being the rapid abandonment of much of the area after ca. A.D. 1685 because of regional depopulation caused by the introduction of European epidemic diseases. Other factors would include the effects of looting and river flooding that has destroyed sites and collections before they could ever be documented, as well as the overall sporadic nature of professional archaeological research along these rivers in the Caddo area. A committed and long-term Historic Caddo archaeological and ethnohistorical research program along the Red and lower Sulphur rivers is long overdue.

Post-ca. A.D. 1685 Historic Caddo sites on the Red and lower Sulphur are recognized from two kinds of archaeological materials. These include European trade goods of glass, metal, and wheelmade ceramics, generally more common in post-A.D. 1720 contexts, as well as certain kinds of distinctive decorated Caddo pottery wares, particularly engraved fine wares such as Natchitoches Engraved and varieties of Simms Engraved and Avery Engraved, along with Keno Trailed, var. Phillips. Emory Punctated-lncised (some with constricted necks), Nash Neck Banded, and McKinney Plain types are important decorated utility wares in these two locales.

In this article, I provide short summaries of the current state of archaeological knowledge about the Historic Caddo settlement of the Red and lower Sulphur river areas of Northeast Texas. Most of that knowledge, for better or worse, from some specific areas derives from the excavation of Caddo burials, rather than from detailed investigations of habitation contexts.
Archaeological Investigations at the Henry M. Site (41NA60): An Early Historic Caddo Farmstead in Nacogdoches County, Texas
Authors: Middlebrook Tom , Perttula Timothy K.
Published: May 2019

The Henry M. site (41NA60) is an early historic (post-A.D. 1680) Allen phase farmstead on a natural rise in the Bayou Loco floodplain in western Nacogdoches County in East Texas. Bayou Loco, a relatively small stream, flows south a few miles to its confluence with the Angelina River. The dam for Lake Nacogdoches on the bayou is about 1.7 miles to the north. Construction of Lake Nacogdoches inundated a number of contemporaneous Allen phase farmsteads- some of which were the scene of 1970s excavations-including 41NA18. The Henry M. site in the mid-1980s. (41NA21), Iron Rock (41NA22), Loco Bottoms (41NA23), and Deshazo (41NA27). The Bayou Loco valley has a high density of historic Caddo settlements.

The natural rise that the Henry M. site is located on was in an 8 acre pasture. This rise is about 50 min diameter, ca. 1 min height, and south a short distance from an eastward-flowing spring-fed tributary to Bayou Loco. The rise has loamy alluvial Marietta soils.

The main part of the Henry M. site has a ca. 10 m diameter midden deposit near the center of the natural rise. The midden deposit contains extensive amounts of Caddo ceramic sherds and many well-preserved animal bones, some mussel shell, and other artifactual debris.
The Pine Tree Mound Site and the Entrada of the Hernando De Soto Expedition of 1542
Authors: Fields Ross C.
Published: May 2019

The entrada into Texas of the Hernando de Solo expedition in July 1542, which was led by Luis de Moscoso after de Soto's death in June of that year, is relevant to the Pine Tree Mound site (4IHS15) because it appears that the site was occupied at that time, and the entrada likely followed a path that brought it very close to the site. In fact, we hypothesize that the Pine Tree Mound site, along with associated villages nearby, is specifically mentioned in entrada accounts as the province of Nondacao. These may have been the forebears of the Nadaco (Anadarko) Caddo, who apparently lived in this same area through the first quarter of the 19th century before moving west to north-central Texas and then to Indian Territory in Oklahoma. The three components of this hypothesis deal with the age of the site, the route of the entrada, and the persistence of Nadaco settlements in this area long after the time of the entrada, and these are addressed in tum below.

The Pine Tree Mound site is a Middle to Late Caddo period ceremonial and civic center in central Harrison County, Texas. It occupies a broad upland surface between Potters and Starkey creeks, about 7.3 km north of where Potters Creek flows onto the floodplain of the Sabine River. The site is large, covering an area 800 m cast-west by 720 m north-south. Its most conspicuous features are three earthen mounds that stand 0.4 to 2.4 m above the modern land surface. The three mounds are within an area measuring 210 m east-west by 150 m north-south. These mounds are associated with a possible buried mound, at least five areas with off-mound structures, a plaza, and at least one cemetery. Together, these constitute the core of the site, measuring about 360 m both east-west and north-south and covering 27 acres. This core area is owned by The Archaeological Conservancy.

Test excavations in 2004 identified eight possible associated village areas ringing the core on the west, and Prewitt and Associates, Inc., conducted intensive excavations at three of these in 2006-2007 under a contract with the Sabine Mining Company. These excavations uncovered the remains of dozens of houses, as well as outside activity areas, middens, and 27 human burials. Analysis of the wealth of data recovered from the site is ongoing and will not be finished for several years. This article provides a preview of one of the topics that the analysis will address.
Comments on Caddo Origins in Northwest Louisiana
Authors: Girard Jeffery S.
Published: May 2019

This paper presents some of my thoughts on the issue of Caddo origins from the perspective of the Red River drainage in northwest Louisiana. These ideas were assembled prior to the Caddo discussion group meeting held in December 2008 and have been only slightly modified here. The paper was not given as a formal presentation, but I attempted to introduce the main points during the group discussion.

Development of better chronological controls is crucial for addressing problems of Caddo origins, and I discuss this issue first. Although much has been settled since the early Krieger-Ford discussions, a finer-grained chronology is necessary to answer questions that are now of interest. We remain largely dependent on our understanding of changes in ceramic assemblages and how we can tie these to chronometric scales based primarily on radiocarbon dating.

I next review the cultural taxonomic units that have been used to classify the pre-Caddo archaeological record in the Trans-Mississippi South. Rather than taking the view that one or more of these cultural entities transformed into Caddo culture, I suggest that Caddo origins might be better viewed as the development of social and economic behaviors that linked relatively small-scale social units previously only loosely and sporadically associated. I then discuss the possible importance of the development of ceremonial centers, the appearance of elite mortuary traits, and the circulation of finely engraved ceramic vessels for understanding changes in social and economic integration that took place in the Trans- Mississippi South between approximately A.D. 900 and A.D. 1050. Finally, I offer a list of some basic questions that I feel are important for furthering our understanding of Caddo origins.
Towards the Concerted Study of Caddo Origins
Authors: Perttula Timothy K.
Published: May 2019

The study of the origins of any people from an archaeological perspective is a considerable undertaking, one that may task the efforts and thoughts of a multitude of people, probably from several disciplines. After the talking and discussion in the 2008 East Texas Caddo Research Group (ETCRG) meeting about Caddo origins, how do we proceed from here on out to arrive at a more comprehensive understanding of Caddo origins? For the purposes of discussion, I am assuming that the ETCRG participants agree that the concerted study of Caddo origins is an issue and research problem worth undertaking.

I recently had occasion to read “Zuni Origins: Toward a New Synthesis of Southwestern Archaeology” to see if their consideration of origins may have some relevant and programmatic suggestions to offer that could serve Caddo archaeologists and ETCRG participants well in our future studies. I think they offer some suggestions and an approach well-worth further consideration for future ETCRG meetings as well as for other meetings and avenues of study concerning Caddo archaeology.
A 19th Century Caddo Component at the Gatlin Site (41RK1) in the Angelina River Basin of East Texas
Authors: Perttula Timothy K.
Published: May 2019

The Gatlin site (41RK1) is located ca. 1 mile to the southeast of the small community of Mount Enterprise in Rusk County in the headwaters of the Angelina River basin in the East Texas Pineywoods. The site was first investigated by the landowner in about 1895 (Records on file at the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory [TARL], The University of Texas at Austin). At that time, the landowner exposed a single burial with preserved skeletal remains and two extra skulls in the burial pit; each of the skulls supposedly had a hole (bullet hole?) on one side of the head. Among the funerary offerings reported to have been found by the landowner were arrow points, pottery vessels, a pistol, and a rifle barrel. These findings suggest that the burial dates to historic times and, because of the inclusion of the pottery vessels and arrow points, the find was probably the burial of a Caddo Indian.

In September 1935, A. T. Jackson of The University of Texas at Austin returned to the site area to attempt to locate a Caddo cemetery and recover whole vessels for the university collections. His excavations were unsuccessful in locating any burials, but he did identify a habitation/midden deposit at the site about 50 m west of a mineral spring, on a hillside (TARL files). These deposits were ca. 20 cm in thickness and consisted of broken animal bones, mussel shell fragments, pieces of lithic debris, aboriginal and European-made pottery vessel sherds, a few small pieces of bottle glass, and a fragment of a brass kettle. These finds also suggest that the habitation/midden deposit dates to historic times, although when during the historic period was uncertain because the collections have not been studied in any detail since they were recovered in 1935.
The Archaeology of the 16th And 17th Century Caddo in the Post Oak Savannah of Northeast Texas: The Tuinier Farm (41HP237), R. A. Watkins (41HP238), and Anglin (41HP240) Sites in the Stoots Creek Basin, Hopkins County, Texas
Authors: Perttula Timothy K. , Dowd Elsbeth , Green Lee , Morgan George , Nelson Bo , Schniebs LeeAnna , Schriever Beau , Todd Jesse , Walters Mark
Published: May 2019

The Tuinier Farm (41HP237), R. A. Watkins (41HP238), and Anglin (41HP240) sites are 16th to 17th century Caddo sites in the modern-day Post Oak Savannah of Northeast Texas. All three of the sites are located on Stouts Creek, in the eastern part of Hopkins County, Texas, a northward-flowing tributary to White Oak Creek in the Sulphur River basin; the modern channel of White Oak Creek lies ca. 15 km north of these sites. The Culpepper site (41HP1), a previously investigated mid-to late 17th century Caddo habitation and cemetery site, is about 2 km downstream. Small areas of tall-grass prairie lie to the north between the Stouts Creek sites and White Oak Creek, but the eastern extent of the larger White Oak and Sulphur prairies is approximately 15 km to the west and northwest.

At the time of the Caddo occupation of the Stouts Creek sites, the climate was wetter and warmer than today, with significant mesic periods between A.D. 1477- 1524, A.D. 1539-1572, and A.D. 1603-1670. After A.D. 1670, the years from A.D. 1671 -1676 were relatively cool and dry. The more mesic periods had more equitable rainfall (adequate growing season rainfall) and this, combined with the warmer temperatures, led to an increased net productivity and carrying capacity of plants and animals in the Post Oak Savannah and Pineywoods that were settled by Titus phase populations.

The Tuinier Farm site is the closest of the three sites to the headwaters of Stouts Creek. It is situated on a relatively flat and sandy upland ridge (460 feet amsl) about 1 km south of the Anglin site and just east of Stouts Creek. Anglin is on a sandy knoll (460 feet amsl) on an upland slope, also east of Stouts Creek. The third site, R. A. Watkins, is 1.2 km northwest of the Anglin site, also on an upland slope, but 200 m east of an intermittent tributary to Stouts Creek and 1 km from Stouts Creek.
Caddo Ceramics from an Early 18th Century Spanish Mission in East Texas: Mission San Jose de los Nasonis (41RK200)
Authors: Perttula Timothy K. , Young Bill , Marceaux P. Shawn
Published: May 2019

Mission San Jose de los Nasonis (4JRK200) and two contemporaneous Nasoni Caddo sites (41RK191 and 41RK197) were located by Mr. Bill Young more than 25 years ago in the southern part of Rusk County, Texas after the general area of the site had been cleared of timber. The mission site covers ca. 6.6 acres of an upland ridge along a small tributary to the Angelina River; the ridge projects into the Angelina River floodplain. The topographic setting of Mission San Jose conforms in all particulars to the settings of other known mission sites established among the Caddo: small hills adjacent to a floodplain, next to a stream, with the hills "lower extensions of more extensive upland areas." Corbin also notes that these missions "were located within the area of the local dispersed Caddoan village, none of the locations are places suited to support the Indian-based community that the Spanish hoped to entice to the location."

This mission was established as one of six different missions by the Spanish in 1716 during their second attempt (the first being in 1690-1691) to establish a religious and political presence among the Caddo peoples in East Texas, specifically to minister to the Nasoni Caddo living in the area. Mission San Jose de los Nasonis ·was formally established on July 10, 1716. Father Espinosa and Captain Don Domingo Ramon, the leader of the expedition, had noted that there were many Hasinai Caddo ranchos in the general area along with arroyos of water and good places for settlement. Both Nasoni and Nacono Caddo were then living in this area of the Angelina river.

Mr. Young made those collections available for study in 2006, and this article is a summary of the Caddo ceramics in the Mission Nasonis collections. In 1990, Dr. James E. Corbin of Stephen F. Austin State University (SFASU) and Dr. Kathleen Gilmore of the University of North Texas conducted limited excavations in Area A at the mission site, but these excavations have never been published. More than 930 Caddo ceramic sherds were recovered in that work, and are curated at SFASU; the separate analysis of these ceramic artifacts is underway.
Late Caddo Ceramics from 41HE337 in Henderson County, Texas
Authors: Perttula Timothy K.
Published: May 2019

Site 41HE337 is a Late Caddo settlement located on the north side of Caddo Creek, an eastward-flowing tributary to the Neches River, and just west of the city of Poynor, in Henderson County, Texas. Bill Young, an avocational archaeologist living in Corsicana, Texas, has a substantial collection of Caddo ceramic vessel sherds from the site. He gave his permission to study and document these materials as part of a broader study I am engaged in of post-A.D. 1300 Caddo ceramic traditions in the upper Neches River basin of East Texas.
The Ceramics from a Late Caddo Site on Mud Creek in Cherokee County, Texas
Authors: Perttula Timothy K.
Published: May 2019

This article discusses the character of a large assemblage of prehistoric Caddo vessel sherds from a Late Caddo site (41CE309) on Mud Creek in Cherokee County, Texas, not far from the creek's confluence with the Angelina River. The site was discovered by Bill Young, an avocational archaeologist and Texas Archeological Steward, on a terrace of Mud Creek, just west of the city of Reklaw, Texas.

During the course of a number of visits to the site in the 1980s, more than 2300 ceramic sherds were collected by Young, most of the sherds being found in the central part of the terrace landform; in this same area, three or more Caddo burials had been previously looted by collectors. A few sherds and Friley points were noted at the southern part of the terrace, suggesting that archaeological materials from a pre-A. D. 900 Woodland period occupation may be present there as well as a more substantial Late Caddo occupation across the remainder of 41CE309.
Documenting Caddo Ceramic Sherd and Lithic Collections from Prehistoric Sites at Lake Bob Sandlin
Authors: Perttula Timothy K. , Walters Mark , Nelson Bo
Published: May 2019

Following on the heels of a previous archaeological effort where we documented collections of ceramic and lithic artifacts from a wide variety of prehistoric archaeological sites along the shoreline at Lake Bob Sandlin, this article puts on record the range of prehistoric ceramic and lithic artifacts in collections we recently documented from four sites at the lake in Camp and Titus counties, Texas. One of the four sites has been previously reported in the Caddo archaeological literature, but the other three have not.
The Jack Walton Site (41SA135), San Augustine County, Texas
Authors: Middlebrook Tom
Published: May 2019

This article describes archaeological excavations I conducted at the Jack Walton site (41SA135) in San Augustine County, Texas, between November 1981 and July 1982, with the assistance of Suzanne Middlebrook and John Hart. During a total of 20 days in the field, 14 m2 were excavated in four areas of the site. The excavated units are designated Areas 1, 2, 3, and 4.

The site is located on a high bluff overlooking the Attoyac Bayou. It was apparently wooded until the 1930s, when the timber was clear cut; the present open field has been used for pasture and cultivation of corn since. Although Walton family members have collected surface artifacts from the area for many years, the site has been undisturbed by pothunters and looters.

The Walton site was first reported in May 1980 by Dr. James E. Corbin. His site form described a surface collection of “hundreds of Caddoan potsherds, hundreds of lithic flakes, arrowpoints, dartpoints, pitted stones, milling stones, hammerstones, 3/4 grooved axe, fragments of granite porphyry, Frio point of Central Texas flint.” I became aware of the site in June 1981 through information provided by Mr. Bud Hooper, who had collected projectile points there years ago. After several trips to the site, I became convinced that the site would lend itself well to ongoing dual research goals: (1) to arrive at a thoughtful understanding of the prehistoric peoples inhabiting the site through careful excavation, laboratory analysis, and appropriate environmental study; and (2) to provide adequate field work for the archaeological education and training of the primary investigators.