Archaeological Investigations at the Pine Snake Site, an Allen Phase Settlement on Flat Creek in Northwestern Cherokee County, Texas

The Pine Snake site is a recently discovered late 17th to early 18th century Caddo Indian archaeological site located on private land in the northwestern part of Cherokee County, Texas, in the valley of a westward flowing tributary to the Neches River. This is an area of the Pineywoods of East Texas that contains extensive numbers of Caddo archaeological sites along all major and minor streams. Post-A.D. 1400 Frankston phase and post-A.D. 1650 Historic Caddo Allen phase sites, especially cemeteries dating to either phase, are particularly abundant in this part of East Texas. This article summarizes the findings from archaeological investigations we completed at the Pine Snake site in late 2008. They have produced important information on the domestic archaeological record at a well preserved Allen phase habitation site

The Ancestral Caddo Ceramic Assemblage from the D. W. Moye Site (41JP3) on the Angelina River, Jasper County, Texas

The D. W. Moye site (41JP3) was recorded by Gus E. Arnold in June 1940 as part of the WPA archaeological survey of East Texas. The site, estimated to cover ca. 2 acres, is located on an alluvial terrace of the Angelina River (Figure 1), at the far southern end of the Caddo archaeological area in the East Texas Pineywoods. During the 1940 archaeological survey of the landform, Arnold collected a substantial sample of ceramic vessel sherds from the surface of the site (see below). He also recovered a few chipped stone tools

Tell es-Sultan 2015. A pilot project for archaeology in Palestine

The eleventh season (April–June 2015) of the archaeological investigation and site protection as well as valorization of the site of Tell es-Sultan was carried out by the University of Rome “La Sapienza” (under the direction of the present writer) and the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities – Department of Archaeology and Cultural Heritage (directed by Jehad Yasine) with the aims to: (1) re-examine several of the historical archaeological highlights of this longstanding site and (2) make the site accessible and appealing to the public through restorations and a large set of illustrative and explanatory devices set up with the help of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Jericho Municipality, and to make the site an inclusive part of the Jericho Oasis Archaeological Park (JOAP: www.lasapienzatojericho.it/JOAP)

The Crabb Site (41TT650), a Prehistoric Caddo Site on Tankersley Creek, Titus County, Texas

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

Archaeological Research & Data Management, Lake Mead National Recreation Area and Parashant National Monument: Quarterly Progress Report, Period Ending March 31, 2006

930 acres have been surveyed this quarter. 34 archaeological sites condition assessments were completed. Five archaeological reports were completed. 33 site records were completed. Crew members conducted archival research at the Western Archaeological Conservation Center (WACC) in Tucson, Arizona. Two new survey members have been hired and trained. Preparations for the summer archaeological field school are underway

Archaeological evaluation : Oldfield Road, Salford

Salford Archaeology was commissioned by Muse Developments to undertake an archaeological evaluation of land on Oldfield Rd (centred on NGR: SJ82573 98439), currently being developed as part of Salford’s regeneration scheme. This report consists of the results of three evaluation trenches excavated in December 2016. An archaeological assessment completed earlier in the year demonstrated the study area had potential for late 18th - 19th buildings, including housing, a public house and the western end of an industrial complex: Islington Mill. No earlier archaeological remains were anticipated given the later development of the site, particularly in the southern part of the site, which was recently occupied by a hostel and leisure complex with deep footings. The accidental loss of a large portion of the cellared housing in the northern part of the site through groundwork restricted potential to a narrow strip, in the middle of the study area. The trenches in the study area confirmed the western limit of the southern wall of late 18th - 19th century mill, which was located to the east of the study area. The trench closest to Oldfield Rd, revealed a series of walls of a cellared building with a partially surviving flagstone floor. This was likely part of the public house, the Jollies. The trench located in the middle part of the site revealed a single brick pad and linear gulley feature, cut into the natural clay. Together these archaeological remains confirm 19th century domestic and industrial activity. The natural clay was observed at approximately 1.5m below the existing ground levels at the south-east side of the site and at 1.9m depth towards the north-west. No earlier archaeological remains were encountered. The results obtained from the evaluation trenches have indicated that no remains of archaeological significance survive within the study area and that no further archaeological work is required

Analysis of the Prehistoric Artifacts from the Pace McDonald Site (41AN51), Anderson County, Texas

The Pace McDonald site (41AN51) is a poorly known prehistoric Caddo mound center on Mound Prairie Creek in Anderson County, Texas, in the upper Neches River Basin. With the permission of one of the landowners, Mr. Johnny Sanford, the Friends of Northeast Texas Archaeology are planning on initiating an archaeological research effort at the site in 2010. The ultimate purpose of this work is to learn more about the native history of this mound center-when it was occupied and used, and by which prehistoric Caddo group--its intra-site spatial organization, and ultimately obtain site-specific archaeological information that can help understand the site\u27s place and role in the Caddo prehistory of this part of East Texas. It will be a long-term effort to accomplish these tasks. We intend to rely upon both archaeological (i.e., survey, surface collections, systematic shovel testing, and focused hand excavations) and archaeogeophysical disciplines (especially to complete a magnetometer survey of as much as the site as possible, as this has become an important aspect of Caddo archaeological investigations, to gather relevant archaeological information on the location and character of Caddo house features and outdoor activity areas, as well as the associated material culture remains and preserved plant and animal remains. One key aspect of our work is to understand the characteristics of the Caddo material culture from the Pace McDonald site, since this will have a large bearing on the age of the Caddo occupation, which has been a matter of dispute for some years. In this article 1 summarize the results and findings of a recent examination of the site\u27s prehistoric artifacts (especially its prehistoric Caddo artifacts) in the collections of the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at the University of Texas at Austin (TARL)

Hydrological controls of in situ preservation of waterlogged archaeological deposits

Environmental change caused by urban development, land drainage, agriculture or climate change may result in accelerated decay of in situ archaeological remains. This paper reviews research into impacts of environmental change on hydrological processes of relevance to preservation of archaeological remains in situ. It compares work at rural sites with more complex urban environments. The research demonstrates that both the quantity and quality of data on preservation status, and hydrological and chemical parameters collected during routine archaeological surveys need to be improved. The work also demonstrates the necessity for any archaeological site to be placed within its topographic and geological context. In order to understand preservation potential fully, it is necessary to move away from studying the archaeological site as an isolated unit, since factors some distance away from the site of interest can be important for determining preservation. The paper reviews what is known about the hydrological factors of importance to archaeological preservation and recommends research that needs to be conducted so that archaeological risk can be more adequately predicted and mitigated. Any activity that changes either source pathways or the dominant water input may have an impact not just because of changes to the water balance or the water table, but because of changes to water chemistry. Therefore, efforts to manage threatened waterlogged environments must consider the chemical nature of the water input into the system. Clearer methods of assessing the degree to which buried archaeological sites can withstand changing hydrological conditions are needed, in addition to research which helps us understand what triggers decay and what controls thresholds of response for different sediments and types of artefact

Renewed Archaeological Investigations at the Sanders Site (41LR2), Lamar County, Texas

At the request of one of the landowners, Ms. Julia Crawford, renewed archaeological investigations took place at the renowned Sanders site (41LR2) in November 2013. These investigations consisted solely of a pedestrian survey of the main part of the Sanders site—the location of two ancestral Caddo earthen mounds and associated habitation deposits—on a broad alluvial terrace (450 ft. amsl) of the Red River, in conjunction with a surface collection of observed material culture remains. Other recent archaeological investigations at the Sanders site have taken place more than ca. 400 m south of the main part of the site, at the extreme southern part of the site, on a higher (470-480 ft. amsl) alluvial terrace of the river

Caddo Sherds from the Hudnall-Pirtle Site (41RK4) in the Buddy Jones Collection at the Gregg County Historical Museum

Buddy Calvin Jones, a resident of Longview, Texas, conducted excavations in 1958 and 1959 of an unknown extent at the Hudnall-Pirtle site (41RK4), a well-known and significant Early Caddo (ca. A.D. 900-1200) multiple mound center on a Sabine River alluvial terrace in Rusk County, Texas. The site is now owned by The Archaeological Conservancy as a Caddo archaeological preserve. Caddo sherds from the site are in the Jones collection curated at the Gregg County Historical Museum, and recently I had an opportunity to examine this collection. This paper puts the findings of that examination on record