Effigy Vessel Documentation, Caddo Collections at the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at The University of Texas at Austin

Ceramic vessels from ancestral Caddo sites in East Texas are diverse in form, size, manufacture, and decoration, both spatially and temporally. Variation in these attributes, including vessel form as well as any attachments, also “is connected with particular local and regional traditions” (Brown 1996:335). To both appreciate and understand the meaning of vessel form diversity in Caddo vessel assemblages in East Texas—or any other part of the much larger southern Caddo area—the consistent identification of different vessel forms and vessel shapes is crucial. The formal identification of the diverse vessel forms and vessel shapes, in conjunction with other vessel attributes, most notably decorative motifs and elements, present in Caddo vessel assemblages should contribute to delimiting the existence and spatial distribution of communities of Caddo potters that were sharing or not sharing ceramic practices and traditions in both short-term and long-term spatial scales, and illuminating small or expansive networks of social groups tied together through regional interaction. In this study, the focus is on ceramic effigy vessels from Caddo sites in East Texas that are in the collections at the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at The University of Texas at Austin (TARL). Ceramic effigy vessels are a very rare vessel form found on Caddo sites, as they comprise about 1 percent of the more than 3100 Caddo vessels currently in the TARL collections. Three different effigy bowl shapes have been identified in East Texas Caddo vessel assemblages. The differences primarily resolve around the character of the effigy head (both bird and abstract forms) as well as the nature of any other appendages, such as tab tails and tail riders. The effigy bowls themselves are simple in form, with rounded body wall contours

2017 Texas Bays and Estuaries Meeting

Program for the 2017 Texas Bays and Estuaries Meeting held in Port Aransas, Texas, April 12-13, 2017.Coastal Bend Bays & Estuaries Program, Coastal Bend Bays Foundation, The University of Texas Marine Science Institute, Sea Grant Texas at Texas A&M University, Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies, and Mission Aransas National Estuarine Research Reserve.Marine Scienc

The Newt Smith Site (41HE78), Henderson County, Texas

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)

The Center of Excellence for Hypersonics Training and Research at the University of Texas at Austin

Over the period of this grant (1986-92), 23 graduate students were supported by the Center and received education and training in hypersonics through MS and Ph.D. programs. An additional 8 Ph.D. candidates and 2 MS candidates, with their own fellowship support, were attracted to The University of Texas and were recruited into the hypersonics program because of the Center. Their research, supervised by the 10 faculty involved in the Center, resulted in approximately 50 publications and presentations in journals and at national and international technical conferences. To provide broad-based training, a new hypersonics curriculum was created, enabling students to take 8 core classes in theoretical, computational, and experimental hypersonics, and other option classes over a two to four semester period. The Center also developed an active continuing education program. The Hypersonics Short Course was taught 3 times, twice in the USA and once in Europe. Approximately 300 persons were attracted to hear lectures by more than 25 of the leading experts in the field. In addition, a hypersonic aerodynamics short course was offered through AIAA, as well as short courses on computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and advanced CFD. The existence of the Center also enabled faculty to leverage a substantial volume of additional funds from other agencies, for research and graduate student training. Overall, this was a highly successful and highly visible program

Iterative Evolution of the Liaison Librarian Role: A Brief Case Study

Recognizing a need to evolve subject liaison responsibilities and related skill sets with an emphasis on digital research and pedagogy, The University of Texas Libraries (UTL) at the University of Texas at Austin has reorganized its Academic Engagement division and related approach to liaison work twice in the past two years.UT Librarie

Archaeological Investigation of a Spring Lake Lot for Joe\u27s Crab Shack Parking

On August 19 and 25, 1997, the Center for Archaeological Research (CAR) of The University of Texas at San Antonio conducted an intensive survey for cultural resources at the proposed location of a parking lot for Joe\u27s Crab Shack Restaurants along Spring Lake, Hays County, Texas. The work was contracted by Southwest Texas State University (SWTSU) and conducted under Texas Antiquities Permit number 1877. Upon completion of the survey and subsurface testing, CAR determined that no cultural resources would be impacted by the planned parking lot construction. CAR therefore recommended that the project sponsor be allowed to proceed as planned with the proposed project and the Texas Historical Commission (THC) has concurred

Ground Noise Survey at a Proposed Submarine Test Facility on Lake Travis

We conducted a brief survey of ground noise at a proposed submarine test facility on Lake Travis, northwest of Austin, Texas. The purpose of the survey was to find out the nature and level of the background seismic noise on the bottom of the lake at the site where the proposed submarine test facility would be located. Because of its immediate availability, we used a seismograph designed to acquire seismic data at the ocean floor. The survey was requested by Prof. Thomas Griffy of the Physics Department and Applied Research Laboratory of the University. This report describes the field survey, the data analysis and the results.Applied Research Laboratory, University of Texas at AustinInstitute for Geophysic

The Brooks-Lindsey Site (41CE293), a Probable Post-A.D. 1650 Caddo Site in the Neches River Basin, Cherokee County, Texas

The Brooks-Lindsey site is a probable post-A.D. 1650 Caddo settlement in the Neches River basin in the East Texas Pineywoods. The site was brought to professional archaeological attention in 1986, when collectors who were working the site contacted archaeologists at the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at The University of Texas at Austin (TARL), and allowed them to examine the ceramic vessel sherd collection they had assembled at that time from surface collections and various excavations

Caddo Ceramic Vessels from the A. C. Gibson Site (41WD1) in the Sabine River Valley, Wood County, Texas

The A. C. Gibson site (41WD1) is an ancestral Caddo site located on a natural knoll at the base of an upland landform, adjacent to the floodplain of the Sabine River and Cedar Lake, an old channel of the river, in southwestern Wood County, in the Post Oak Savannah of East Texas. Two Caddo ceramic vessels are in the collections from the site held by the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at The University of Texas at Austin. These vessels are documented in this article

41SM53 (P-4) on Prairie Creek, Smith County, Texas

In February 1957, Sam Whiteside of Smith County, Texas, excavated a burial at 41SM53. This site was designated P-4 in Mr. Whiteside’s notes and it was one of several Caddo sites along Prairie Creek in the upper Sabine River basin that he investigated to varying degrees in the 1950s and 1960s. As an a vocational archeologist Mr. Whiteside made many important contributions to East Texas archeology. Dr. Dee Ann Story, of the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at The University of Texas at Austin, who corresponded with Mr. Whiteside, later obtained the trinomial 41SM53 for the site