From Mounds to Monasteries: A Look at Spiro and Other Centers Through The Use of Metaphor

Previous study of the extensive and elaborate funerary offerings at the Spiro site have explained their presence by an exchange system with Spiro functioning as a gateway center. More recently, Schambach has argued extensively and passionately for Spiro’s role as an entrepôt redistributive center. However, this argument fails to account for much of the accumulation of funerary items present at Spiro. As an alternative, I propose that some ceremonial centers such as Spiro functioned solely as religious centers, much like the monasteries of medieval Europe with parallels in the use of architecture, economic support, relics, and the treatment of individuals at death. A model based on the metaphor of monastic life provides greater explanatory potential than that of the economically-driven entepôt

An Aggregate of Spear Points from Atoka County, Oklahoma

Nine spear points were reported from a farm in northwestern Atoka County, Oklahoma. This aggregate of points appeared to bean isolate as no other prehistoric material was found in the vicinity. The following study discusses the setting and nature of the specimens, stylistic attributes of the spear points and their age, technological and functional characteristics of the pieces, and whether these items represent caching behavior

Book Review: Archeology in the Eastern Planning Region, Texas: A Planning Document

With the passage of the National Historic Preservation Act in 1966 and ensuing regulatory guidelines, a mandate for the development of The State Historic Preservation Plan was clearly established. During the late 1960s and the 1970s, because of limited funding and the absence of information on the structure of these plans, few states had formulated plans or if they had state plans, they were of an extremely general nature. In the 1980s, principally through funding initiatives on the part of the National Park Service and through the efforts of NPS preservation planners such as John Knoerl, many states began their first attempts at comprehensive preservation planning. One of the more highly acclaimed of these early planning documents was the Resource Protection Planning Process for Texas. The current eastern planning region document represents the culmination of over 10 years of preservation planning in the state of Texas

The Arkansas RIver Valley: A New Paradigm, Revisionist Perspectives and the Archaeological Record

Recent articles by Schambach have proposed a new paradigm for the late prehistoric period in the Arkansas River Valley. These arguments challenge traditional and long held views on the subsistence economy, architecture, material culture, biological character, and trade relationships of the prehistoric populations of the Arkansas River Valley, and the middle portion of the Red River (the Sanders phase area). My intention in this paper is to examine Schambach\u27s arguments based on a comprehensive review of the archaeological record and by also drawing upon explanatory models of cultural and economic behavior. For the most part, my comments pertain to the Arkansas River Valley · situation; Bruseth, Wilson, and Perttula have responded to many of Schambach\u27s challenges concerning the Sanders phase in the Red River Valley. Points here are not intended to defend the traditional perspectives as the gospel for the Arkansas River Caddoan tradition. Without doubt, a reexamination of the Arkansas River Caddoan is long overdue. Much of the subsistence data, bioarchaeology, and non-ceremonial aspects of the material culture were derived from analysis completed some 30 years ago, analysis conducted without the benefit of recent theoretical and methodological advances. However, we must reexamine the arguments and the data in an objective, informed fashion. Only from such an approach can we generate a new paradigm worthy of acceptance

The Pickett Switch Site (34PN1) and the Presence of Arkansas River Basin Caddoans in East Central Oklahoma

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

An Earspool from near Ada, Pontotoc County, Oklahoma?

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

Burned Rock Mounds in North-Central and Northeastern Oklahoma

Burned rock mounds haven been identified in Oklahoma since the early twentieth century. The Oklahoma River Basin Survey pioneered the study of these features of the cultural landscape in the 1960\u27s- 1970\u27s; however, little research has taken place since that time. This paper reports on the history of research pertaining to burned rock mound features, examines their distribution on the cultural landscape and their construction, analyzes the artifact content of the mounds, and presents some thoughts on the purpose of mound construction and us

Collection of Dalton Points from Yell County, Arkansas

The hypothesis that projectile points serve functions other than use as a head for a missile was examined by Morse and Goodyear in regard to Dalton points. The writer reexamined this hypothesis in light of a significant collection of Dalton points from Yell County, Arkansas, and further substantiates the hypothesis formulated by Morse and tested by Goodyear

The Lake Wright Patman Cache

Thirty-nine bifaces found in the collections of the Museum of the Red River were recently analyzed. Mr. Donald Stewart recovered these bifaces from the vicinity of Lake Wright Patman during lake construction. Analysis of the biface cache was undertaken to gain some understanding of these specimens, despite the absence of provenience information and other details pertaining to their collection. Basic metric data and non-metric observations were taken. I also detail the collection of the biface cache, the history and archaeological background of Lake Wright Patman, results of the analysis, and some thoughts on the function of the bifaces

Analyzing the Arkansas River Caddoan Cultural Landscape

This paper examines the Arkansas River Caddoan cultural landscape through use of “architectural grammar”. Architectural grammar presents a mechanism to look at the practices of Arkansas River Caddoans as they construct their mound and residential places. Through this analysis, five different cultural landscapes were constructed: residential places, single mounds without residential occupation, single mounds with residential occupation, multiple mounds of the same construction type, and multiple mounds of different construction type. Further analysis of these places on the landscape suggest that rather than ordered hierarchy of centers, that the Caddoan cultural landscape represents an effort to build to a formalized template