1,613 research outputs found
The Middle Caddoan Period in the Big Cypress Creek Drainage Basin
The Middle Caddoan period in the Big Cypress Creek drainage basin has been based upon a synthesis of Thurmond\u27s (1990) archaeological overview of the basin. Thurmond defines a transitional Caddoan period (dating ca. A.D. 1300-1400) from 14 sites that have ceramic assemblages combining Early Caddoan and Late Caddoan stylistic attributes. A review of these sites, along with additional information from recent archaeological investigations, suggests that the Middle Caddoan period in the Big Cypress Creek basin has an evolving cultural diversity that extends over a longer period of time, fitting well with Story\u27s definition of the period as dating from ca. A.D. 1200- 1400.
Although there is an absence of documented subsistence evidence and few radiocarbon dates (only seven from four sites), there are recognizable distinctions that may be made about Middle Caddoan period settlement patterns, mortuary practices, and the material culture record in the basin. Based on these observations, and the currently available archaeological record, 38 sites in the Big Cypress Creek drainage basin may now be classified as belonging to the Middle Caddoan period
The Millsey Williamson (41RK3), Bead Burial, and L. N. Morwell Farm Sites on Martin Creek: Historic Caddo Settlements along Trammels Trace, Rusk County, Texas
There are collections of ceramic vessels and other artifacts from the Millsey Williamson (41RK3), Bead Burial, and L. N. Morwell sites in the Buddy Jones collection at the Gregg County Historical Museum. The purpose of this article is to put the documentation of these collections on record, as this documentation provides previously unavailable detailed information on the material content of probable 18th century Nadaco Caddo/Kinsloe phase historic sites in East Texas.
Based on the limited available information from the Bead Burial and L. N. Morwell Farm sites, it is probable that all three sites are different names for the same Historic Caddo site situated along the Rusk and Panola County line in East Texas on Trammel’s Trace that was reported on by Jones. The Bead Burial site is reported to be ca. 5 miles south of Tatum along the Rusk-Panola County line, and the Millsey Williamson site is well known for the quantity of glass trade beads found there. The L. M. Morwell Farm site was excavated by C. W. Bailey in 1940, and a tag accompanying two ceramic vessels recovered from a Burial 4 at the site describe it as “Rusk Co. Martin Creek old trading post on Trammels trace.”
Jones indicates that the Millsey Williamson site is an 18th century Nadaco Caddo settlement and cemetery situated on an alluvial terrace on the east side of Martin Creek, a northward-flowing tributary to the Sabine River. Some portions of the site are now covered by the waters of Martin Creek Lake, constructed in the 1970s. The site was first known in the 1930s, when at least 11 historic Caddo burials were excavated in the cemetery at the western end of the landform, and there was a habitation/village area on the highest part of the landform, east of the cemetery. Jones excavated a disturbed historic burial at the site in 1955, and also occasionally collected glass beads from the surface of the site. The funerary offerings placed with this disturbed burial are not clearly enumerated by Jones, as his description of artifacts from the site includes artifacts he examined in several other collections.
He did note 275 sherds from the surface of the site and 12 whole or restored ceramic vessels from an unknown number of burials (Jones 1968:Table 1). Most of these sherds were grog- (52%) or bone-tempered (43%), but 4% were tempered with shell. There were also clay and limonite pipes, ochre and vermillion, animal teeth, glass beads, metal gun parts, gun flints, iron knives, iron arrow points and awls, and a variety of brass objects: a brass tinkler, coils, hawk bells, and unworked pieces of sheet brass
The Pine Saddle site (3PL1080) in the Ouachita Mountains, Polk County, Arkansas
Novaculite was procured and knapped by aboriginal Indian populations living in southwestern Arkansas for thousands of years, and there are numerous prehistoric novaculite quarries in the Ouachita Mountains. In Late Archaic times. this desirable material was widely traded and exchanged with other groups to the south, east, and west, particularly with the peoples living at the Poverty Point site and environs in the lower Mississippi valley in northern Louisiana. Later groups such as the Caddo also made considerable use of this material, since it was in their traditional homelands, and many habitation sites and mound centers in the region contain quantities of novaculite lithic debris and tools. Other local materials were also chosen for lithic tool manufacture, such as Big Fork chert, a distinctive black chert. Abundant amounts of novaculite and Big Fork chert are also found apparently in nondomestic Caddo contexts on lithic workshops and camp sites in the Ouachita Mountains, and one such site is discussed in this article
Certain Caddo Sites in the Ouachita Mountains of Southwestern Arkansas
In the last few years, we have had the opportunity to study a number of prehistoric Caddo Indian sites in the Ouachita Mountains of southwestern Arkansas through conducting archeological surveys of more than 2700 acres at three lakes constructed and managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Vicksburg District. The three lakes are DeGray Lake on the Caddo River, Lake Ouachita on the Ouachita River, and Lake Greeson on the Little Missouri River.
Our purpose in this article is to summarize the archeological character of the prehistoric Caddo sites in these three different parts of the Ouachita Mountains. We focus in particular on the material culture record of these prehistoric Caddo settlements—especially on the ceramic sherds found on them—and discuss when these sites may have been occupied by Caddo peoples
Sherd Assemblages from Sites in Bowie, Cass, Gregg, Lamar, and Red River Counties in East Texas Held by the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History
The Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History (SNOMNH) has in their collections several assemblages of ancestral Caddo ceramic vessel sherds from sites in East Texas. We recently had an opportunity to examine and document these collections during a trip to the SNOMNH, and in this article, we put those findings on record
The Clay Ball Site in the Upper Neches River Basin of East Texas
The Clay Ball site is an ancestral Caddo site believed to be located in the upper Neches River basin in East Texas. The site is notable for its series of small, square vessels with Frankston phase (ca. A.D. 1400- 1650) engraved motifs, as such vessel forms have not been previously documented in studies of Frankston or later Allen phase (ca. A.D. 1650-1830) vessel assemblages.
The unique ceramic vessels from the site were excavated by Buddy C. Jones, and although his main site collecting and excavation work was in the mid-Sabine River basin, he did excavate several sites in the upper Neches River basin in Anderson, Cherokee, and Smith counties. Unfortunately, Jones left no notes or records associated with the Clay Ball site that would allow us to either ascertain the contextual relationship of the various features at the site where they were excavated, nor for that matter even provide a locational description of the site
The Wa\u27akas Site (41CP490) at Lake Bob Sandlin, Camp County, Texas
The Wa\u27akas site (meaning Cow in the Caddo language) is located on a small toe slope (330ft. amsl) overlooking a small and unnamed tributary to Big Cypress Creek. The channel of Big Cypress Creek lies about 1 km to the north. The toe slope landform is normally inundated by the waters of Lake Bob Sandlin but became exposed during an episode of lowered water levels (about LO feet below the normal pool elevation of 337ft. amsl) at the lake due to drought conditions from late 2005 to early 2007. A large number of prehistoric artifacts were exposed on the landform over a ca. 2500 square meter area (0.6 acres), according to the site form, among them 490 sherds, several arrow points and dart points, as well as some pieces of lithic debris. The site was then inundated again, but a renewed drought in 20 II re-exposed the site. A moderately-sized collection of artifacts found at the site, primarily Caddo pottery sherds, at that time have been recently documented, and are reported on in this article
A Prehistoric Caddo Site on Black Fork Creek, Upper Neches River Basin, Smith County, Texas
During the course of recent archaeological survey investigations for a proposed waterline, a previously unrecorded prehistoric Caddo site Lakewood Gardens (41SM425)-was found near, but outside the right-of-way and construction casement of, the proposed waterline. This article provides summary details about the site, hopefully adding information to the sparse archaeological record of prehistoric Caddo sites along Black Fork Creek.
The site is situated on a natural upland rise (440 feet amsl) overlooking the Black Fork Creek floodplain less than 200 m to the north. Black Fork Creek is in the upper Neches River basin; the creek flows west into Prairie Creek, which enters the Neches River about 10 km to the west of the site. This area is in the Post Oak Savannah. Before the mid- to late 19th century, the swampy Black Fork Creek floodplain would have been covered with an oak-hickory forest, with more mesic hardwoods, including various oaks, maple, sweetgum, ash, and elm. The Post Oak Savanna vegetation would have been dominated by a variety of fire-tolerant oaks and hickory on upland landforms. The upland landforms in this part of Smith County area have Eocene-aged Queen Sparta, Tyler Greenstone Member, and Weches Formation interbedded deposits of sand and clays
Documentation of a Collection of Archaeological Materials from the Millsey Williamson Site (41RK3), A Historic Nadaco Caddo Settlement
The Millsey Williamson site (41RK3) is a well known historic 18th century Nadaco Caddo site on Martin Creek in Rusk County, Texas. It is one of a number of 18th and early 19th century Kinsloe phase sites in the middle Sabine River basin apparently affiliated with the Nadaco Caddo settlement of the region.
An unknown number of historic Nadaco Caddo burials have been excavated at the site over the years, especially along the western part of the terrace landform above Martin Creek, now marked by the Martin Lake shoreline. There has been intensive collecting activities at Millsey Williamson since Martin Lake was built more than 30 years ago. The collection we document here came from the shoreline in the general area of the other Nadaco Caddo burials reported from Millsey Williamson
Temporal and Spatial Patterns in the Prehistoric Settlement of the Lake Bob Sandlin Area, Big Cypress Creek Basin, Northeastern Texas
Since many of the archeological sites documented during the course of previous archeological investigations at Lake Bob Sandlin contain temporally diagnostic lithic, ceramic, and/or historic artifacts, we have the opportunity to investigate prehistoric temporal and spatial trends in the use of this part of the Big Cypress Creek basin in Northeastern Texas. The discussion of temporal trends in the prehistoric settlement of the Lake Bob Sandlin area is based on the findings from the 108 sites reported by Nelson and Perttula, the different components identified by Thurmond in the 95 sites recorded and investigated in the 1960s and 1970s, and information gained from various prehistoric sites recently recorded at Lake Bob Sandlin State Park
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