Caddo Lake Archaeology: Phase I of Archaeological Investigations Along Harrison Bayou, Harrison County, Texas

An important part of the mission of the Caddo Lake Institute, Inc. and its Caddo Lake Scholars Program is the preservation and protection of the unique and irreplaceable cultural heritage of Caddo Lake and its bioregion, the Big Cypress Bayou watershed. The archaeology team of the Scholars Program is meeting these objectives with the initiation of the Harrison Bayou project by: (a) offering archaeological education and training of teachers, students, and potential mentors, (b) through fieldwork and research, identifying, assessing, and designating archaeological, historical, and cultural resources of the Caddo Lake bioregion, and ( c) formulating and implementing strategies for protecting the bioregion\u27s significant cultural resources

An Intensive Cultural Resources Survey of the Proposed Uvalde Memorial Hospital Demolition and Reconstruction Project Uvalde County, Texas

The Uvalde County Hospital Authority has applied for a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development funding to demolish its existing Uvalde Memorial Hospital complex and construct a new hospital and associated facilities. The new complex will be constructed on an undeveloped 11.5-acre tract immediately south of the existing complex. Those facilities proposed for demolition consist of the original Uvalde Memorial Hospital building, the current main hospital building, a warehouse building, and the central plant building. The original hospital building dates to 1949 while all other buildings to be demolished date to 1971 or later. The Kate Marmion Regional Cancer Medical Center which was built in 2011 will not be demolished according to the current plan. New facilities to be constructed consist of a new hospital building, new warehouse and central plant buildings, and associated parking lots. At the request of the State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO) at the Texas Historical Commission (THC), Applied Archeological Sciences, Inc. (AASI) conducted an archeological survey of the 11.5 acre undeveloped portion of the Area of Potential Effect (APE) in February 2017. Additionally, at the SHPO\u27s request, AASI photographed the exterior 1949- era hospital building. The purpose of the investigations was to identify and determine the potential impacts to any historic properties that may be eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) and/or eligible for formal designation as State Archeological Landmarks (SAL) in accordance with the National Historic Preservation Act as amended, and the Antiquities Code of Texas, respectively. The entire 11.5 acre was surveyed with one new archeological site, 41UV505, being recorded and assessed. This site is a prehistoric open campsite that is situated in the southwestern corner of the survey area. The site also extends southward outside the project area. Cultural materials found within the 40 to 60 cm thick deposits are sparse and are restricted to chert chipping debris, an edge-modified chert flake, a chert core, and small burned rock fragments. No intact prehistoric features or diagnostic artifacts were found. The portion of site 41UV505 within the project area is recommended as not eligible for listing on the NRHP and not eligible for formal designation as a SAL. No additional archeological investigations at 41UV505 are recommended. Photographs of the 1949-era hospital building have been submitted with this draft report for review by the SHPO. Demolition of this building should not move forward until the SHPO has completed review of this building. No artifacts were collected during the project. All records associated with the archeological investigation will be curated at the Center for Archeological Research at the University of Texas at San Antonio

Archeological and Historical Investigations at 41TT310, Lake Bob Sandlin State Park, Titus County, Texas

In November and December 1983, archeological and historical research was carried out at site 41TT310 in the proposed Lake Bob Sandlin State Park, Titus County, Texas. The project was sponsored by the Texas ParkS and Wildlife Department and was prompted by the need to assess the significance of site 41TT310 to aid in planning park development. The fieldwork entailed excavating 21 I-by-l-m test pits to define the site limits and to gather oata on site content. The historical research involved a literature ana archival search ana informant interviews to try to determine the location of a Republ ie of Texas-era historic site called Fort Sherman and to help in interpreting the historic component at 41TT310. Analysis of the data collected reveals that there are at least two prehistoric components and at least one historic component present at the site. The prehistoric components represent very limited use during the middle Archaic period, limited use of parts of the site during the Early Caddoan andlor Transitional Early to Late Caddoan periods, and fairly intensive use of one portion of the site for a limited range of activities during the Early Caddoan and/or Transitional Early to Late Caddoan periods. The historic component represents one or more occupations dating to the mid to late nineteenth century and appears not to relate to Fort Sherman. Questions concerning the location of Fort Sherman have not been resolved although it seems certain that the fort was located somewhere in the vicinity of the proposed Lake Bob Sandlin State Park

Wilson-Donaldson Stoneware Kiln Site (41DN19)

In July 1998, personnel from Archeological & Environmental Consultants volunteered one day to assist the Denton County Historical Commission in their investigation of the 1850-1880 Wilson-Donaldson stoneware kiln (41DN19) near Sharon Lake, Bryant Branch, and Hickory Creek in the upper Trinity River basin a few miles south-southeast of Denton, Texas. This is one of a number of 19th century stoneware potteries making saltglazed and natural clay slip vessels in Denton County, including the Cranston Pottery (41DN16), Roark Pottery (41DN18), Lambert Pottery (41DN74), and Serran Pottery (41DN75), all sites listed on the National register of Historic Places. The kiln and associated archaeological deposits were in an area being proposed for private development, and it was considered imperative that as much archaeological information be gathered from the site before it was disturbed or destroyed; subsequently, the main kiln at the site (Feature 1) was dismantled—hopefully to be reconstructed in the future—while the remainder of the archaeological deposits were destroyed and removed. During our short foray to the site, we produced a map of the various features at the site, including stoneware kilns, sherd waster piles, clay pits, and traces of structural remains in the vicinity of the other features. Drawings of the plan and vertical profile of Feature 1 were also completed at that time, along with surface collections of stoneware sherds from several features, supplemented with a few shovel tests to assess the character of the archaeological deposits and the excavation of a single 50 x 50 cm unit in the Feature 3 waster pile. In our work, we limited the recovery of artifacts to diagnostic rim sherds from the different vessel forms represented at the kiln, as well to any identified kiln furniture. The stoneware sherds at the Wilson-Donaldson kiln are almost exclusively exterior salt-glazed jars, jugs, churns, and bowls. About 61 percent of the sherds we collected are from ca. 1840-1860 salt-glazed vessels that have a dry interior surface. Interior and exterior salt-glazed sherds are rare (3 percent) in the assemblage, but they are associated with pre-1860 stoneware manufacture. Thirty-six percent are sherds from saltglazed vessels with a natural clay slip interior. It is likely that these vessels were made between 1860-1880, based on Lebo’s (1987:Tables 8-9 and 8- 10) seriation of stoneware interior and exterior glaze types and combinations. One sherd (0.5 percent) has a natural clay slip on both interior and exterior surfaces, and is most likely from a vessel made between 1860-1880, although examples are known from pre-1860 contexts. The Wilson-Donaldson kiln also manufactured clay elbow pipes along with stoneware vessels. None were recovered in our limited work at the site