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 Investigations at the Edwards Creek Site (41FT549) in the Trinity River Basin, Freestone County, Texas

The Edwards Creek site (41Ff549) was found during the course of a 2005 archaeological survey of a proposed small lake project in the adjoining Indian Creek stream valley in southeastern Freestone County, Texas. The site was identified while reconnoitering the general project area, and at that time a darkly stained midden area was noted on the surface here, with animal bones and other artifacts visible across it. With the permission of the landowner, we returned to the Edwards Creek site to investigate the site and its midden deposits

The South Lilly #4 Site (41UR279), Upshur County, Texas

The South Lilly #4 site was discovered in early 2003 by Bo Nelson during a survey of portions of the South Lilly Creek valley in Upshur County, Texas. During the course of his survey he recorded 13 prehistoric archeological sites on the north side of the valley,just upstream from the FM 556 crossing of South Lilly Creek. No archaeological sites had been previously known or recorded along this stretch of the valley, but his survey made it apparent that there was a high density of prehistoric sites along this creek, a tributary to Big Cypress Creek. Nelson noted that several of these prehistoric sites had Caddo ceramic sherds, and/or were in locations where prehistoric Caddo habitation sites are often found in the northeastern Texas region. The South Lilly #4 site is in one such setting, namely a prominent upland ridge and knoll (360 feet amsl) that projects southward into the South Lilly Creek valley, but is elevated well above any seasonal flooding along the creek and its broad floodplain. The landform was in pasture at the time, and surface exposure was virtually nil

41SM195A, The Browning Site

A surface collection of early 19 \u27 century historic sherds led to archaeological investigations in 2002 and 2003 at the Browning site (41SM195A) in eastern Smith County, Texas. My interest was whetted by mention in the original land abstract that the property had once been deeded to the Cherokee Indians. In all, a total of 6.5 cubic meters of archaeological deposits was excavated at the site, including 22 shovel tests and 10 1 x 1 m test units, and fine-screen and flotation samples were taken from a prehistoric midden deposit identified during the work. As a result, 1075 prehistoric and historic artifacts were recovered, along with new information about Woodland period archaeology in this part of East Texas. The initial shovel tests found, in addition to the historic component, a buried midden with evidence of Woodland period occupation. Based on the excavations, the midden covered approximately 500 square meters. The 19th century historic artifacts were found in the upper sediment zone, a brown sandy loam that was mostly gravel- free) covering the midden. The buried midden was a dark yellowish-brown gravelly loam that contained prehistoric pottery, animal bone, charred wood and nutshells, lithic materials, including lithic debris, flake tools, arrow and dart points, and ground stone tools. A calibrated radiocarbon date of A.D. 625 to 880, with a calibrated intercept of A.D. 685, was obtained on charred nutshell from 40-50 em bs in the midden zone. A series of Oxidizable Carbon Ratio (OCR) dates from the midden indicate that the midden began to from about A.D. 147, with dates of A.D. 357-815 from the main part of the midden, indicating when the Browning site was most intensively occupied in prehistoric times