Of Hearths and Houses

During the 1993 East Texas Archeological Field School conducted at the Tyson site (41SY92) in western Shelby County, the junior author had an opportunity to participate in the excavation of a Caddoan hearth. The work was directed by Linda Lindsay, a graduate student in Anthropology at Southern Methodist University. This paper describes our findings and a few features of hearths and houses. One goal of the 1993 Field School was to explore the area around Feature 3 looking for evidence of a house. This was accomplished by opening a 6 meter by 6 meter unit referred to as Block 1. Feature 3 had been excavated in 1992 and found to be a 1.2 meter in diameter, round, basin shaped pit containing a large amount of daub, bone, and Caddoan pottery sherds. Near the bottom of the pit was a zone of ash. Charcoal and mussel shell from Feature 3 yielded three calibrated radiocarbon dates of about 1425 AD. When Block I was completely exposed, a number of other pits and postholes were seen in plan view. Our activity focused on Feature 9 on the western edge of Block 1. This 1.1 5 meter by O. 9 meter oval hearth was first revealed at 20 cm depth when ash was encountered. The feature contained large amounts of ash from in situ burning, nuggets of fired clay, a small amount of bone, and several burned sherds with ash adhering to their surfaces. The hearth was slightly basin-shaped and approximately 15 cm thick. A discontinuous thin layer of bright orange clay near its bottom was observed. The hearth had been prepared for use by digging a very shallow pit but no intentional clay lining was seen. Two large postholes were found in the area of Feature 9. Feature 17 was discovered beneath the eastern end of the hearth. It was 30 cm in diameter and had a smoothly rounded bottom at 75 cm below ground surface. Feature 12 was a very distinct posthole of similar proportions just west of the hearth. The diameter of F 12 was 27 cm and the depth was 65 cm below surface. How do we understand this feature? Specifically, does Feature 9 represent the central hearth of a Caddoan house? This question is currently difficult to answer because the outside wall of a putative house has not been identified. Possibly, Block l lies entirely inside a large house. The question may be easier to answer after reviewing accounts written by early Europeans visiting the area and reviewing the archeological findings at other East Texas Caddoan sites

Notes on Caddoan Vessels Collected from the Mosquito Island Site (41AG66), Lake Sam Rayburn

This paper documents four Caddoan ceramic vessels from the Mosquito Island site (4IAG66) at Lake Sam Rayburn. The vessels were obtained from the site by two individuals who violated the provisions of the Archeological Resources Protection Act (ARPA), and were arrested on the site while in the act of disturbing the archaeological site. They were subsequently convicted under ARPA for their illegal actions

A Survey of Historic Caddo Sites in Nacogdoches County, Texas

This review was originally prepared for presentation to the East Texas Caddo Research Group held in Nacogdoches, Texas on December 2 and 3, 2006. The primary purpose of this article is to summarize the archaeological resources currently known relating to the Historic Caddo period of Nacogdoches County. No attempt is made here to provide analysis of the data or to draw synthetic conclusions. The author\u27s hope is that this survey will be helpful to workers in this area of inquiry by speeding access to available resources and exposing possible research problems

The Caddoan Occupation of the Attoyac and Angelina River Basins in the Middle Caddoan Period

The Angelina River basin, including the drainage of its largest tributary, the Attoyac Bayou, encompasses all of Nacogdoches County and portions of Cherokee, Rusk, Angelina, San Augustine, Shelby, and Sabine counties in deep East Texas. Archaeological studies in the region that have illuminated our understanding of Caddoan developments have been meager and spotty at best. There is no archaeological evidence in the Angelina River basin of extensive Caddoan occupation during the Early Caddoan period (ca. A.D. 1000-1200). Jelks presented the results of the largest archaeological project conducted in the area in his dissertation dealing with the archaeology of the McGee Bend Reservoir (Lake Sam Rayburn) by reviewing 13 sites excavated between 1956 and 1962. Every site excavated was multicomponent, and included at least some Archaic dart points, Early Ceramic period sandy paste sherds, and grog-tempered Caddoan ceramics. Jelks has been the other archaeologist to propose an archaeological taxonomic unit for the Caddoan sites based on work in the basin with his formulation of the Angelina focus. This broad unit appears to include sites that date from ca. A.D. 1200 until historic Caddoan times, and was based, in part, upon the presence of Broaddus Brushed and Pineland Punctated-Incised ceramics at the sites

The Middle Caddoan Period in East Texas: A Summary of the Findings of the East Texas Caddoan Research Group

The second meeting of the East Texas Caddoan Research Group (ETCRG) met in San Antonio on October 27, 1996, to consider the archaeology of the Middle Caddoan period in East Texas. The meeting was arranged as a three hour symposium held in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Texas Archeological Society. The meeting\u27s format involved the informal presentation by several ETCRG members of major research findings along thematic lines for each of several river basins in the region. The presenters distributed handouts to participants and mixed their comments with slides, photographs, and the hands-on examination of a few selected artifacts. The presentations and discussions were tape-recorded, and transcribed and edited proceedings of the meeting are to be published in a future volume of the Journal of Northeast Texas Archaeology. Brief periods of discussion did occur between the presenters, and the audience participated as well, during the three hour meeting; however, the general consensus of the group was that more time was needed and there was much left to be discussed. This paper attempts to summarize the information presented during the ETCRG meeting, and may (we think) represent a good starting place for continued dialog on the archeology of the Middle Caddoan period, as well as further dialog on the organization and arrangement of future ETCRG meetings. Eight handouts were available to the research group. Four were river basin archaeological summaries prepared by Maynard Cliff (the lower Sulphur River basin), Bo Nelson and Mike Turner (Cypress Creek Drainage basin), Tim Perttula and Brett Cruse (the upper and middle Sabine River basin), and Tom Middlebrook (Attoyac and Angelina River basins). Two handouts not associated with presentations were also prepared for the ETCRG members, namely archaeological summaries of the Middle Caddoan period by Tim Perttula for the middle Red River basin and the upper Sulphur River basin. Jim Corbin provided extensive information on the Middle Caddoan Washington Square Mound site (41NA49) in Nacogdoches County, while Bob Turner discussed archaeological materials found in three Middle Caddoan period cemeteries in Camp and Upshur counties

Prehistoric Caddo Ceramics from the Henry Lake Site (41CE324), Cherokee County, Texas

This article discusses the character of the Caddo ceramics from a single component Frankston phase (ca. A.D. 1400-1650) occupation at the Henry Lake site (41CE324) in northwestern Cherokee County, Texas. This follows a brief discussion of the history of the site, and we conclude this article with a consideration of the temporal and cultural place of the site\u27s Caddo ceramic assemblage within the upper Neches River basin

The Jack Walton Site (41SA135), San Augustine County, Texas

This article describes archaeological excavations I conducted at the Jack Walton site (41SA135) in San Augustine County, Texas, between November 1981 and July 1982, with the assistance of Suzanne Middlebrook and John Hart. During a total of 20 days in the field, 14 m2 were excavated in four areas of the site. The excavated units are designated Areas 1, 2, 3, and 4. The site is located on a high bluff overlooking the Attoyac Bayou. It was apparently wooded until the 1930s, when the timber was clear cut; the present open field has been used for pasture and cultivation of corn since. Although Walton family members have collected surface artifacts from the area for many years, the site has been undisturbed by pothunters and looters. The Walton site was first reported in May 1980 by Dr. James E. Corbin. His site form described a surface collection of “hundreds of Caddoan potsherds, hundreds of lithic flakes, arrowpoints, dartpoints, pitted stones, milling stones, hammerstones, 3/4 grooved axe, fragments of granite porphyry, Frio point of Central Texas flint.” I became aware of the site in June 1981 through information provided by Mr. Bud Hooper, who had collected projectile points there years ago. After several trips to the site, I became convinced that the site would lend itself well to ongoing dual research goals: (1) to arrive at a thoughtful understanding of the prehistoric peoples inhabiting the site through careful excavation, laboratory analysis, and appropriate environmental study; and (2) to provide adequate field work for the archaeological education and training of the primary investigators

A Update of Archaeological Investigations at the Tyson Site (41SY92)

In recent years, much of the research concerning prehistoric and historic Caddoan lifeways has focused on socio-political organization and community structure. Models have been proposed to predict the character of the archaeological record based on European observations of Caddo an life during the 17th-19th centuries. A brief review of these models is warranted to provide the necessary background for interpreting the results of recent archaeological work at an interesting 15th century site in Deep East Texas. Story and Creel have developed an integrative model to describe Hasinai Caddo settlement patterns, socio-political organization, and intergroup interactions based on ethnographic and archaeological data. The smallest component within their model was the layout of individual hamlets, with these being integrated into communities (as exemplified by the Deshazo Site). A number of these individual settlements --along with short-term use sites, community cemeteries, and a lesser political/ritual center (e.g., the residence of the caddi or village headman)-- reflected a constituent group in the next level of group organization

Shipp Brushed Appliqued Ceramics

In recent years, new ceramic types have been identified and disc ussed in the archaeological literature pertaining to the Allen phase of the Angelina-Neches River drainages in East Texas, the core of the historic Hasinai Caddo area. These new types have included King Engraved, Lindsey Grooved, Mayhew Rectilinear, Spradley Brushed-Incised, Gallant Neck Banded, and Constricted Neck Punctated (Perttula and Selden 2014:43, 47-49; Marceaux 2011:140-141, 154; Jackson et al. 2012:177-180; Gregory and Avery 2007:33, 49-54). These ceramic types joined other longstanding and well-known types from the Allen phase such as Bullard Brushed, Hume Engraved, Killough Pinched, La Rue Neck Banded, and Patton Engraved (Suhm and Jelks 1962:21, 83, 91, 93, 117). This article introduces a new recognized ceramic type in the Hasinai area, especially in western Nacogdoches County

Current Research: Recent Documentation of Ceramic Vessels and Other Funerary Objects in the Titus Phase Cemetery at the Tuck Carpenter Site, Camp County, Texas

Recently, we had the opportunity to complete the documentation of Late Caddo period Titus phase ceramic vessels and other funerary offerings from the Tuck Carpenter site (41CP5) in the Big Cypress Creek basin in Camp County, Texas. This portion of the funerary assemblage from the site has been in the hands of R. W. Walsh since the 1960s. Unable to properly care for the assemblage, he recently donated his collection to an anonymous individual, who graciously allowed us to fully document these funerary offerings. The Tuck Carpenter site (41CP5), on Dry Creek several miles from its confluence with Big Cypress Creek, is perhaps the best known Titus phase cemetery in the Big Cypress Creek basin in East Texas. This is due to the careful analysis and reporting of the recovered funerary offerings and remains from 45 burials excavated by Robert L.Turner and R. W. Walsh between 1963-1967. More than 95 percent of the graves had the bodies of single individuals laid in an extended supine position on the floor of the pit, but two burial features had two individuals placed side by side in the burial pit