scholarly journals The Henry Chapman Site (41SM56)

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Walters
Keyword(s):  
Research Laboratory ◽  
Major Part ◽  
East Texas ◽  
University Of Texas ◽  
Field School ◽  
Skeletal Material ◽  
Focus Type ◽  
Type Site ◽  
Pottery Sherds ◽  
The University

In the mid-1950s, Sam Whiteside conducted excavations at the Henry Chapman site, his site P-5 (41SM56), on Prairie Creek in eastern Smith County, Texas, some 18 miles east of Tyler, Texas. Mr. Whiteside was an amateur archaeologist who discovered and explored numerous sites up and down Prairie Creek as well as other important sites in Smith and adjoining counties. The Chapman site was one of the first sites to be investigated by Mr. Whiteside, and the major part of the work took place there in 1957 and 1958. In August 1957, the site was visited by Edward B. Jelks and Leroy Johnson, who viewed the excavations and examined artifacts collected from there. Mr. Jelks, in notes on record at the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory (TARL) at The University of Texas in Austin, Texas, on August 21, 1958, indicated after observing the artifacts from the Henry Chapman site that the ceramics indicated an Alto focus occupation. He recognized Hickory Engraved and Holly Fine Engraved wares as well as Dunkin Incised and possible Pennington Punctated-Incised sherds. He mentioned that no Crockett Curvilinear Incised or Weches Fingernail Impressed sherds were present (two common types present at the Alto focus type site, the George C. Davis site [41CE19]). E. Mott Davis also visited the site in late 1957, and in February 1959, Davis, Lathel F. Duffield, and William A. Davis collected skeletal material from the site. In a June 15, 1958, newsletter from the East Texas Archeological Society (ETAS), Mr. Whiteside described excavations at the Henry Chapman site that had revealed refuse pits, post holes, and an abundance of pottery sherds indicative of an Alto focus occupation. In the summer of 1983, Mr. Whiteside visited the University of Texas Field School at the George C. Davis site, where he loaned some of his notes and collections from the Chapman site for recording purposes (these are on file at TARL). After Mr. Whiteside’s death, his family graciously allowed me access to his notes and artifacts. Not all of the artifacts have survived, having been stored in paper bags and subjected to several moves, but thanks to Mr. Whiteside’s writing lot numbers on artifacts and listing them in a journal, a majority of them have survived, and thus are suitable for study. Although 50 years have passed since Mr. Whiteside’s work at the Henry Chapman site, it is my intent to now make that work public.

scholarly journals Ancestral Caddo Ceramic Vessels from East Texas Sites Held by the Gila Pueblo Museum from 1933 to 2017

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy Perttula ◽  
Kevin Stingley
Keyword(s):  
Research Laboratory ◽  
East Texas ◽  
Vessel Size ◽  
University Of Texas ◽  
State Museum ◽  
Ceramic Vessels ◽  
The University

In the summer of 2017, 21 ancestral Caddo ceramic vessels held since 1933 by the Gila Pueblo Museum and then by the Arizona State Museum were returned to the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at The University of Texas at Austin (TARL). These vessels had not been properly or fully studied and documented when the University of Texas exchanged these vessels, so our purpose in documenting these vessels now is primarily concerned with determining the stylistic (i.e., decorative methods, motifs, and decorative elements) and technological (i.e., vessel form, temper, and vessel size) character of the vessels that are in the collection, and assessing their cultural relationships and stylistic associations, along with their likely age. In 1933, little was known about the cultural and temporal associations of ancestral Caddo ceramic vessels from East Texas, but that has changed considerably since that time.

scholarly journals Analysis of Ancestral Caddo Ceramic Vessels from Sites in Anderson and Cherokee Counties, Texas

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy Perttula
Keyword(s):  
Research Laboratory ◽  
East Texas ◽  
University Of Texas ◽  
Ceramic Vessel ◽  
Ceramic Vessels ◽  
The University ◽  
General Collection

In this article, I document 28 ancestral Caddo ceramic vessels from seven sites and one general collection in the whole vessel collections at the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory (TARL) at The University of Texas at Austin (UT). These sites and general collection are in Anderson and Cherokee counties in East Texas (Figure 1), specifically the: Rube Beard site (41AN18, n=2), the Edward W. Ellis site (41AN36, n=1), the Ray Lookabaugh site (41AN37, n=1), the R. E. Daly site (41AN39, n=9), the Jasper Tucker/Mrs. Joe Watkins Farm site (41AN44, n=11; see also Perttula and Selden [2015]), the W. T. Todd site (41AN52, n=1), the N. B. Ruggles site (41CE40, n=2), and one vessel from the Cherokee County general collections. The methods of ceramic vessel analysis follow those specified in Perttula (2018:2-4), among other publications on Caddo ceramic vessel documentation, methods consistently employed since the 1990s in the documentation of ancestral Caddo ceramic vessels in East Texas sites.

scholarly journals 41SM53 (P-4) on Prairie Creek, Smith County, Texas

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Walters ◽  
Timothy K. Perttula
Keyword(s):  
River Basin ◽  
Research Laboratory ◽  
East Texas ◽  
University Of Texas ◽  
The 1950S ◽  
The University ◽  
Sabine River ◽  
Smith County

In February 1957, Sam Whiteside of Smith County, Texas, excavated a burial at 41SM53. This site was designated P-4 in Mr. Whiteside’s notes and it was one of several Caddo sites along Prairie Creek in the upper Sabine River basin that he investigated to varying degrees in the 1950s and 1960s. As an a vocational archeologist Mr. Whiteside made many important contributions to East Texas archeology. Dr. Dee Ann Story, of the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at The University of Texas at Austin, who corresponded with Mr. Whiteside, later obtained the trinomial 41SM53 for the site.

scholarly journals The Westerman Mound Site (41HO15), Houston County, Texas

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy K. Perttula
Keyword(s):  
Woodland Period ◽  
East Texas ◽  
Alluvial Terrace ◽  
University Of Texas ◽  
The North ◽  
School Director ◽  
Field School ◽  
Field Schools ◽  
The University ◽  
Neches River

The Westerman site is located in the middle Neches River basin in the Pineywoods of East Texas. The site, first recorded in 1969, is on an alluvial terrace lying between Armstrong Creek to the south and Cochino Bayou to the north; these are eastward-flowing tributaries to the Neches River. The site has a single earthen mound and an associated settlement that is estimated to cover ca. 10-15 acres; there are several areas at the site where aboriginal artifacts were noted at the surface, on each side of the mound. The mound, which was well preserved when it was visited in 1969, 1970, and 1986 by archaeologists from the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at The University of Texas at Austin (TARL), is estimated to be 20 x 25 m in size, rectangular-shaped, with a level top that covers a ca. 10 x 5 m area; the height of the mound has not been established as it has never been mapped. The character of the archaeological deposits in the mound or the associated settlement has also not been established because no shovel tests or other forms of subsurface explorations have ever been conducted at the site. Only two small potholes were noted in the mound in 1969, and the mound and site were well preserved and protected by the landowners through the last visit by TARL personnel in 1986. TARL archaeologists had speculated that the mound may have been constructed during the Woodland period (between ca. 2500-1250 years B.P.); Woodland period mound sites are rare in East Texas. To investigate this possibility, or to establish that the mound may have been built by ancestral Caddo peoples native to East Texas, TARL had made plans to hold their annual field school at the Westerman site in both 1975 and 1976, with Dr. Dee Ann Story as the field school director. However, due to various circumstances, including sale of the property in April 1976, these field schools were unfortunately never held at the site. In 1986 Dr. Dee Ann Story and Janice A. Guy visited the Westerman site and completed a reconnaissance of the site to assess its current condition and obtain a surface collection of artifacts from the mound and associated settlement. The Westerman site does not appear to have been visited by professional archaeologists since that time.

scholarly journals Current Archeological Research in East Texas: Documentation of WPS-Gus Arnold Archeological Survey Collections

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy K. Perttula
Keyword(s):  
Research Laboratory ◽  
Works Progress Administration ◽  
East Texas ◽  
University Of Texas ◽  
Ceramic Sherd ◽  
The University ◽  
Neches River ◽  
Sabine River

Gus Arnold identified and recorded many ancestral Caddo sites during his 1939-1940 Works Progress Administration (WPA)-sponsored archeological survey of East Texas. Currently, I have been engaged in studying the artifact collections from 51 WPA sites in Angelina, Cherokee, Gregg, Jasper, Nacogdoches, Sabine, and San Augustine counties, especially the ceramic sherd assemblages, held by the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at The University of Texas. The sites are located in the Sabine River, Neches River, Angelina River, and Attoyac Bayou stream basins.

Ancestral Caddo Ceramic Vessels from Sites in Harrison and Titus Counties, Texas

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy Perttula
Keyword(s):  
Research Laboratory ◽  
East Texas ◽  
University Of Texas ◽  
Ceramic Vessel ◽  
Ceramic Vessels ◽  
The University

This article puts on record the documentation of 17 ancestral Caddo ceramic vessels from five sites in Harrison and Titus counties in East Texas in the collections of the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at The University of Texas at Austin. This documentation is part of the overall and larger effort to develop an ancestral Caddo ceramic vessel database as well as build online ceramic vessel galleries on the Index of Texas Archeology website by Dr. Robert Z. Selden, Jr.

scholarly journals 41HO70 on Stowe Creek in the upper San Pedro Creek Basin, Houston County, Texas

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy K. Perttula
Keyword(s):  
Research Laboratory ◽  
East Texas ◽  
University Of Texas ◽  
San Pedro ◽  
The University ◽  
Available Information

Site 41HO70 in the East Texas Pineywoods is an ancestral Caddo settlement that was extensively looted by a well-known East Texas looter in 1985. The available information about the site discussed in this article is gleaned from the records and a 1986 artifact collection held by the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at The University of Texas at Austin (TARL).

scholarly journals The Bert W. Davis Site (41HP3) on the South Sulphur River in Hopkins County, Texas

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy K. Perttula
Keyword(s):  
Research Laboratory ◽  
River Valley ◽  
Single Component ◽  
Woodland Period ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
East Texas ◽  
The South ◽  
University Of Texas ◽  
The University

The Bert W. Davis site in the South Sulphur River valley in East Texas was investigated by archaeologists from the University of Texas (UT) in 1919 and 1934, because an aboriginal cemetery had been exposed by plowing and later looting. The UT work consisted of a reconnaissance by J. E. Pearce in September 1919 and trenching by A. T. Jackson and crew in July 1934. A small assemblage of artifacts were recovered by UT during this work, but the collection (now at the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at UT) had never been fully studied or the results of the work published. This was unfortunate because it appears that the Bert W. Davis site is virtually a single component Woodland period site that was occupied during the early part of the period, from ca. 100 B.C. to A.D. 300. Such sites are rare in the East Texas archaeological record. In this article, I discuss the analysis of the site and its distinctive artifact assemblage.

scholarly journals Documentation of Ancestral Caddo Ceramic Vessels from the Knight’s Bluff (41CS14) and Sherwin (41CS26) Sites, Cass County, Texas

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy K. Perttula
Keyword(s):  
Native American ◽  
Research Laboratory ◽  
Army Corps ◽  
Fort Worth ◽  
Army Corps Of Engineers ◽  
East Texas ◽  
University Of Texas ◽  
Ceramic Vessel ◽  
Ceramic Vessels ◽  
The University

A number of years ago, Perttula documented a variety of funerary objects through a Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) grant awarded to the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma. These were from ancestral Caddo sites on U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Fort Worth District lands in East Texas, including funerary objects from the Knight’s Bluff and Sherwin sites at Lake Wright Patman in the Sulphur River basin. These NAGPRA materials are held at the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at The University of Texas at Austin (TARL). At that time, only a few ceramic vessel funerary objects were made available for NAGPRA documentation purposes, including only three ceramic vessels from Burial 4 at the Knight’s Bluff site, and six vessels from Burials 4 and 6 at the Sherwin site. The remainder of the ceramic vessel funerary objects from these two sites (n=16 vessels from Knight’s Bluff and n=13 vessels from the Sherwin site), plus one vessel from general Lake Wright Patman contexts, either from Knight’s Bluff or the Sherwin site, have recently been documented, and they are discussed in the remainder of this article.

scholarly journals Funerary Offerings from the Keasler Site Cemetery (41HS235), Harrison County, Texas

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy K. Perttula
Keyword(s):  
Research Laboratory ◽  
Social Rank ◽  
Community Living ◽  
East Texas ◽  
University Of Texas ◽  
Clay Pipes ◽  
Ceramic Vessels ◽  
Almost All ◽  
The University

The Keasler site (41HS235) is a post-ca. A.D. 1430 Late Caddo period, Titus phase cemetery with at least 31 burials in the East Texas Pineywoods. The site was excavated by collectors in the late 1970s on the property of Sid Keasler of Hallsville, Texas. Minimal records on the burials at the site, and their contents, were provided by Red McFarland, one of the collectors, to the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at The University of Texas (TARL). The Keasler site is near Little Creek, a northward-flowing tributary to Little Cypress Creek. It is perhaps one of the easternmost-known Titus phase cemeteries in East Texas, in an area where few Titus phase sites or cemeteries have been identified or investigated by professional archaeologists. Based on the analysis of the available records and vessel images at TARL, Perttula noted that funerary offerings in the burials primarily included ceramic vessels—both utility and fine wares—in almost all of the burials, along with clay pipes and arrow points in only a few of the graves. The subtle differences between two different burial groups in the number and kind of funerary offerings in the cemetery do not provide much evidence of differential status or social rank, and the frequency of funerary offerings as attested to in the TARL records is at the low end of the scale in Titus phase cemeteries. The burials at the Keasler site appear to be those of common members of the Caddo community living in the lower part of the Little Cypress Creek basin. The range of decorated utility ware and fine ware vessels placed in the burial features are consistent with use of the cemetery by ancestral Caddo peoples in parts of the 16th and 17th centuries A.D. Subsequent to the analysis of the available records at TARL from the Keasler site, funerary offerings from the site in the Sid Keasler collection have come to light. In July 1999, Mark Walters and Bo Nelson photo-documented the Keasler collection, which represents approximately 50 percent of the funerary offerings recovered by Red McFarland. This article summarizes the character of the funerary offerings in the collection. Walters also recorded the nearby Pine Grove site (41HS826), which may represent one habitation area associated with the use of the cemetery at the Keasler site by ancestral Caddo peoples.

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