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.

Ceramic Sherds from the Millsey Williamson Site (41RK3), Rusk County, Texas

Index of Texas Archaeology Open Access Grey Literature from the Lone Star State ◽

10.21112/.ita.2016.1.87 ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

Timothy K. Perttula

Keyword(s):

River Basin ◽

18Th Century ◽

Glass Beads ◽

The Body ◽

East Side ◽

Alluvial Terrace ◽

Unknown Number ◽

Ceramic Vessels ◽

Reducing Environment ◽

The Millsey Williamson site (41RK3) is an 18th century Nadaco Caddo settlement and cemetery situated on an alluvial terrace on the east side of Martin Creek in the Sabine River basin. Some portions of the site are now covered by the waters of Martin Creek Lake, constructed in the 1970s. The site was first investigated in the 1930s, when at least 11 historic Caddo burials were excavated in the cemetery at the western end of the landform. Buddy Calvin 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 were not clearly enumerated by Jones, as his description of artifacts from the site included 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. Most of these sherds were recorded by Jones as being grog– (52 percent) or bone–tempered (43 percent), but 4 percent were tempered with shell. Perttula and Nelson recently documented 11 vessels from the Millsey Williamson site in the collections of the Gregg County Historical Museum (GCHM). These vessels include a Emory Punctated–Incised (shell– tempered) collared jar; a Maydelle Incised jar; a Bullard Brushed jar; a jar with brushing only on the body; a Ripley Engraved, var. unspecified carinated bowl; Simms Incised carinated bowl; two unidentified engraved carinated bowls with a continuous stepped rectilinear scroll design; a carinated bowl with a sprocket rim with a continuous negative scroll design; a carinated bowl with diagonal opposed and cross–hatched engraved lines on the rim; and a plain olla. The ceramic vessels are of diverse manufacture, form, and decorative methods. Most are carinated bowls and jars tempered with grog and bone, and fired in a reducing environment, and the former are decorated with engraved lines, while the latter are decorated incised, punctated, or brushed utility wares. On their own stylistic merits, none of these vessels in the GCHM collections is that of a recognizable Historic Caddo type, such as Natchitoches Engraved, Simms Engraved, var. Darco, or Keno Trailed, and in fact, most of these vessels cannot be identified as examples of specific types. The vessels that can be typed include Emory Punctated–Incised, Maydelle Incised, and Bullard Brushed jars and a Ripley Engraved, var. unspecified carinated bowl; one vessel has been dubbed Simms Incised because it is of a form and decorative style that matches Simms Engraved, except the motif is executed with incised lines. Also recovered from the site were clay and limonite pipes, ochre and vermillion, animal teeth, glass beads, metal gun parts, gun flints, iron knives, iron arrow points, and awls in the Millsey Williamson collection. There were also a variety of brass objects: a brass tinkler, coils, hawk bells, and unworked pieces of sheet brass.

Ceramic Sherd Assemblage from the Cherokee Lake Site (41RK132), Rusk County, Texas

Index of Texas Archaeology Open Access Grey Literature from the Lone Star State ◽

10.21112/.ita.2016.1.84 ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

Timothy K. Perttula

Keyword(s):

18Th Century ◽

Glass Beads ◽

The Body ◽

Burial Site ◽

Ceramic Vessels ◽

Ceramic Sherd ◽

Clay Pipe ◽

Sabine River ◽

Lake Site ◽

Early 18Th Century

The Cherokee Lake site (41RK132), also called the Tiawichi Creek Burial site, was discovered by Buddy Calvin Jones in 1956, on a terrace area along Tiawichi Creek at its confluence with Mill Creek, inundated by the construction of Lake Cherokee in 1947, that had been graded for the construction of fish hatcheries there. Tiawichi Creek is a tributary stream in the mid–Sabine River basin. Jones identified a single burial and a large storage pit in Area A at the southern end of the terrace, where there was a shallow (0–30 cm bs) midden deposit. The burial in Area A is an Historic Nadaco Caddo grave that probably dates to the early 18th century based on the recovery of 15 blue glass beads. This strand of beads was placed near the legs of the deceased individual. The Caddo person had been placed in an extended supine position in a pit that was 1.83 m long and 0.76 cm in width, with the head facing towards the west. The estimated depth of the grave was 0.76 m, and its fill was a dark charcoal–stained midden. In addition to the strand of glass beads, three ceramic vessels had been placed as funerary offerings in the grave along with a Fresno arrow point by the upper left leg. One Simms Engraved vessel was on the left side of the body, near the foot of the grave, while a second Simms Engraved vessel had been placed by the individual’s right foot, along with a Maydelle Incised jar. A plain clay elbow pipe had been placed inside the jar. A storage pit excavated by Jones in Area A at the Cherokee Lake site appears to have been primarily associated with a pre–A.D. 1200 Caddo occupation, based on the recovery of Hickory Engraved and Dunkin Incised pottery sherds, long–stemmed Red River clay pipe sherds, and Catahoula, Alba, and Bonham arrow points. This occupation probably created the midden deposits found in Area A. In this article, I discuss ceramic sherds collected by Jones from Area A at the Cherokee Lake site. Some of the sherds were surface collected in March 1956 from the midden deposits, but it is not clear if this ceramic sherd assemblage is part of the sample of 300 sherds discussed by Jones from an Area A surface collection. The present ceramic sherd assemblage is curated at the Gregg County Historical Museum (GCHM).

Analysis of a 1940 Caddo Sherd Assemblage from the Millsey Williamson Site (41RK3), Rusk County, Texas

Index of Texas Archaeology Open Access Grey Literature from the Lone Star State ◽

10.21112/.ita.2016.1.45 ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

Timothy K. Perttula

Keyword(s):

River Basin ◽

18Th Century ◽

East Texas ◽

East Side ◽

Alluvial Terrace ◽

Small Collection ◽

The Subject ◽

Glass Beads from Kinsloe Focus Sites in Gregg, Harrison, and Rusk Counties, Texas

Index of Texas Archaeology Open Access Grey Literature from the Lone Star State ◽

10.21112/.ita.2014.1.54 ◽

2014 ◽

Author(s):

Timothy K. Perttula ◽

Robert Z. Selden

Keyword(s):

18Th Century ◽

Glass Beads ◽

Large Measure ◽

Chipped Stone ◽

Late 18Th Century ◽

Wide Range ◽

Ceramic Vessels ◽

European Trade ◽

Sabine River ◽

Early 18Th Century

European glass beads are one of the most common artifact categories found on historic Caddo sites in the middle reaches of the Sabine River basin in East Texas on what Jones had dubbed Kinsloe focus sites. Several thousands beads were found by Jones in his investigation of burial features at these sites, along with other European trade goods and Caddo ceramic vessels, pipes, and chipped stone tools. In Jones’ description of the beads from the Kinsloe focus sites, he relied on the analytical and chronological interpretations of John Witthoft, then of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, although he did seek the advice of R. K. Harris, a notable glass beads expert who had worked on numerous historic Caddo and Wichita sites in eastern and northern Texas. Witthoft’s interpretations of the age of the beads from the sites tended to suggest that the Kinsloe focus sites dated to the early 17th century—when beads of such types tended to date in aboriginal sites in the Northeast U.S.—while Harris suggested that the glass beads on the Kinsloe focus sites dated from no earlier than the early 18th century, and likely dated in several cases after ca. A.D. 1750. Given the likely late 17th to late 18th century ages of the engraved ceramic vessels found on the Kinsloe focus sites, based in large measure on their occurrence on a wide range of Historic Caddo sites, Harris’ temporal interpretations of the glass bead assemblages are consistent with these ceramic temporal ranges, and thus the Kinsloe focus sites are seen as indicative of Caddo settlements postdating the beginning of intensive contact between Europeans and Caddo peoples that began after A.D. 1685.

Archaeological Findings from an Historic Caddo Site (41AN184) in Anderson County, Texas

Index of Texas Archaeology Open Access Grey Literature from the Lone Star State ◽

10.21112/.ita.2010.1.24 ◽

2010 ◽

Author(s):

Timothy K. Perttula

Keyword(s):

River Basin ◽

18Th Century ◽

Glass Beads ◽

East Texas ◽

Ceramic Vessels ◽

European Trade ◽

Neches River ◽

Early 18Th Century

This article reports on the archaeological findings from a Historic Caddo site (41AN184)1 in the upper Neches River basin in Anderson County, in East Texas. The site was found in about 1960 by Ron Green (of Rockdale, Texas) when he was a teenager. In 2007, he donated the collection of artifacts to the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma, noting that “[n]othing can undo what has been done, but I know that the Caddo Nation will ensure these artifacts are given the proper respect and honor they would get no where else”. The artifacts donated by Mr. Green are from a late 17th to early 18th century Caddo site, and includes European trade goods (glass beads) as well as Caddo manufactured objects (including ceramic vessels and arrow points), which are rarely found on Caddo sites in the upper Neches River basin.

Current Research: Organic Residues on Engraved Vessels from Ancestral Caddo Sites in East Texas

Index of Texas Archaeology Open Access Grey Literature from the Lone Star State ◽

10.21112/ita.2019.1.6 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Timothy Perttula

Keyword(s):

Daily Life ◽

River Basins ◽

Organic Residue ◽

East Texas ◽

Organic Residues ◽

Ceramic Vessels ◽

In the course of recently documenting ancestral Caddo ceramic vessels from sites dating to Late Caddo period Titus phase contexts (ca. A.D. 1430-1680) in East Texas, specifically on sites in the Big Cypress Creek and Sabine River basins, I have encountered a significant number (ca. 9.6 percent) of more than 1790 engraved fine ware vessels that have an exterior organic residue (Table 1), including carinated bowls, compound bowls, jars, bowls, and even bottles. In some cases, the exterior residue on certain carinated bowls and compound bowls is so thick that the engraved design is obscured and almost completely covered with the organic residue (Figure 1a- c). If engraved fine wares from ancestral Caddo sites were used in daily life for the serving of foods and liquids, how did they accumulate an exterior carbonized residue by the time they were placed in burials as funerary offerings?

Three Mounds Creek Site, Gregg County, Texas

Index of Texas Archaeology Open Access Grey Literature from the Lone Star State ◽

10.21112/.ita.2012.1.31 ◽

2012 ◽

Author(s):

Timothy K. Perttula

Keyword(s):

River Basin ◽

East Texas ◽

Numbering System ◽

Available Information ◽

One of the prehistoric Caddo sites represented in the Buddy Calvin Jones Collections at the Gregg County Historical Museum (GCHM) is the Three Mounds Creek site in Gregg County, in East Texas. The site is GC-68 in the Jones site numbering system (68th site he discovered in Gregg County). The available information about the site in the GCHM records is sketchy at best. The site had three mounds along Spring Creek, near its confluence with the Sabine River, in the Longview area. A search of Gregg County 7.5' USGS topographic quadrangles failed to disclose a Spring Creek in the Sabine River basin, so it is likely that the Spring Creek appellation is an informal one used by Jones at the time. Jones' notes also fail to describe the mounds in any fashion, nor their relationship to each other or the landform they were built on, and no map is available that shows the location of the three mounds with respect to where he collected artifacts from the site.

Documentation of Archaeological Materials from the Cherokee Lake Site (41RK132), Rusk County, Texas

Index of Texas Archaeology Open Access Grey Literature from the Lone Star State ◽

10.21112/.ita.2012.1.20 ◽

2012 ◽

Author(s):

Timothy K. Perttula

Keyword(s):

Supine Position ◽

18Th Century ◽

Glass Beads ◽

The Body ◽

The West ◽

Archaeological Materials ◽

Ceramic Vessels ◽

Lake Site ◽

Early 18Th Century ◽

Deceased Individual

The Cherokee Lake site was discovered by Buddy Calvin Jones in 1956, after a terrace area along Tiawichi Creek, inundated by the construction of Lake Cherokee in 1947, had been graded for the constmction of fish hatcheries there. Jones identified a single burial and a large storage pit in Area A at the southern end of the terrace, where there was a shallow (0-30 em bs) midden deposit. The burial in Area A is an Historic Nadaco Caddo grave that probably dates to the early 18th century based on the recovery of 15 blue glass beads. This strand of beads was placed near the legs of the deceased individual. The Caddo person had been placed in an extended supine position in a pit that was 1.83 m long and 0.76 em in width, with the head facing towards the west. The estimated depth of the grave was 0.76 m, and its fill was a dark charcoal-stained midden. In addition to the strand of glass beads, three ceramic vessels had been placed as funerary offerings in the grave along with a Fresno arrow point by the upper left leg. One Simms Engraved vessel was on the left side of the body, near the foot of the grave, while a second Simms Engraved vessel had been placed by the individual's right foot, along with a Maydelle Incised jar. A plain clay elbow pipe had been placed inside the jar. Two of the vessels from this burial have been recently documented in the collections of the Gregg County Historical Museum in Longview, Texas; the Maydelle Incised vessel is no longer in the collection.

Obsidian Artifacts from East Texas Archaeological Sites

Index of Texas Archaeology Open Access Grey Literature from the Lone Star State ◽

10.21112/.ita.2016.1.37 ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

Timothy K. Perttula ◽

Thomas R. Hester

Keyword(s):

Native American ◽

Material Culture ◽

Gulf Of California ◽

Archaeological Sites ◽

East Texas ◽

Source Data ◽

Ceramic Vessels ◽

Available Information ◽

Obsidian Source ◽

Made In

Obsidian artifacts are one of the few material culture remains on East Texas sites that provide direct evidence of distant links between East Texas’s native American peoples and native American communities in the Southwest or the Northwestern Plains. Other such material culture items include marine shells from the Gulf of California, turquoise from New Mexico sources, and sherds from ceramic vessels made in the Puebloan Southwest. Such artifacts, however, are rarely recovered in East Texas archaeological sites. In this article, we summarize the available information on obsidian artifacts from East Texas archaeological sites, much of it gathered from Hester’s Texas Obsidian Project (TOP), including obsidian source data when it is available.

The Jonas Short Site (41SA101), San Augustine County, Texas

Index of Texas Archaeology Open Access Grey Literature from the Lone Star State ◽

10.21112/.ita.2016.1.77 ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

Timothy K. Perttula ◽

Mark Walters

Keyword(s):

River Basin ◽

River Basins ◽

Woodland Period ◽

Cultural Tradition ◽

East Texas ◽

Coral Snake ◽

Alluvial Terrace ◽

University Of Texas ◽

The University ◽

The Jonas Short site (41SA101) is one of a few known and investigated Woodland period mounds in the Trans–Mississippi south (i.e., East Texas, Northwest Louisiana, Southwest Arkansas, and Southeast Oklahoma). In fact, the site is one of only four identified mound sites of possible Woodland period age—and Mossy Grove cultural tradition—in the Neches–Angelina and Sabine river basins in East Texas and Northwest Louisiana: Coral Snake (16SA48), Anthony (16SA7), Jonas Short, and Westerman (41HO15). The Jonas Short site was located on an alluvial terrace of the Angelina River. It was investigated in 1956 by archaeologists from the University of Texas and the River Basin Survey prior to its inundation by the waters of Lake Sam Rayburn.