scholarly journals Caddo Ceramic Vessels from the Womack Site (41LR1), Lamar County, Texas

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy K. Perttula ◽  
Mark Walters
Keyword(s):  
Red River ◽  
East Texas ◽  
Alluvial Terrace ◽  
North Central ◽  
University Of Texas ◽  
Ceramic Vessels ◽  
The University ◽  
Analysis And Study

The Womack site (41LR1) is an ancestral Caddo settlement situated on an alluvial terrace in a horseshoe bend of the Red River in north central Lamar County in East Texas. Harris completed the analysis and study of their 1938-mid-1960s investigations at the site, but the findings from the earlier archaeological investigations conducted at the site by the University of Texas (UT) in 1931 have only been recently published.

scholarly journals Caddo Ceramic Vessels from the T. M. Sanders Site (41LR2) on the Red River in Lamar County, Texas

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy Perttula ◽  
Mark Walters ◽  
Bo Nelson
Keyword(s):  
Research Laboratory ◽  
Red River ◽  
Silt Loam ◽  
East Texas ◽  
Alluvial Terrace ◽  
Alluvial Sediments ◽  
University Of Texas ◽  
Special Publication ◽  
Ceramic Vessels ◽  
The University

The T. M. Sanders site (41LR2) is one of the more important ancestral Caddo sites known in East Texas, primarily because of its two earthen mounds and the well-preserved mortuary features of Caddo elite persons buried in Mound No. 1 (the East Mound). The Sanders site is located on a broad alluvial terrace just south of the confluence of Bois d’Arc Creek and the Red River. The terrace has silt loam soils, which have a shallow dark brown silt loam A-horizon overlying thick B- and C-horizons that range from dark reddish-brown, reddish-brown, dark brown, to yellowish-red in color. These soils formed in loamy alluvial sediments of the Red River. In this Special Publication, we discuss the analysis and documentation of the 78 ceramic vessels from the T. M. Sanders site in the collections of the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at The University of Texas at Austin. Our concern is in documenting the stylistic and technological character of these vessels, and assessing their cultural relationships and stylistic associations; almost 80 percent of these vessels are from burial features excavated by University of Texas archaeologists in Mound No. 1 (East Mound) in July and August 1931; others are from excavations in midden deposits between the two mounds. We also consider and revise the current ceramic taxonomy for a number of the vessels from the T. M. Sanders site.

scholarly journals The Womack Site (41LR1), an Ancestral Caddo Settlement on the Red River in Lamar County, Texas

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy K. Perttula
Keyword(s):  
River Basin ◽  
Red River ◽  
East Texas ◽  
Alluvial Terrace ◽  
Settlement History ◽  
North Central ◽  
University Of Texas ◽  
History Of ◽  
The University ◽  
Sabine River

The Womack site (41LR1) is an ancestral Caddo settlement situated on an alluvial terrace in a horseshoe bend of the Red River in north central Lamar County in East Texas. Harris completed the analysis and study of their 1938-mid-1960s investigations at the site, but the findings from the earlier archaeological investigations conducted at the site by the University of Texas (UT) in 1931 have not been previously published. In this article I discuss the 1931 investigations by UT at the Womack site, and also summarize the character of the artifact assemblage recovered at the site during this work. Lastly, I consider the occupational character and settlement history of the Womack site—particularly its history of settlement by ancestral Caddo peoples—and define a Womack phase for the ca. A.D. 1690-1750 archeological components at the Womack, Sanders (41LR2), Goss Farm (41FN12), and Harling (41FN1) sites along the upper Red River and the Gilbert (41RA13) and Pearson (41RA5) sites in the upper Sabine River basin.

scholarly journals Caddo Ceramic Vessels from the Eli Moores Site (41BW2), Bowie County, Texas

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy K. Perttula
Keyword(s):  
18Th Century ◽  
Red River ◽  
Faunal Remains ◽  
East Texas ◽  
University Of Texas ◽  
Lithic Assemblage ◽  
Ceramic Vessels ◽  
The University ◽  
Early 18Th Century ◽  
Habitation Site

The Eli Moores site (41BW2) is an important ancestral Caddo mound center and habitation site on the Red River in the East Texas Pineywoods, likely part of the Nasoni Caddo village visited by the Teran de los Rios entrada in 1691. The Eli Moores site is situated on a natural levee of the Red River, currently about 2.5 km north of the site. The site, occupied from the 17th to the early 18th century, may have been the residence of the Caddi of the Nasoni Caddo when it was visited by the French and Spanish, and the Xinesi lived in a temple on the mound at the nearby Hatchel site (41BW3). The site was investigated by the University of Texas in 1932, and in one of the mounds and in associated midden deposits, the remains of Caddo structures, midden deposits, features, eight burials (with nine individuals), and a large ceramic and lithic assemblage were recovered, along with well-preserved plant and faunal remains.

scholarly journals The Frank Norris Farm Site (41RR2) on the Red River in East Texas

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy K. Perttula ◽  
Mark Walters
Keyword(s):  
Red River ◽  
Frank Norris ◽  
East Texas ◽  
University Of Texas ◽  
Deep Pit ◽  
Ceramic Vessels ◽  
Shell Beads ◽  
The One ◽  
Local Farm ◽  
The University

The Frank Norris Farm site (41RR2) was an ancestral Caddo settlement and mound center, with an associated cemetery, on the bank of the Red River, about five miles northeast of the community of Manchester, Texas, and just southeast of the Sam Kaufman/Roitsch site (41RR16). The site was reported by B. B. Gardner of the University of Texas to have three earthen mounds. Apparently the site eroded into the Red River in 1936. The three mounds at the site were located east of a local farm road, and the bank of the Red River was a short distance to the east. Mound No. 1 was ca. 27 m in length, 23 m in width, and 3 m in height; Mound No. 2 was ca. 33.5 m in length, 24 m in width, and 3.7 m in height; and Mound No. 3 was ca. 18 m in length, 12 m in width, and 1.8 m in height. Gardner trenched Mound No. 1 in the summer of 1930 but found only a few sherds and no obvious features. A low alluvial ridge not far south of Mound No. 3 was also trenched by Gardner, and he recovered sherds from archaeological deposits there. Gardner also noted that in the Red River cut bank was an ca. 46-61 cm thick archaeological deposit with black sediments and ceramic sherds. Although Gardner’s 1930 notes are not specific, he apparently excavated at least one burial at the Frank Norris Farm. Correspondence in the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory (TARL) files stated that Gardner found burials that were from 1.2-1.5 m in depth and scattered across the site. Local diggers began to search out and excavate Caddo burials at the Frank Norris Farm site in 1934 and 1935, and these diggers sold the ceramic vessels and other funerary offerings (including a spatulate celt, arrow points, and shell beads) they found to local collectors like George T. Wright. According to W. A. Rikard, an interested avocational archaeologist from the region, at least nine burials had been found and dug by collectors at the site, not including the one or more burials he excavated there. He did mention in 1935 correspondence to A. T. Jackson that one burial he excavated was in a 1.2 m deep pit and had a shell-tempered neck banded jar as an associated funerary offering. He also noted that other Caddo burials were being exposed in the eroding cut bank of the Red River, where they were easily looted.

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 The Harling Site (41FN1): An Ancestral Caddo Mound Site on the Red River in Fannin County, Texas

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy K. Perttula
Keyword(s):  
River Valley ◽  
Red River ◽  
East Texas ◽  
Alluvial Terrace ◽  
The West ◽  
University Of Texas ◽  
Red River Valley ◽  
Short Summary ◽  
Coles Creek ◽  
Length Width

The Harling site (41FN1), also earlier known as the Morgan Place, is a little-known ancestral Caddo mound site located on the first alluvial terrace of the Red River in the northeastern corner of Fannin County in East Texas. The only professional archaeological investigations at the Harling site took place in November-December 1960 by a University of Texas crew led by Dr. E. Mott Davis, in advance of proposed mound leveling by the landowner. Other than short summary articles by Davis, the results of the excavations and analyses of the recovered artifacts from the Harling site have not been previously published. The mound at the site was leveled in 1963 by the landowner, Mr. R. A. Harling. The single mound at the site was approximately 70 x 52 x 2.1 m in length, width, and height. There was a borrow pit area at the southern end of the mound. The mound at the Harling site appears to be the westernmost known of the more than 100 Caddo mounds that have been reported in East Texas. According to Davis (1996:463), the site is on the western frontier of Caddo communities in the Red River valley, and Caddo settlements are found at most only a few miles to the west of the site along the river, but are common to the east of the Harling mound. Based on the 1960 excavations of the mound and an examination at that time of the surrounding alluvial landforms—which were plowed—there was no substantial Caddo settlement at the Harling site, or any associated settlement cluster within ca. 2.5 km of the mound, although there were scattered artifacts from the surface dispersed both east and west of the mound. When R. L. Stephenson, E. O. Miller, and Lester Wilson visited the Harling site in August 1950, however, they commented that artifacts were abundant in the plowed fields around the mound. In particular they noted that the ceramic sherds were mostly plain and grog-tempered, and some of the sherds had a red slip (i.e., Sanders Plain). R. King Harris also collected artifacts from the site, primarily from an area to the west of the mound and near the edge of the alluvial terrace . He collected from this area W Gary dart points, Alba arrow points, plain sherds, and one Coles Creek Incised rim with an incised lip line. In the fields east of the mound, Harris collected a number of small triangular arrow points, suggesting that this area was where the latest Caddo occupation had taken place.

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 Documentation of the Caddo Ceramic Vessels from the Culpepper Site (41HP1) in Hopkins County in the Upper Sulphur River Basin in East Texas

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy K. Perttula
Keyword(s):  
River Basin ◽  
East Texas ◽  
White Oak ◽  
Tall Grass ◽  
University Of Texas ◽  
Cultural Affiliation ◽  
Tall Grass Prairie ◽  
Post Oak ◽  
Ceramic Vessels ◽  
The University

The Culpepper site (41HP1) is a late (post-A.D. 1600) Titus phase site in the upper Sulphur River basin in East Texas. It is on a sandy knoll alongside Stouts Creek, a small northward-flowing stream in the White Oak Creek basin of the larger Sulphur River drainage. The site is in the modern-day Post Oak Savannah, but there are areas of tall grass prairie between Stouts Creek and White Oak Creek; the larger White Oak and Sulphur prairies lie approximately 15 km to the west and northwest. Excavations at the Culpepper site by University of Texas (UT) archaeologists in 1931 uncovered a number of ancestral Caddo burial features with associated ceramic vessel funerary offerings. These ceramic vessels are presently curated at the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at The University of Texas at Austin (TARL). In this article I document and analyze the Culpepper site vessels to better ascertain the likely chronological age and social and cultural affiliation of the Caddo populations that occupied the Stouts Creek area, as well as their interrelationships with other known Caddo communities in East Texas.

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.

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