scholarly journals Artifact Assemblages from San Augustine County, Texas, Sites Recorded in 1939-1940 by Gus E. Arnold

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy Perttula
Keyword(s):  
River Basin ◽  
Archaeological Survey ◽  
East Texas ◽  
Surface Distribution ◽  
University Of Texas ◽  
Animal Bones ◽  
Ceramic Vessels ◽  
Mussel Shells ◽  
The University ◽  
Sabine River

During the 1939-1940 WPA-sponsored archaeological survey of East Texas, Gus E. Arnold was particularly active in identifying and recording sites in San Augustine County, in the East Texas Pineywoods (see Perttula 2015a, 2017a), as well as sites along Patroon, Palo Gaucho, and Housen bayous in neighboring Sabine County (Perttula 2015b, 2017b), and sites in the Angelina River basin in Angelina County (Perttula 2016c). During his archaeological survey efforts, he collected substantial assemblages of ceramic and lithic artifact assemblages (curated by the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at The University of Texas at Austin), primarily due to the fact that the surface of sites were well-exposed because of plowing, and he was encouraged to collect robust artifact assemblages by A. T. Jackson, the WPA survey director at The University of Texas at Austin. This article concerns the analysis of the recovered artifact assemblages from 14 different WPA sites in various parts of San Augustine County (Figure 1). The 14 archaeological sites are situated in several different stream basins, on a variety of landforms (i.e., floodplain rise, alluvial terrace, and upland ridge), including the Attoyac Bayou basin (41SA1 on Attoyac Bayou; 41SA5, at junction of Little and Big Arenosa Creek; 41SA24 on Price Creek; 41SA9, 41SA15, and 41SA16, Arenosa Creek), Patroon Bayou in the Sabine River basin (41SA11 and 41SA32), Palo Gaucho Bayou in the Sabine River basin (41SA108), Ayish Bayou (41SA77, 41SA80, 41SA95, and 41SA96) in the Angelina River basin; and Hog-Harvey creeks (41SA85) in the Angelina River basin. According to Arnold, these sites ranged from 1-6 acres in size, based on the surface distribution of artifacts as well as the extent of the landforms. In the case of the Hanks site (41SA80), midden deposits marked by mussel shells and animal bones were preserved there. The landowner had also previously collected two ceramic pipes, a celt, and a 33 cm long notched chert biface from the site. Burned and unburned animal bones were also noted on the surface of the Frost Johnson Lumber Co. site (41SA5); and burials associated with ceramic vessels and other material remains were noted when the site was first put into cultivation. Whole ceramic vessels from ancestral Caddo burial features had been reported to have eroded out of the Allan Howill (41SA24) and J. McGilberry (41SA85) sites. The Allan Howill site also had mussel shells and fragments of animal bone visible on the surface, and an area with ancestral Caddo burials (at least three with skeletal remains) was reported on the edge of an upland bluff there. Arnold also excavated several test pits of unknown size at the D. C. Hines site (41SA95), where he encountered archaeological deposits between ca. 60-76 cm bs. Arnold also noted “exceptionally large quantities of petrified wood, chert and flint flakes and chips cover the surface” of the D. C. Hines site.

scholarly journals Caddo Sites on Patroon, Palo Gaucho, and Housen Bayous in Sabine County in the Sabine River Basin of East Texas

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy K. Perttula
Keyword(s):  
River Basin ◽  
Archaeological Survey ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
East Texas ◽  
Social Character ◽  
Reservoir Area ◽  
University Of Texas ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The University ◽  
Sabine River

The 13 ancestral Caddo sites and collections discussed in this article were recorded by G. E. Arnold of The University of Texas at Austin between January and April 1940 as part of a WPA-funded archaeological survey of East Texas. The sites are located along the lower reaches of Patroon, Palo Gaucho, and Housen bayous in Sabine County, Texas. These bayous are eastward-flowing tributaries to the Sabine River in the Toledo Bend Reservoir area, but only 41SB30 is located below the current Toledo Bend Reservoir flood pool. This is an area where the temporal, spatial, and social character of the Caddo archaeological record is not well known, despite the archaeological investigations of Caddo sites at Toledo Bend Reservoir in the 1960s-early 1970s, and in more recent years.

scholarly journals The Caddo Ceramic Vessels from the Cemetery at 41HS74 on Hatley Creek in the Sabine River Basin, Harrison County, Texas

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy Perttula
Keyword(s):  
River Basin ◽  
Research Laboratory ◽  
East Texas ◽  
University Of Texas ◽  
Ceramic Vessels ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The University ◽  
Sabine River ◽  
Habitation Site

Site 41HS74 is an ancestral Caddo habitation site and cemetery on Hatley Creek, a southwardflowing tributary to the Sabine River, in the East Texas Pineywoods (Figure 1). The site was investigated in 1986 by Heartfield, Price and Greene, Inc. (1988). The re-analysis of the ceramic vessels recovered from nine burial features at the site are the subject of this article. The vessels are curated at the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at The University of Texas at Austin (TARL).

scholarly journals Caddo Ceramic Vessels from the Fred Yarbrough Site (41VN6) in the Upper Sabine River Basin, Van Zandt County, Texas

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy K. Perttula
Keyword(s):  
River Basin ◽  
Research Laboratory ◽  
Works Progress Administration ◽  
East Texas ◽  
University Of Texas ◽  
Ceramic Vessels ◽  
Initial Description ◽  
The University ◽  
Sabine River

Excavations in 1940 by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) at the Fred Yarbrough site (41VN6) in the upper Sabine River basin recovered a number of ceramic vessels from Area B of the site. Johnson provided an initial description of the vessels as well as drawings of a number of the reconstructed vessels. In this article, I reexamine the nine vessels from the Fred Yarbrough site held in the collections of the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at the University of Texas at Austin (TARL), employing the vessel documentation protocol used in recent years to document ancestral Caddo vessels from sites in East Texas, and I also provide photographs of each of the vessels.

scholarly journals Ancestral Caddo Ceramic Vessels from Sites in Nacogdoches and Panola Counties in East Texas

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy K. Perttula
Keyword(s):  
River Basin ◽  
The Other ◽  
East Texas ◽  
The West ◽  
University Of Texas ◽  
Major Tributary ◽  
Ceramic Vessels ◽  
The One ◽  
The University ◽  
Sabine River

The ancestral Caddo ceramic vessels discussed in this article are from four different sites in Nacogdoches and Panola counties, in East Texas. The one site in Nacogdoches County, namely the Gatewood site (41NA3) is located in the Angelina River basin, while the three Panola County sites (41PN5, 41PN15, and H. L. English Farm) are on tributaries that flow into the Sabine River. The Gatewood site is on the west bank of Attoyac Bayou, a major tributary of the Angelina River basin, in the easternmost part of Nacogdoches County. In 1939, a road grader working along a county road had exposed an ancestral Caddo burial feature with skeletal remains and three ceramic vessels. Gus Arnold, working on the University of Texas Archeological survey of East Texas, recorded the site and collected one of the ceramic vessels; no details were obtained on the other two vessels in the feature.

scholarly journals Ceramic Vessels from Caddo Sites in Wood County, Texas

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy K. Perttula ◽  
Mark Walters
Keyword(s):  
Supine Position ◽  
Research Laboratory ◽  
East Texas ◽  
University Of Texas ◽  
Ceramic Vessels ◽  
Mussel Shells ◽  
The University ◽  
Sabine River ◽  
East West

This article concerns the documentation of 54 ceramic vessels in the collections of the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at The University of Texas at Austin (TARL) from seven ancestral Caddo sites in Wood County in East Texas (Figure 1). This includes vessels from A. C. Gibson (41WD1, n=2 vessels), J. H. Reese (41WD2, n=26), H. D. Spigner (41WD4, n=17), Mattie Dial (41WD5, n=2), B. F. Cathey (41WD14, n=2), J. H. Baker (41WD33, n=4), and 41WD117 (n=1 vessel). The A. C. Gibson site is situated in the floodplain of the Sabine River near the confluence with Cottonwood Creek. In 1932, looters had dig in a midden deposit (with many mussel shells) and exposed one ancestral Caddo burial with two vessels. In 1934, University of Texas archaeologists excavated two more burials (S-1 and S-2) in the midden. Burial S-1 was that of a child, in a flexed position; this burial had no associated funerary offerings. Burial S-2 held two individuals in an extended supine position in an east-west oriented grave. This burial had two ceramic vessels and a rounded elbow pipe as funerary offerings. The TARL files also indicate that at least three ancestral Caddo burials were excavated by amateur archaeologists prior to the 1970s, and at least one burial had associated ceramic vessels. The nearby Son Gibson Farm site (41WD518) is reported to have had sherds from Sanders Slipped, Sanders Engraved, Canton Incised, and Maxey Noded Redware vessels, and it may be contemporaneous with the burials at the A. C. Gibson site.

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 41VN63: A Late Archaic-Woodland Period Site in the Upper Sabine River Basin, Van Zandt County, Texas

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy K. Perttula ◽  
Bob D. Skiles ◽  
Julian A. Sitters
Keyword(s):  
River Basin ◽  
Woodland Period ◽  
Archaeological Survey ◽  
Late Archaic ◽  
University Of Texas ◽  
Petrified Wood ◽  
Pottery Sherds ◽  
Multiple Component ◽  
The University ◽  
Sabine River

Site 41VN63 is a multiple component Late Archaic (circa [ca.] 5000-2500 years B.P.) and Woodland period (ca. 2500-1150 years B.P.) site on an upland landform in the upper Sabine River basin. The site was recorded by James Malone (1972) during the archaeological survey of then-proposed Mineola Reservoir on the Sabine River; the reservoir has not been built. Malone described the site in 1971 as being located on an upland ridge on the southeast side of Caney Creek, and covered a 20 x 50 m area. He noted and/or collected from the site surface chert, quartzite, and petrified wood lithic debris (n=28) and cores (n=11) . Malone also mentioned finding flake tools as well as plain pottery sherds at the site, but no such artifacts were mentioned in Malone’s tabulations. This collection has yet to be examined at the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at The University of Texas at Austin. Shortly thereafter, Bob D. Skiles learned of the site and, with the permission of the landowner, conducted surface collections there on several occasions over the next two years, and recorded the site as GS-1 in his site recording system. In the late 1980s, Skiles loaned Perttula the artifacts he had collected from the site, and they were studied and documented at that time. Now, this many years later, the results of those analyses are provided in this article.

scholarly journals The J. M. Snow Site (41CE8) in the Neches River Basin, Cherokee County, Texas

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy K. Perttula
Keyword(s):  
River Basin ◽  
East Texas ◽  
Deer Antler ◽  
University Of Texas ◽  
Ceramic Pipe ◽  
Ceramic Vessel ◽  
Ceramic Vessels ◽  
Mussel Shells ◽  
Neches River ◽  
Habitation Site

The J. M. Snow site (41CE8) is an ancestral Caddo habitation site and probable small cemetery in the Pineywoods of East Texas. According to Jackson, the site had two habitation areas along the bank of an old channel of the Neches River, each some 300 m from an area where the landowner found 8-10 ceramic vessels from one or more burials that had eroded into a ravine. A Bullard Brushed jar was purchased from the landowner. One of the habitation areas had a well-preserved midden deposit about 4.6-7.6 m in diameter and ca. 46-76 cm in thickness. University of Texas (UT) excavations in September 1933 concentrated on this midden deposit. The work recovered burned clay, mussel shells, ash, bone awls (n=2), perforated mussel shells, bone beads (n=2), lithic scrapers, deer antler tools, and deer, dog, raccoon, turtle, turkey, fish, rabbit, and squirrel bone refuse, as well as ceramic pipe sherds and many ceramic vessel sherds.

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.

scholarly journals Two Radiocarbon Dates from the Salt Lick Site (16SA37a) at Toledo Bend Reservoir, Sabine Parish, Louisiana

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy K. Perttula
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
University Of Texas ◽  
Salt Lick ◽  
Ceramic Vessels ◽  
Mussel Shells ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The University ◽  
Sabine River ◽  
Habitation Site

The Salt Lick site (16SA37) is an ancestral Caddo site at Toledo Bend Reservoir in Sabine Parish, Louisiana. Before the creation of the reservoir, archaeological investigations on the Sabine River and tributaries in both Louisiana and Texas took place primarily took during the 1960s, with survey and excavations, sometimes of a very limited nature by the University of Texas and Southern Methodist University. The Salt Lick site was investigated by McClurkan in the Fall of 1964. The Salt Lick site (16SA37a) was a Caddo habitation site (with midden deposits) on a natural rise south of La Nana bayou, a westward-flowing tributary to the Sabine River. Hand and backhoe trench excavations uncovered 10 burials, six that may have been flexed and four that were extended burials with the deceased placed in an extended supine position on the floor of the grave. Only two of the flexed burials had funerary offerings: a Pease Brushed-Incised jar and an engraved carinated bowl with a poorly executed design (Burial 1), and two engraved bowls (Burial 4). The engraved bowls resemble varieties of Womack Engraved and Patton Engraved. The extended burials, on the other hand, had a number of funerary offerings, including ceramic vessels (n=25), a clay elbow pipe (n=1), a quiver of Perdiz arrow points (n=12), a sandstone ear spool, mussel shells (n=2), and turtle shells (n=3).

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