Annual Meeting 2012
2012 Annual Meeting
You are invited to Tyler for the 83nd Annual Meeting of the
Texas Archeological Society
SYMPOSIA AND SYMPOSIA PAPERS
Symposium 1: Current Research on Caddo Archeology
Organized by Mary Beth Trubitt (Arkansas Archeological Survey, Arkadelphia)
This symposium showcases the diversity that was present in community patterning, structures and mounds, ritual behavior, and material culture across the Caddo Area, as seen by current archeological research on sites in Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. Papers presented here highlight issues such as the origins and the development of characteristics that lead us to define this area as Caddo, as well as addressing interactions and relationships between the Caddo and their neighbors in the Plains and Southeast.
Date Combination and Summed Probability Distributions: A Preliminary Analysis of the East Texas Caddo Tradition (ca. A.D. 800-1680)
Robert Z. Selden, Jr. (Department of Anthropology, Texas A&M University, College Station, and Center for Regional Heritage Research, Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches) and Timothy K. Perttula (Archeological & Environmental Consultants, LLC)
The East Texas Radiocarbon Database contributes to an analysis of tempo and place for Caddo era (ca. A.D. 800-1680) archeological sites within the region. The temporal and spatial distributions of calibrated radiocarbon (14C) ages (n=889) with a standard deviation (∆T) of 58 from archeological sites with Caddo components (n=151) are useful in exploring the development and geographical continuity of the Caddo peoples in East Texas, and lead to a refinement of our current chronological understanding of the tradition. The method of date combination, prior to the production of site and period-specific summed probability distributions, has reduced the number of 14C dates to 407 with a ∆T of 53. The analysis of the resultant dataset confirms the separation of the East Texas Caddo archeological record into Formative Caddo (ca. A.D. 800-1000), Early Caddo (ca. A.D. 1000-1200), Middle Caddo (ca. A.D. 1200-1450), and Late Caddo (ca. A.D. 1450-1680) periods.
Early Ceremonial Centers on the Southeastern Edge of the Caddo Area
Jeffrey S. Girard (Northwestern State University of Louisiana, Natchitoches)
The presence of ceremonial centers is an important indicator of past regional sociopolitical integration. Although rare or nonexistent in the Caddo Area prior to the 10th century, ceremonial centers consisting of multiple mounds and plazas were in existence in the Catahoula Basin and lower Red and Ouachita River regions of central Louisiana several centuries earlier. I review current information on the nature and distribution of ceremonial centers on the southeastern edge of the Caddo Area during the second half of the first millennium A.D., and offer some ideas about how their presence influenced early Caddo developments.
Geophysical Survey at the Grobin Davis Mound Center, McCurtain County, Oklahoma
Amanda Regnier (Oklahoma Archeological Survey, Norman), Scott Hammerstedt (Oklahoma Archeological Survey, Norman), and Nicholas Beale (University of Oklahoma, Norman)
Of the recorded Caddo mound sites in southeast Oklahoma, the Grobin Davis site (34Mc253) is the best preserved. Limited archeological testing conducted in the early 1980s revealed information about the nature of the seven mounds and suggested the presence of discrete areas of midden deposition. Last winter, geophysical survey was conducted over the majority of the site to search for areas of off-mound occupation. This represents the first stage in a project to better understand the role of the mound center in prehistoric political and religious life in the Little River drainage. We present the results of the geophysics and discuss their implications.
Mississippian Occupation of the Wister Valley in Eastern Oklahoma
Elsbeth Linn Dowd (Sam Noble Museum, University of Oklahoma, Norman)
The Wister Valley, located along the northern edge of the Ouachita Mountains in eastern Oklahoma, is best known for its Fourche Maline sites that were largely in use during the Woodland period. However, excavations by the WPA also uncovered evidence of structures occupied during the Mississippian period. This paper describes my preliminary analysis of the Heflin I site (34Lf14), which although excavated in 1941 is only now being catalogued and analyzed. Looking at Mississippian sites situated between the Arkansas River and Red River valleys may help us to tease apart some of the relationships between these complex societies.
Multi-sensor Remote Sensing and Mapping at Spiro: Discovering Intrasite Organization
Jami J. Lockhart (Arkansas Archeological Survey, Fayetteville), Scott W. Hammerstedt (Oklahoma Archeological Survey, Norman), Patrick C. Livingood (Department of Anthropology, University of Oklahoma, Norman), Tim Mulvihill (Arkansas Archeological Survey, Fort Smith), Amanda L. Regnier (Oklahoma Archeological Survey, Norman), George Sabo III (Arkansas Archeological Survey, Fayetteville), and John Samuelson (Arkansas Archeological Survey, Fayetteville)
Regionally preeminent during the 13th and 14th centuries, Spiroans amassed diverse symbols of wealth and power from surrounding cultures. Examinations of the Great Mortuary continue to yield insights into Southeastern ceremonialism and cosmology, but excavations during the past century leave many questions concerning intra-site organization. Recent broad-scale gradiometry and high-accuracy mapping (along with multi-sensor geophysics in selected areas) are now providing compelling evidence of population density, structure size and type, activity areas, internal boundaries, site extents, and historic disturbances. To date, geophysical survey and mapping covers more than 22 hectares. We present those results with interpretations and future research plans.
Dr. Krieger Comes To Arkansas: The 1948 Mound Excavations at Battle Mound (3LA1)
Duncan McKinnon (University of Arkansas, Fayetteville)
In 1948, Dr. Alex D. Krieger of the University of Texas obtained a grant to conduct excavations at Battle Mound in southwest Arkansas. Goals of the fieldwork were to create a contour map and explore mound construction and associated mound structures. Mr. Lynn Howard, a graduate student at the University of Michigan, conducted excavations with help from several notable scholars and avocationalists, such as Glen Evans, Clarence Webb, Bill Newcomb, Pete Miroir, R. King Harris, and Robert L. Stephenson along with laborers from surrounding farms. Sixty years later, an analysis of the excavation reveals a complex mound stratigraphy with at least three burned and buried circular structures containing the remains of large cooking vessels. The long-overdue analysis of the 1948 excavation notes, maps, and material objects allows for further insight into Caddo ritual and symbolism associated with mound top structures.
Describing Caddo Ceramics Using the “Collegiate System”
Ann M. Early (Arkansas Archeological Survey, Fayetteville) and Mary Beth Trubitt (Arkansas Archeological Survey, Arkadelphia)
The “Collegiate System” was developed as an alternative to the type-variety system to describe and classify decorated ceramics from southern Arkansas. Originally used by Frank Schambach in a “borderland” between Caddo and Mississippian areas, the system has developed into a tool for stylistic analysis of Caddo vessels from sites east of the Red River. Here, we review some history of the use of the collegiate system, and focus on recent and potential applications, from identifying design grammars and distinguishing non-local vessels, to recognizing the work of individual artisans. Current efforts move towards full publication of the collegiate system, including identified classes, patterns, and designs illustrated with type vessels, as part of the Arkansas Archeological Survey’s digital vessel database project.
The Discovery of the 1716 Mission Concepcion at the Hainai Caddi’s Village
Tom Middlebrook (Texas Archeological Stewardship Network, Nacogdoches), Morris Jackson (Texas Archeological Stewardship Network, Nacogdoches), and George Avery (Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches)
After a dedicated search of over five years, the site of Mission Nuestra Señora de la Purísima Concepción de los Hainai established by the Ramon Expedition in July 1716 was discovered in 2010 near a previously unrecognized crossing of the Angelina River by El Camino Real de los Tejas in western Nacogdoches County. The Mission and the associated village of Cheocas, the caddi of the Hainai, are part of a complex of four archeological sites. This paper reviews ethnohistoric descriptions, geomorphology, artifact findings, and geophysical studies from the sites.