A Preliminary Temporal Analysis of the East Texas Archaic

Abstract

This article presents preliminary findings of a temporal analysis of the East Texas Archaic based upon the examination of radiocarbon 14C dates from sites that have deposits that date to the period. All assays employed in this effort were collected from research and cultural resource management reports and publications, synthesized, then recalibrated in version 4.1.7 of OxCal using IntCal09. The date combination process is used herein to refine site-specific summed probability distributions, illustrating— for the first time—the temporal position of each dated archaeological site with an assay that falls within the Archaic. Seventy-three radiocarbon dates from 34 sites serve as the foundation for this analysis of the East Texas Archaic period (ca. 8000-500 B.C.) (Table 1). All dates used in this analysis come directly from the East Texas Radiocarbon Database (ETRD). Within the sample, there are 19 sites with a single radiocarbon sample that dates to the Archaic, eight sites with two dated samples, one site with three dated samples, three sites with four dated samples, one site with five dated samples, and one site with 14 dated samples. Of the 73 14C dates from the ETRD used in this analysis, one dates to the Early Archaic period (ca. 8000-5000 B.C.), eight date to the Middle Archaic period (ca. 5000-3000 B.C.), and the remaining 64 date to the Late Archaic period (ca. 3000-500 B.C.) (temporal divisions follow Perttula and Young).