An Historic Caddo Burial at the Swen Farm Site (41BW65), Bowie County, Texas

Timothy Perttula

doi:10.21112/ita.2017.1.18

Abstract

The Swen Farm site is on an alluvial terrace (220-230 ft. amsl) of the Sulphur River. When it was first recorded in 1970 prior to the enlargement of Lake Wright Patman the landform was an island in the reservoir, with the submerged channel of the river along the eastern and northern sides of the island, with artifacts of Archaic, Woodland, and ancestral Caddo period age exposed in several areas, and midden deposits were also present (Briggs and Malone 1970). In 1971, an early 18th century Caddo burial feature was discovered at the site by L. H. Head, Sr., of Texarkana, Texas. Larry Head, Jr., then a college student at The University of Texas, assisted with the excavation of this burial feature and the recovery of associated grave goods (Head 1972).

Highlights

The Swen Farm site is on an alluvial terrace (220-230 ft. amsl) of the Sulphur River
The remnants of an ancestral Caddo burial feature had been excavated in 1971 in a cut bank of a Sulphur River alluvial terrace at the Swen Farm site, where it had been exposed by erosion of the waters of Lake Texarkana ( Lake Wright Patman)
The burial feature contained only human tooth and skull fragments as well as several funerary offerings, among them a ceramic elbow pipe, portions of two ceramic vessels, and approximately 1150 small white, clear, and blue glass beads of Types No 45, 47, and 49 in the Harris and Harris (1967) Bead Chart. Their analysis of a number of other Historic Caddo and Wichita sites in Texas and Oklahoma indicate that these types of beads, which they refer to as garter Journal of Northeast Texas Archaeology, Volume 72, 2017

Summary

Introduction

The Swen Farm site is on an alluvial terrace (220-230 ft. amsl) of the Sulphur River. The Swen Farm site is on an alluvial terrace When it was ÀUVWUHFRUGHGLQSULRUWRWKHHQODUJHPHQWRI/DNH:ULJKW3DWPDQWKHODQGIRUPZDVDQLVODQG in the reservoir, with the submerged channel of the river along the eastern and northern sides of the island, with artifacts of Archaic, Woodland, and ancestral Caddo period age exposed in several areas, and midden deposits were present (Briggs and Malone 1970). In 1971, an early 18th century Caddo burial feature was discovered at the site by L. Larry Head, Jr., a college student at The University of Texas, assisted with the excavation of this burial feature and the recovery of associated grave goods (Head 1972)

Burial Feature and Associated Grave Goods

Summary and Conclusions