Archaeological Sites Along King Creek in Western Nacogdoches County, in East Texas

Abstract

The King Creek area of western Nacogdoches County in East Texas is known to be a locality where Historic Caddo sites (of the Allen phase, ca. A.D. 1650-1800) are abundant, or at least abundant relative to many other parts of East Texas. In addition to there being at least two branches of the late 17th-early 19th century El Camino Real de los Tejas that bisect the area on their way to crossings on the nearby Angelina River, three important Historic Caddo sites have been identified not far apart in the valley: J. T. King (41NAI5), David King (41NA32l), and Wes Wisener (41NA336); the David King and Wes Wisener sites lie a short distance south of the J. T. King site, on the west side of the King Creek valley. Tom Middlebrook suggests these sites, and other Historic Caddo sites yet to be identified in the valley, are part of an early 18th century Hainai Caddo village that had farmstead compounds dispersed across at least a 3-4 km stretch of the valley. In 2009, we had the opportunity to conduct archaeological survey investigations on private land on King Creek and one of its tributaries. The survey area is about l-1.5 km northeast of the J. T. King site. The principal focus of the survey work was to identify other Historic Caddo sites in the King Creek valley. Our interest in this property had first been piqued because the landowner had reported that a iron Spanish sword had been found on the property some years earlier; the landowner also mentioned that there were preserved segments of El Camino Real de los Tejas on the property. This article summarizes the findings from a first round of archaeological survey investigations