Abstract
One of the few remaining Caddo mounds in northwest Louisiana is located at the Byram Ferry site (16BO17) in northern Bossier Parish near the Arkansas state line. Until recently, a brief description by Clarence B. Moore (1912) and a few comments by Clarence H. Webb in his undated and unpublished field notes constituted the only information about the site available to archeological researchers. A collection of sherds and one intact vessel from Byram Ferry are present in the Ralph McKinney collection currently on loan to the History Center at the Bossier Parish Library in Bossier City, Louisiana. Examination of this collection in 2003 prompted us to re-locate the site and conduct limited subsurface tests to determine whether or not intact cultural deposits remain. In this article I summarize earlier fieldwork, describe the 2003 testing, and present a descriptive analysis of the collections. The testing demonstrated that undisturbed buried cultural deposits are present at Byram Ferry. Represented ceramic types relate to the Middle Caddo period (Bossier phase) and the Late Caddo period (Belcher phase). Two radiocarbon assays suggest occupation took place in the 15th century A.D.
Highlights
One of the few remaining Caddo mounds in northwest Louisiana is located at the Byram Ferry site (16BO17) in northern Bossier Parish near the Arkansas state line (Figure 1)
Belcher Ridged and Pease Brushed Incised These types constitute the bulk of Caddo utilitarian pottery for the Middle and Late Caddo periods in northwest Louisiana
Recent alluvium has capped most of the cultural deposits and it is likely that structural remains and other significant features are preserved
Summary
One of the few remaining Caddo mounds in northwest Louisiana is located at the Byram Ferry site (16BO17) in northern Bossier Parish near the Arkansas state line (Figure 1). A collection of sherds and one intact vessel from Byram Ferry are present in the Ralph McKinney collection currently on loan to the History Center at the Bossier Parish Library in Bossier City, Louisiana Examination of this collection in 2003 prompted us to re-locate the site and conduct limited subsurface tests to determine whether or not intact cultural deposits remain. The landowner who owns the property to the north, where the smaller mound was located, granted permission for Baker and I to carry out shovel tests to determine whether or not intact deposits remain. The upper zone was a homogeneous, dark reddishbrown, very fine sandy loam that extended to between 16 and 20 cm below the surface (bs) It was separated by an abrupt smooth break to a stratified deposit, generally similar in color and texture, but with lenses and narrow strata of silt loam. Calibration of the assays strongly suggests that the site was occupied during the 15th century A.D. (Table 1), a result that conforms to our expectations given the range of pottery types present in the McKinney and Webb collections
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