Kinsloe Focus Artifact Assemblages and Nadaco Caddo

Abstract

The Kinsloe focus (now phase) was defined by Jones on the basis of seven sites in Gregg, Harrison, and Rusk counties in East Texas, in the middle reaches of the Sabine River basin. These sites are Ware Acres (41GG31), Kinsloe (4IGG3), Susie Slade (4IHSI3), Brown I (4IHS26I), C. D. Marsh (4IHS269), Millsey Williamson (4IRK3), and Cherokee Lake (41RK132). As currently understood, these historic Caddo sites were most likely occupied by Nadaco Caddo people between ca. A.D. 1680-1800. For our purposes here, my interest is in compiling in one place the characteristic material culture items found in the known Kinsloe phase sites as a whole, even though it is recognized that the seven sites probably were not all contemporaneously occupied and some of them may date as early as the late 17th century and others may date as late as the early 19th century. This compilation will be useful in any basic comparisons that may be made between the archaeology and material culture of the Nadaco Caddo and other historic Caddo groups living in East Texas, particularly in the diverse composition of cemrnic vessel assemblages and the abundance and range of European trade goods obtained by the various Caddo groups from the French, Spanish, and English traders.