The Ear Spool Site (41TT653): A mid-15th to early 17th Century A.D. Caddo site in the Sulphur River Basin, Titus County, Texas

Abstract

The Ear Spool site (41TT653) is a rather unique ancestral Caddo Settlement in the East Texas Pineywoods. More specifically, it is situated along a small tributary to East Piney Creek, itself a northward flowing tributart to White Oak Creek in the Sulphyr River Basin. What makes the site unique is its diverse architectural charter as seen in the archaeological evidence of four buildings in two different Late Caddo period, Titus phase occupations, separated by as much as 2-3 generations, from the mid- 15th to early 17th century A.D. In, particular, it is the construction of two specialized structures in the earlier Caddo occupation in shallow pits that is most notable, along with evidence of marker posts in two different intra-site contexts. Both of these structures were deliberately destroyed by burning and burial with sediments. The later structures were larger circular residential structures, one of which was deliberately burned down, but not covered with any sediments. Galan and Perttula and Sherman has discussed the archaeological investigations of the Ear Spool site in detail, characterizing the site's archaeological features and findings. However, these publications are very limited in distribution, basically being limited to Cultural Resource Management archaeologist working in Texas, but I believe that the findings from the Ear Spool site warrant broader consideration because of its distinctive and dual scared and secular nature.