The Hurricane Hill Site (41HP106) The Archaeology of a Late Archaic/Early Ceramic and Early-Middle Caddoan Settlement in Northeast Texas, Vol. I

Abstract

The Hurricane Hill site (41HP106) in Hopkins County, Texas, is a large, multi-component prehistoric site located on the South Sulphur River along the Cooper Lake dam embankment constructed by the Ft. Worth District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. A series of four phases of archaeological investigations were completed at the site by the Institute of Applied Sciences, University of North Texas, between September 1986 and July 1987, as part of the mitigation of adverse effects on important cultural resources necessitated by the construction of the Cooper Lake dam. This report summarizes the research objectives, and methods of excavation employed at the site, the cultural and natural stratigraphy, and also the various analyses of the archaeological remains recovered from Hurricane Hill. This includes the lithic, ceramic, and bone artifacts or tools, the plant and animal remains, as well as the human skeletal remains. Analyses of the stratigraphy and over 230 features indicates that although the site was utilized to some extent as long ago as 10,000 years B.P., the primary occupations occurred during the Late Archaic/Early Ceramic periods (ca. 800 B.C.-A.D. 500) on the Southwest and North rises, during the Early Caddoan period on the North rise (ca. A.D. 900/1000-1200), and during the Middle Caddoan period (A.D. 1200 -1400)) on the South rise.