Abstract
Toledo Bend Reservoir is one of the largest artificial lakes in the United States and the largest reservoir in the South. The lake is approximately 65 miles long and contains over 1200 miles of shoreline in both Louisiana and Texas. Construction began in 1964 with completion of the power plant, with the subsequent filling of the lake in 1969. Archaeological investigations at Toledo Bend Reservoir on the Sabine River and tributaries in both Louisiana and Texas took place primarily took during the 1960s, with survey and excavations, sometimes of a very limited nature by the University of Texas (UT) and Southern Methodist University (SMU). Girard has continued archaeological investigations along the Louisiana side of the reservoir, however, focusing particularly on work at the James Pace site. In this article we review the nature of the material culture assemblage of the Woodland and Caddo sites at Toledo Bend Reservoir based on the collections at the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at The University of Texas at Austin (TARL). This consists of ceramic and/or lithic artifacts from 76 different sites in Louisiana and Texas. We have also examined ceramic vessels from Woodland and Caddo burial features at several Toledo Bend Reservoir sites. Our purpose in re-examining the TARL collections from the Toledo Bend Reservoir is to better understand and characterize the material culture assemblages (primarily decorated ceramic sherds) from sites that date between ca. 2500 years B.P. and the late 17th-early 18th century A.D., particularly in light of questions concerning the cultural affiliation and cultural taxonomic relationships of the ancestral Caddo sites in this part of East Texas and western Louisiana.
Highlights
AND SETTINGIn this article we review the nature of the material culture assemblage of the Woodland and Caddo sites at Toledo Bend Reservoir based on the collections at the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at The University of Texas at Austin (TARL)
On the basis of the whole vessels from these sites, the cultural af¿liations of these sites may be said to exist with the Late Caddo Titus phase, given the popularity of Ripley Engraved, Taylor Engraved, Karnack Brushed-Incised, and Wilder Engraved vessels in the burials (Table 28); Belcher Ridged vessels from Belcher phase sites are funerary object inclusions in burials
It remains to be determined if any of these engraved vessels were locally manufactured, or were instead vessels traded to a local Caddo community that lived in this part of the Sabine River basin
Summary
In this article we review the nature of the material culture assemblage of the Woodland and Caddo sites at Toledo Bend Reservoir based on the collections at the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at The University of Texas at Austin (TARL). This consists of ceramic and/or lithic artifacts from 76 different sites in Louisiana and Texas. Our purpose in re-examining the TARL collections from the Toledo Bend Reservoir is to better understand and characterize the material culture assemblages (primarily decorated ceramic sherds) from sites that date between ca. Our purpose in re-examining the TARL collections from the Toledo Bend Reservoir is to better understand and characterize the material culture assemblages (primarily decorated ceramic sherds) from sites that date between ca. 2500 years B.P. and the late 17th-early 18th century A.D., in light of questions concerning the cultural af¿liation and cultural taxonomic relationships of the ancestral Caddo sites in this part of East Texas and western Louisiana (cf. Kelley 2006; Kelley et al 2010)
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