East Texas Pineywoods Research Articles

Raccoons and opossums respond similarly to high and low development in the East Texas Pineywoods

Over the last half-century, cities across the southeastern United States have experienced consistent human population growth, which has increased the rate of urban sprawl and subsequent habitat fragmentation with resource subsidies from development. The northern raccoon (Procyon lotor) and Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana) are mesopredators commonly associated with and benefiting from urbanized areas. We conducted a small-scale study of raccoons and opossums within the Nacogdoches, Texas, in January 2014. We captured and marked individual raccoons and opossums and used occupancy and spatial-capture-recapture models to examine habitat use, detection, and population density in high- and low-density urban study areas. We predicted to find high densities of each mesopredator, relative to other studies in larger metropolitan areas. We also expected to find a response to landscape features in the high-development study area to be closely associated with anthropogenic features and proximity to water, but less pronounced in the low-development study area. Contrary to our predictions, the detectability of each species in the high-development study area had a positive association with areas further from buildings, and raccoon habitat use had a positive association farther from natural water. Similarly, in the low-development study area, we found raccoon detectability had a positive association with areas farther from the urban edge and opossums had a positive association with areas with smaller forest patches (i.e., edge habitat). We were able to estimate 13.66 raccoons/km2 (95% CI 7.10–26.30) in the high-development study area and 12.55 opossums/km2 (95% CI 04.36–36.15) in the low-development study area. Our results indicate high densities of each species, and the first urban density of Virginia opossum using spatial-capture-recapture methods which further supports that these mesopredators are adapted to and benefit from urban-derived resources in urban areas. This study highlights the adaptability of these small mesopredators and the need for managers to consider adaptive strategies across different urban intensities as the ecology of these species may differ as compared to larger cities.

Observation of Tick Parasitism on Scincella lateralis in Texas

Cases of Ixodes scapularis (Blacklegged Tick or Deer Tick) are known to infest a variety of lizard species including Scincella lateralis (Ground Skink). We report the finding of 1 Ground Skink with an attached immature tick, later identified as an engorged Blacklegged Tick nymph, in a population with a low rate of tick infestation. Of the 151 Ground Skinks we collected at the Piney Woods Environmental Laboratory, only 1 was parasitized by any tick species. We extracted whole-body tick DNA and tested for various bacterial pathogens, including Anaplasma phagocytophilum, Ehrlichia spp., Borrelia spp., and Rickettsia spp. PCR tests for these pathogens were negative except for Rickettsia spp. Within our sampling region of Walker County, TX, in the East Texas Piney Woods, we estimated the infestation prevalence of Blacklegged Ticks utilizing Ground Skinks as a host at 0.66%, much lower than previous estimations in Oklahoma.

The Long Site (41CE330), An Ancestral Caddo Site on Box’s Creek in the Neches River Basin, Cherokee County, Texas

The Long site is principally an ancestral Caddo site dating primarily to the Early Caddo period, and the Alto phase, on Box’s Creek in the Neches River basin in the East Texas Pineywoods. A few diagnostic decorated ceramic vessel sherds and radiocarbon dates also indicate that there is a Middle Caddo period (ca. A.D. 1200-1400) component there as well, along with a mid-19th century Anglo-American component on only one part of the site.

41NA197, the Sam Stripling Site, on Bayou Loco in Nacogdoches County, Texas

The Sam Stripling site (41NA197) is an ancestral Caddo settlement on a series of alluvial knolls in the floodplain on the east side of Bayou Loco in the Angelina River basin in the East Texas Pineywoods. The site was first located by Robert L. Turner, Sr. and Jr. in 1938, and in 1939 they told Gus Arnold of the University of Texas about the site when Arnold was conducting a Works Progress Administration (WPA)-sponsored archaeological survey of East Texas. Arnold collected a large sample of ceramic vessel sherds from the site (ET-601) during his 1939 survey work, and these collections are held by the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at The University of Texas at Austin; the Turner’s had also amassed a substantial collection during their work; and in 1996 Tom Middlebrook returned to the site and officially recorded it, noting a well-preserved midden deposit in one part of the site, while also inventorying the Turner’s collection. In this article, I discuss the specific character of the ancestral Caddo ceramic assemblage from the Sam Stripling site recovered during Arnold’s work. Analyses by Middlebrook of the other known collections from the site are in progress.

The R. F. Wallace Farm (41CE20) and W. T. Brooks Farm (41CE18) Sites in the Neches River Basin, Cherokee County, Texas

The R. F. Wallace Farm (41CE20) and W. T. Brooks Farm (41CE18) sites are ancestral Caddo sites in the Neches River basin in the East Texas Pineywoods, not far to the north and northwest, respectively, from the well-known Caddo village and mound center at the George C. Davis site (41CE19). Both sites are on tributaries to the Neches River: the R. F. Wallace Farm site is on Bowles Creek, and the W. T. Brooks Farm site is on Box’s Creek.

Renewed Archaeological Investigations at the Bowles Creek (41CE475), Cornfield (41CE476), and Peach Orchard (41CE477) Sites in the Bowles Creek Valley, Cherokee County, Texas

There are a number of Allen phase Historic Caddo sites on Bowles Creek (Figure 1), a southwardflowing tributary to the Neches River in the East Texas Pineywoods, including the Bowles Creek (41CE475), Cornfield (41CE476), and Peach Orchard (41CE477) sites (Perttula and Stingley 2016a, 2016b; Perttula et al. 2016). In conjunction with remote sensing investigations conducted by Dr. Duncan P. McKinnon (University of Central Arkansas), renewed archaeological investigations have been completed in January 2016 at these three sites to better understand the subsurface character of their archaeological deposits.

Reproduction of Relocated and Resident Northern Bobwhites in East Texas

We examined reproduction by relocated and resident northern bobwhites (Colinus virginianus) on an intensively managed 563-ha study area in Trinity County, eastern Texas. During the late winters of 1990-1992, 155 South Texas (84 hens, 71 cocks) and 136 East Texas (64 hens, 72 cocks) bobwhites were captured, radio-tagged, and relocated to the study area; 139 resident birds (73 hens, 66 cocks) were also captured, radio-tagged, and released at the point of capture. For the 3 years combined, the 33 South Texas, 33 East Texas, and 39 resident hens alive at the beginning of the breeding season produced 6, 13, and 22 documented nests (P = 0.004) and 0, 3, and 4 fledged broods. Pooled, the number of nests by East Texas and resident hens was higher than that of South Texas hens (P = 0.003); numbers of nests of East Texas and resident hens were similar (P = 0.150). Our results do not support relocation of South Texas bobwhites into the East Texas Pineywoods.

The Ancestral Caddo Ceramic Assemblage from the Will Odham Site (41CE42) in the Angelina River Basin, Cherokee County, Texas

The Will Odham site (ET-713) was recorded by Gus E. Arnold in March 1940 under the auspices of the WPA-sponsored archaeological survey of East Texas. The site was on an alluvial rise in the Big Turnpike Creek valley; Big Turnpike Creek is a tributary to Mud Creek in the Angelina River basin in the East Texas Pineywoods (Figure 1). The J. B. Maxwell site (41CE43), also recorded by Arnold, lies ca. 600 m northwest of the Odham site (Perttula 2017). Archaeological deposits were estimated to cover a 5 acre area, but were concentrated in a ca. 60 m diameter area. These deposits had animal bone, mussel shells, ceramic vessel sherds, ground stone tools, and human skeletal materials. Burials had been reported to have been plowed up previously by the landowner in the eastern half of the site; the only known funerary objects reported associated with these burials were ceramic pipes.

Artifact Assemblages from San Augustine County, Texas, Sites Recorded in 1939-1940 by Gus E. Arnold

During the 1939-1940 WPA-sponsored archaeological survey of East Texas, Gus E. Arnold was particularly active in identifying and recording sites in San Augustine County, in the East Texas Pineywoods (see Perttula 2015a, 2017a), as well as sites along Patroon, Palo Gaucho, and Housen bayous in neighboring Sabine County (Perttula 2015b, 2017b), and sites in the Angelina River basin in Angelina County (Perttula 2016c). During his archaeological survey efforts, he collected substantial assemblages of ceramic and lithic artifact assemblages (curated by the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at The University of Texas at Austin), primarily due to the fact that the surface of sites were well-exposed because of plowing, and he was encouraged to collect robust artifact assemblages by A. T. Jackson, the WPA survey director at The University of Texas at Austin. This article concerns the analysis of the recovered artifact assemblages from 14 different WPA sites in various parts of San Augustine County (Figure 1). The 14 archaeological sites are situated in several different stream basins, on a variety of landforms (i.e., floodplain rise, alluvial terrace, and upland ridge), including the Attoyac Bayou basin (41SA1 on Attoyac Bayou; 41SA5, at junction of Little and Big Arenosa Creek; 41SA24 on Price Creek; 41SA9, 41SA15, and 41SA16, Arenosa Creek), Patroon Bayou in the Sabine River basin (41SA11 and 41SA32), Palo Gaucho Bayou in the Sabine River basin (41SA108), Ayish Bayou (41SA77, 41SA80, 41SA95, and 41SA96) in the Angelina River basin; and Hog-Harvey creeks (41SA85) in the Angelina River basin. According to Arnold, these sites ranged from 1-6 acres in size, based on the surface distribution of artifacts as well as the extent of the landforms. In the case of the Hanks site (41SA80), midden deposits marked by mussel shells and animal bones were preserved there. The landowner had also previously collected two ceramic pipes, a celt, and a 33 cm long notched chert biface from the site. Burned and unburned animal bones were also noted on the surface of the Frost Johnson Lumber Co. site (41SA5); and burials associated with ceramic vessels and other material remains were noted when the site was first put into cultivation. Whole ceramic vessels from ancestral Caddo burial features had been reported to have eroded out of the Allan Howill (41SA24) and J. McGilberry (41SA85) sites. The Allan Howill site also had mussel shells and fragments of animal bone visible on the surface, and an area with ancestral Caddo burials (at least three with skeletal remains) was reported on the edge of an upland bluff there. Arnold also excavated several test pits of unknown size at the D. C. Hines site (41SA95), where he encountered archaeological deposits between ca. 60-76 cm bs. Arnold also noted “exceptionally large quantities of petrified wood, chert and flint flakes and chips cover the surface” of the D. C. Hines site.

The Caddo Ceramic Vessels from the Cemetery at 41HS74 on Hatley Creek in the Sabine River Basin, Harrison County, Texas

Site 41HS74 is an ancestral Caddo habitation site and cemetery on Hatley Creek, a southwardflowing tributary to the Sabine River, in the East Texas Pineywoods (Figure 1). The site was investigated in 1986 by Heartfield, Price and Greene, Inc. (1988). The re-analysis of the ceramic vessels recovered from nine burial features at the site are the subject of this article. The vessels are curated at the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at The University of Texas at Austin (TARL).

The Oil Road Site in Rusk County, Texas

The Oil Road site (D–2) in Rusk County is along Tiawichi Creek in northern Rusk County in the East Texas Pineywoods, about 1 mile east of the small town of Monroe, Texas. Tiawichi Creek is a tributary to Cherokee Bayou, which is in turn a northeastern–flowing tributary to the Sabine River. The Early Caddo period Hudnall–Pirtle mound site (41RK4) is on the Sabine River just east of its confluence with Cherokee Bayou. The site was located by Buddy Calvin Jones, probably in the 1950s; it has not been formally recorded or received a site trinomial. The recovered artifacts discussed in this article are probably from a surface collection obtained by Jones from the Oil Road site.

Ancestral Caddo Ceramics from Three Sites on Mill Race Creek, Wood County, Texas

Archaeological survey investigations were conducted in 1987 and 1988 in a large tract of land along Mill Race Creek, a southwestward-flowing tributary to Lake Fork Creek in the East Texas Pineywoods. During the course of the survey, ancestral Caddo ceramic sherds were recovered from 15 sites, including the reanalyzed sherds from the three sites discussed in this article. The Haines Varner Allen site (41WD573) is located on an upland landform overlooking the Mill Race Creek valley; it is an ancestral Caddo settlement with midden deposits that cover about 1.2 acres and has deposits that are a maximum of 75 cm in depth. The Audrey E. Allen-Smith site (41WD575) is ca. 250 m west-southwest of the Haines Varner Allen site, and is also situated in the uplands, but near the headwaters of a spring-fed tributary to Mill Race Creek. This site covers a 60 x 60 m area, with deposits ranging from 40-100 cm+ in thickness; there are midden deposits preserved in one part of the site. The Ned Moody site (41WD577) is located on a level upland landform 700 m west of the confluence of Mill Race Creek and Red Branch; there is a spring-fed tributary ca. 470 m to the southwest. The site is ca. 100 x 75 m in size, with 55 cm thick archaeological deposits. There were three concentrations of surface artifacts noted at the site, primarily sherds from Caddo vessels, and these spatial concentrations “may represent refuse deposits associated with separate Caddoan [sic] households.".

Caddo Ceramic Vessels from the Eli Moores Site (41BW2), Bowie County, Texas

The Eli Moores site (41BW2) is an important ancestral Caddo mound center and habitation site on the Red River in the East Texas Pineywoods, likely part of the Nasoni Caddo village visited by the Teran de los Rios entrada in 1691. The Eli Moores site is situated on a natural levee of the Red River, currently about 2.5 km north of the site. The site, occupied from the 17th to the early 18th century, may have been the residence of the Caddi of the Nasoni Caddo when it was visited by the French and Spanish, and the Xinesi lived in a temple on the mound at the nearby Hatchel site (41BW3). The site was investigated by the University of Texas in 1932, and in one of the mounds and in associated midden deposits, the remains of Caddo structures, midden deposits, features, eight burials (with nine individuals), and a large ceramic and lithic assemblage were recovered, along with well-preserved plant and faunal remains.

The Caddo Archaeology of the San Pedro Creek Valley, Houston County, in East Texas

The Nabedache Caddo that lived on San Pedro Creek in Houston County in the East Texas Pineywoods were a prominent nation during the early years of European contact, from ca. A.D. 1687-1730, if not later. Their villages, hamlets, and farmsteads sat astride an aboriginal Caddo trail that came to be known as El Camino Real de los Tejas, and thus their community was a principal gateway to Europeans and other Native American tribes who came from the west in Spanish Texas to meet with the Tejas or Hasinai Caddo peoples. The first Spanish mission in East Texas was established amidst the Nabedache Caddo community in 1690. According to Swanton, Nabedache means the place of the thorny trees with black berries growing on them (beidatco). The “Na” is the Caddo language locative prefix meaning “the place of;” it can also “refer to the people residing at that place”. Rogers and Sabo indicate that Nabedache means “blackberry place.” The archaeology of the Nabedache Caddo, or that of their pre-A.D. 1542 ancestors, is not well understood, primarily because of the dearth of intensive investigations at a range of Nabedache Caddo sites that likely occur along San Pedro Creek as well as nearby streams in the Neches River basin. Work that has been completed, primarily on sites at Mission Tejas State Park, have included surveys and limited test excavations at a few sites that have Caddo material culture remains (sherds from ceramic vessels, chipped stone tools, etc.) and European trade goods, including glass beads, gunflints, lead balls and sprue, an iron hoe, an iron rowel, a possible strike-a-light, an iron gun cock, trigger plate, butt plate finial, and gun barrel fragments, iron cast iron kettle fragments, iron knife fragments, wrought iron nails, brass tinklers, and Spanish majolica sherds. In this article, I discuss the archaeological material culture remains from ancestral Caddo sites along San Pedro Creek, including those known to have been occupied by the Nabedache Caddo peoples after the mid-1680s.

Titus Phase Ceramics from the Pine Tree Farm Site (41WD51) in the Lake Fork Creek Basin, Wood County, Texas

The Pine Tree Farm site, an ancestral Caddo site occupied during the Titus phase (ca. A.D. 1430- 1680), was recorded by Bob D. Skiles in June 1977, on the basis of investigations conducted there by Skiles and James E. Bruseth, then a graduate student at Southern Methodist University, as well as work done by Skiles in 1970. The site is on a flat upland landform (400 ft. amsl) ca. 300 m northeast of Myrtle Springs Branch, a tributary to Dry Creek in the Lake Fork Creek drainage in the East Texas Pineywoods. The Goldsmith site (41WD208) is ca. 0.4 km to the east on Dry Creek, and several kilometers below the dam at Lake Quitman. The Dry Creek drainage basin, as well as the Caney Creek arm of Lake Fork Reservoir, have clusters of Late Caddo period Titus phase sites. The main known feature at the site was a large trash midden or midden mound that was ca. 20 x 22 m in size and approximately 35 cm in thickness. The midden deposits contained many Caddo ceramic vessel sherds, animal bones, mussel shell, charcoal and other charred plant remains (hickory nut shells), and ash deposits. Most of the trash midden was excavated in 1970, but there were intact midden deposits along the western and southern part of the trash midden, and in June 1977, several small units were excavated by Skiles and Bruseth in those areas. The ancestral Caddo ceramics discussed herein come from Units 2-4 in the southern part of the trash midden, but are not all of the sherds that were recovered in that work.

The E. Williams Site on Martin Creek in Panola County, Texas

The E. Williams site is an ancestral Caddo site on the north side of Martin Creek, an eastward–flowing tributary to the Sabine River, in Panola County in the East Texas Pineywoods. The site is just a few miles west of the confluence of Martin Creek and the Sabine River. Buddy Calvin Jones located the site (which he labeled as Panola–2) and obtained a small collection of ceramic vessel sherds, probably from surface contexts. This collection is among the holdings of the Gregg County Historical Museum.

41SM91: A Frankston Phase Settlement on the Neches River at Lake Palestine, Smith County, Texas

Site 41SM91 is an ancestral Caddo habitation site on an upland landform east of the Neches River, in the area of Lake Palestine, a large reservoir constructed on the Neches River in the East Texas Pineywoods; the dam is located about 11 km south of the site. The site was found and recorded during a 1957 survey of the proposed reservoir flood pool, and Johnson described it as “a large Frankston Focus habitation site located in a cultivated field on the slope of a large hill to the east of the Neches floodplain”. A large assemblage of ceramic vessel sherds were collected from the surface of the site during the archaeological survey, and these sherds are in the collections of the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at the University of Texas at Austin.

Ceramic Sherd Assemblages from the Hawkins Bluff (41CS2), Snipes (41CS8), and 41CS44 Sites on the lower Sulphur River at Lake Wright Patman, Cass County, Texas

Many documented sites on the lower Sulphur River in the East Texas Pineywoods were occupied by Caddo peoples, and there are a number of such sites at Lake Wright Patman, including better known sites such as Knight’s Bluff (41CS14) and Sherwin (41CS26). These sites appear to have been small villages with family cemeteries, occupied between ca. A.D. 1200-1400. In this article, I discuss the ceramic sherd assemblages from three less well-known Middle Caddo period occupations at other sites at Lake Wright Patman.

Funerary Offerings from the Keasler Site Cemetery (41HS235), Harrison County, Texas

The Keasler site (41HS235) is a post-ca. A.D. 1430 Late Caddo period, Titus phase cemetery with at least 31 burials in the East Texas Pineywoods. The site was excavated by collectors in the late 1970s on the property of Sid Keasler of Hallsville, Texas. Minimal records on the burials at the site, and their contents, were provided by Red McFarland, one of the collectors, to the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at The University of Texas (TARL). The Keasler site is near Little Creek, a northward-flowing tributary to Little Cypress Creek. It is perhaps one of the easternmost-known Titus phase cemeteries in East Texas, in an area where few Titus phase sites or cemeteries have been identified or investigated by professional archaeologists. Based on the analysis of the available records and vessel images at TARL, Perttula noted that funerary offerings in the burials primarily included ceramic vessels—both utility and fine wares—in almost all of the burials, along with clay pipes and arrow points in only a few of the graves. The subtle differences between two different burial groups in the number and kind of funerary offerings in the cemetery do not provide much evidence of differential status or social rank, and the frequency of funerary offerings as attested to in the TARL records is at the low end of the scale in Titus phase cemeteries. The burials at the Keasler site appear to be those of common members of the Caddo community living in the lower part of the Little Cypress Creek basin. The range of decorated utility ware and fine ware vessels placed in the burial features are consistent with use of the cemetery by ancestral Caddo peoples in parts of the 16th and 17th centuries A.D. Subsequent to the analysis of the available records at TARL from the Keasler site, funerary offerings from the site in the Sid Keasler collection have come to light. In July 1999, Mark Walters and Bo Nelson photo-documented the Keasler collection, which represents approximately 50 percent of the funerary offerings recovered by Red McFarland. This article summarizes the character of the funerary offerings in the collection. Walters also recorded the nearby Pine Grove site (41HS826), which may represent one habitation area associated with the use of the cemetery at the Keasler site by ancestral Caddo peoples.

Bird Bone Flageolet from the Walter Bell Site (41SB50) at Lake Sam Rayburn, Sabine County, Texas

The Walter Bell site (41SB50) at Lake Sam Rayburn in the Neches–Angelina river basins in the deep East Texas Pineywoods was excavated by an National Park Service team in 1957. This was a small prehistoric Caddo farmstead or hamlet with two circular houses, a portion of a third house in the area of House 2, midden deposits, and six burials. Based on the kinds of artifacts found at the site (i.e., clay elbow pipes, a high proportion of brushed utility ware sherds from Broaddus Brushed vessels, and lower proportions of Pineland Punctated–Incised vessel sherds), the Walter Bell site was apparently occupied after ca. A.D. 1450–1500, in the Late Caddo period. Four of the burials (Burials 1–3 and 6) were in close association (either inside the house and underneath the house floor) with House 1, one (Burial 4) was inside House 2, and Burial 5 was in an open area, possibly a courtyard or work area between the two Caddo houses. Funerary offerings placed with the deceased included ceramic vessels, Perdiz arrow points, conch shell beads, deer ulna tools and deer food offerings, mussel shells, and engraved bird bone flageolets.