Northeast Texas Research Articles

The Archaeology of the Middle Caddoan Period in the Middle Red River Valley of Northeast Texas

Middle Caddoan period sites (estimated to date from ca. A.D. 1100-1300/1350; in the Middle Red River Valley of Northeast Texas appear to have cultural affiliation with the Sanders phase/focus originally recognized by Krieger. Sanders phase components are distributed in the Middle Red, Kiamichi, and Upper Sabine River basins of Southeast Oklahoma and Northeast Texas. In the Middle Red River valley, key components include the A.C. Mackin (41LR36), Fasken (41RR14), Roitsch (41RR16; previously known as the Sam Kaufman site), Holdeman (41RR11), Sanders (41LR2), and Harling (41FNI) sites. Middle Caddoan period settlements along the Middle Red River include dispersed farmsteads and hamlets with structures, middens, and cemeteries, as well as large communities such as the Roitsch and Holdeman sites with single and multiple mounds; substructure mounds; flat-topped platform mounds; and burial mounds. Sites include from one to as many as three mounds at the larger communities or villages. Burials in mound and non-mound contexts were typically in extended supine position, with large numbers of grave goods in association. At the Holdeman site, for example, Sanders phase burials contained an average of 6.5 grave goods, mainly ceramic vessels, per individual, with even more substantial grave good associations (shell conch dippers, gorgets, and beads, bone beads, projectile points, and ceramic vessels) from Class I and II burials at the Sanders site.

SPATIAL COHERENCE OF SOLAR RADIATION FOR REGIONS IN THE CENTRAL AND EASTERN UNITED STATES

Information from the National Climatic Data Center's Solar and Meteorological Surface Observation Network CD-ROM data set is used to study the spatial coherence of incoming solar radiation for selected regions in the United States for the 30-year period 1961–1990. Networks of nine sites are analyzed for each of five regions: North Central, Ohio Valley, New England, East Texas, and Southern Piedmont. The spatial coherence of solar radiation is examined by calculating the standard deviation of daily differences in solar radiation receipt for paired stations and subsequently determining a coefficient of variability. These are plotted as a function of distance between station pairings to establish absolute and relative solar radiation spatial-variation relationships. Comparisons are made among the five regions with the Southern Piedmont showing the most spatial coherence and New England generally having the greatest variation (i.e., greater standard deviation and coefficient of variability values with distance). Interdecade analyses reveal that the relationships are temporally stable, with only slight differences in the three separate decade solar radiation relationships for each region. [Key words: solar radiation, solar climate.]

Stratigraphic and Geographic Distribution of Coal Quality Characteristics in Lignites of Northeast Texas : ABSTRACTS

Stratigraphic and Geographic Distribution of Coal Quality Characteristics in Lignites of Northeast Texas : ABSTRACTS

The Middle Caddoan Period in East Texas: A Summary of the Findings of the East Texas Caddoan Research Group

The second meeting of the East Texas Caddoan Research Group (ETCRG) met in San Antonio on October 27, 1996, to consider the archaeology of the Middle Caddoan period in East Texas. The meeting was arranged as a three hour symposium held in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Texas Archeological Society. The meeting's format involved the informal presentation by several ETCRG members of major research findings along thematic lines for each of several river basins in the region. The presenters distributed handouts to participants and mixed their comments with slides, photographs, and the hands-on examination of a few selected artifacts. The presentations and discussions were tape-recorded, and transcribed and edited proceedings of the meeting are to be published in a future volume of the Journal of Northeast Texas Archaeology. Brief periods of discussion did occur between the presenters, and the audience participated as well, during the three hour meeting; however, the general consensus of the group was that more time was needed and there was much left to be discussed. This paper attempts to summarize the information presented during the ETCRG meeting, and may (we think) represent a good starting place for continued dialog on the archeology of the Middle Caddoan period, as well as further dialog on the organization and arrangement of future ETCRG meetings. Eight handouts were available to the research group. Four were river basin archaeological summaries prepared by Maynard Cliff (the lower Sulphur River basin), Bo Nelson and Mike Turner (Cypress Creek Drainage basin), Tim Perttula and Brett Cruse (the upper and middle Sabine River basin), and Tom Middlebrook (Attoyac and Angelina River basins). Two handouts not associated with presentations were also prepared for the ETCRG members, namely archaeological summaries of the Middle Caddoan period by Tim Perttula for the middle Red River basin and the upper Sulphur River basin. Jim Corbin provided extensive information on the Middle Caddoan Washington Square Mound site (41NA49) in Nacogdoches County, while Bob Turner discussed archaeological materials found in three Middle Caddoan period cemeteries in Camp and Upshur counties.

A Study in Frustration: Analysis of Human Remains Removed from the Coker Mound Site (41CS1)

Human skeletal remains were removed from the Coker Mound site (41CS1) by unidentified excavators sometime immediately prior to the Texas Archeological Society (TAS) meetings of 1995. Mike Turner, a Steward in the Office of the State Archeologists' Texas Archeological Steward Network and a founding member of the Friends of Northeast Texas Archaeology, was able to retrieve a cranium, mandible; and six cervical vertebrae from this collection for a brief period, bringing them to the TAS meetings. It was his dedication that provided the opportunity for these remains to be studied.

Long-term growth trends of baldcypress (Taxodium distichum (L.) Rich.) at Caddo Lake, Texas

Caddo Lake, situated on the border of northeast Texas and northwest Louisiana, USA is a medium-sized lake dominated by stands of baldcypress (Taxodium distichum). A study of tree growth was initiated at Caddo Lake to address concerns about the health of the balcypress ecosystem. The lake has been subjected to several dramatic water-level changes over the past 200 years, including water-level stabilization following dam construction in 1914. To assess the long-term growth trends of baldcypress trees and determine if a recent growth decline is occurring at Caddo Lake, increment cores were taken from 52 trees. The cores were crossdated and rings between the years 1900 and 1992 measured to the nearest 0.01 mm. Most cores were characterized by high variation in year-to-year growth. Although increasing growth rates were observed at most locations, trees from two backwater areas of the lake had recent growth rates lower than their long-term average. Growth amounts at these two sites were, however, within the historic range of variation. No recruitment was observed. From these data, we can conclude that the historic, extreme changes in hydrologic regime and the current stabilized water levels have not resulted in an overall decline in baldcypress growth at Caddo Lake.

Hydrologic Data Development System

The Hydrologic Data Development System is a prototype system of spatial data and menu-driven programs that allows user-interactive determination of hydrologic parameters and estimation of flood-frequency relationships for the design of highway drainage structures. The program employs Arc/Info, a commercial geographical information system. A data base was developed to cover the extent of Texas at a scale of 1:2,000,000 and a smaller sample area of northeast Texas at a scale of 1:250,000. The data include digital-elevation models, major highways, soil characteristics, design rainfall depth-frequency-duration, land use, stream gauge sites, hydrologic regions, and political boundaries. New tables were developed to spatially relate soil characteristics and land use to runoff coefficients used in the Natural Resources Conservation Service Runoff Curve Number method. The system employs spatial-analysis techniques to establish an outfall, to delineate drainage boundaries and flow paths using relevant digital-elevation data, and to use other data layers to determine parameters such as average watershed slope, time of concentration, area-weighted runoff curve numbers, and area-weighted design rainfall. Input files can be established and submitted to the Texas Hydraulic System computer program to determine food-frequency relationships.

The Womack, Gilbert, and Pearson Sites: Early Eighteenth Century Tunican Entrepots in Northeast Texas

For the past few months, I have been working on a detailed response to a paper by James Bruseth, Diane Wilson, and Timothy Perttula published in the fall issue of Plains Anthropologist. There, these authors challenge my Sanders entrepot hypothesis and my new paradigm for the Mississippi period archeology of the Arkansas Valley, claiming that the Sanders focus, as propounded by Alex D. Krieger, is alive and well, so much so that they have renamed it the Sanders phase to ready it for service in the 1990s and beyond.

The Caddoan Oak Hill Village Site

Rarely do prehistoric archeologists in North America have the opportunity to completely excavate and study an entire Native American community or village. To be able to expose a Native American village in its entirety provides a unique, and unprecedented, view of the past community and social arrangements that existed among Native American societies before contact with Europeans. Recently, in northeast Texas, the Oak Hill Village site (41RK214), a large village occupied by prehistoric horticultural-agricultural Caddo peoples between about A.O. 1050 and 1450, was fully uncovered under the direction of J. Brett Cruse (then of Espey, Huston & Associates, Inc., Austin, Texas) for Texas Utilities Services. The company plans to strip mine the site area in the near future for lignite coal. With the cooperation of TU Services, the investigations at the Oak Hill Village were the most extensive ever completed at a Caddo Indian site.

Caddo Ceramics on the Red River in North Central Texas

Caddo ceramics manufactured after A.D. 900 were widely traded in Texas, being found in some quantity on North Central, East Central, Central, and inland Southeast Texas archeological sites. They were also traded with prehistoric peoples in the Midwest (as far north as Iowa and Illinois) and the Southeastern U.S. While archeologists have known this for some time, much of the ceramic evidence for prehistoric Caddoan trade and exchange with other Native Americans has not been systematically compiled and studied, as became apparent during a recent review of the prehistoric and historic aboriginal pottery in Texas. Consequently, Caddoan archeologists are not yet in the position to confidently discuss the scope, timing, or direction of trade/exchange between Caddoan groups and surrounding non-Caddoan communities, or explore changes in the nature of social and economic relationships between particular Caddo groups and other prehistoric peoples. This paper represents part of our initial efforts to begin systematically compiling archeological information on the distribution and character of Caddo ceramic sherds and vessels outside what is considered the southern Caddoan archaeological area. In it, we report on Early and Late Caddo ceramics found by Dr. Ernest R. Martin at two sites along the Red River in North Central Texas, some 130 km or more west of the westernmost Caddo settlements on the Red River in Northeast Texas.

Archaeological Investigation at the Marshall Powder Mill (41HS17), Confederate States of America 1863-1865, Harrison County, Texas: 1994 Season

The Northeast Texas Archeological Society, in conjunction with the East Texas, Dallas, and Tarrant County archeological societies, reinstated archaeological investigations at the Marshall Powder Mill (41HS17) in 1994 following several years of delicate negotiations with the landowner about the value of preserving this archaeological site. The Marshall Powder Mill manufactured gunpowder, small arms and cannon, and refurbished weaponry, and was one of several arsenals that served the Trans-Mississippi Department of the Confederate States of America from 1863 to 1865. None have been thoroughly investigated archaeologically, however, thereby ignoring a major aspect of the Confederacy's war effort, and an important industrial enterprise. Building foundations, earthworks, roads, and an artificial channel race remain essentially undisturbed within the Loop 390 corridor and the privately-owned portions of the site; the eastern one-third of the site has been destroyed by a modern lumber mill. Although the site is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, there is no concerted plan for preservation of this Civil War military-industrial complex. Little historical documentation exists as to the number and types of buildings, their locations, or the activities that were conducted at the Marshall Powder Mill. The single map in the National Archives was captured by Federal troops in 1864, and only indicates a few of the buildings and none of the earthworks. Apparently the Confederates were concerned with security, and the commander, Major George D. Alexander, destroyed or removed all records prior to Federal occupation of the site in 1865. Therefore, the archaeological remains speak the clearest about the Marshall Powder Mill's buildings and their functions, and may be the only sure means of reconstructing the layout and design of the arsenal, as well as ancillary fortifications, buildings, and structures around Marshall that date to the Civil War period.

3-D viscoelastic anisotropic modeling of data from a multicomponent, multiazimuth seismic experiment in northeast Texas

Three‐component seismic data were acquired along six azimuths at a site in northeast Texas. Sources were inclined impacts combined to produce equivalent vertical and crossline horizontal components. The data were analyzed by iterative modeling using a new 3-D, staggered‐grid, finite‐differencing scheme. The 3-D model is defined in terms of spatially variable anisotropic, viscoelastic parameters (P‐velocity, S‐velocity, density, Qp, and Qs) and converted to elastic tensor components and relaxation times for computation. Simultaneous fitting of amplitudes of near‐surface reverberations, surface waves, converted waves, and deeper reflections gives an anisotropic, viscoelastic model that provides constraints on earth properties. The assumption of transverse isotropy in previous experiments is supported by the results of this experiment. The final model consists of a stack of flat layers, each of which has isotropic P‐velocity, Qp, and Qs. The Wills Point and Kincaid shales are strongly transversely isotropic, with shear propagation velocity averaging 28% higher horizontally than vertically. The geometry of the Nacatoch Sandstone is similar, with ≈19% anisotropy. The marls and chalks are essentially isotropic. Observed mixing between crossline and vertical components is incorporated by simulating a small (4°) tilt of the axis of the impact source from vertical.

Land subsidence along the northeastern Texas Gulf coast: Effects of deep hydrocarbon production

The Texas Gulf of Mexico coast is experiencing high (5–11 mm/yr) rates of relative sea level (RSL) rise that are the sum of subsidence and eustatic sea level (ESL) rise. Even higher rates are associated with areas of groundwater pumping from confined aquifers. We investigate the possibility of deep petroleum production as a cause for the high regional rates of subsidence. The northeast Texas coast was chosen for the study because it has a high rate of RSL rise, very limited groundwater production, and a long history of petroleum production. We examine in detail the Big Hill and Fannett fields, for which adequate bottom hole pressure (BHP) and well log data are available. The hypothesis of deep petroleum production is tested in three ways. First, industry BHP tests show many of the fields are depressurized to far below hydrostatic pressures. Second, analysis of BHP data over time in the Big Hill and Fannett fields indicates that some Zones in these fields were below hydrostatic when production commenced. This indicates that depressurization from production in neighboring fields or zones within the same field is not limited to the production zone. Third, three models for subsidence (a general 1-D regional model, an intrareservoir model, and a reservoir bounding layer model), using reasonable hydrogeological parameters, predict subsidence within the inferred range of data. The latter two models use data from the Big Hill and Fannett fields. Additional verification of the hypothesis that deep petroleum production is causing or accelerating regional subsidence will require the collection and analysis of data on the subsurface hydrogeological parameters and detailed measurements of the spatial and temporal distribution of subsidence along the Texas Coast.

An Early Soybean Production System for Drought Avoidance

Late summer drought during seed formation often limits yield of soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] grown in the southern U.S. A field study was conducted to determine if earlier planting of early-maturing varieties could avoid periods of drought stress by having their reproductive development coincide with periods of greater available moisture. Varieties in Maturity Groups (MG) III to VII were planted in mid-April and in mid-May near Blossom and Hooks, TX, from 1986 to 1988. There were significant year and location effects on yield. Two MG III varieties planted in April 1986 at Blossom yielded eight times more than the MG V to VII varieties. Negative correlations were found between yield and maturity date in 1986 and 1987. Early drought stress in 1988 reduced yields about 30% for the April-planted MG III and IV varieties, but yield was again negatively correlated with maturity date. Yields at the Hooks site were up to 45.8 bu/acre higher than those at Blossom, but they were also negatively correlated with maturity date in the April 1986 planting. The seasonal rainfall at Hooks in 1987 was less than half that of 1986 resulting in varietal yields from the early planting being reduced from 8.3 up to 47.1 bu/acre. A negative correlation was still found between maturity date and yield. In 1988, however, late-season rainfall resulted in a positive correlation between yield and maturity for the April planting. Results from this study show that an early soybean production system using adapted MG III and IV varieties can avoid the effects of late summer drought and result in acceptable yields

Geologic Study of Upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian) Buda Limestone Outliers in Northeast Texas: ABSTRACT

Geologic Study of Upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian) Buda Limestone Outliers in Northeast Texas: ABSTRACT

A Probable Spiroan Entrepot in the Red River Valley in Northeast Texas

In 1931, twenty-one graves at an obscure site on the edge of the Eastern Woodlands yielded an astonishing concentration of Mississippian prestige goods: 4 conch shell cups 21 shell gorgets 5,500 shell beads ca. 200 Olivella beads 26 freshwater pearl beads 2 copper-stained siltstone earspools 2 polished sandstone elbow pipes l negative-painted bottle 2 Mississippi Valley-style "bean pots" In 1933, larger concentrations of similar goods were found at Spiro. But Sanders was 150 mountainous miles from Spiro (Figure l) and the domestic assemblages at both sites were unknown, so Sanders was not considered a Spiroan site. In 1946, Krieger made it the type site of a Sanders "focus" which he conceptualized as "a frontier [Caddo] culture facing the open Plains."

Collected Papers on Caddoan Archaeology in the Upper Sabine River Basin, Northeastern Texas

This Special Publication of the Friends of Northeast Texas Archaeology presents a series of papers written and published between 1983-1994 on various aspects of the archaeology of the Upper Sabine River basin in Northeast Texas (Figure 1). Their particular focus is on the lifeways and material culture of the Caddoan peoples who permanently settled in the basin between about A.D. 700-800 (if not earlier) and the mid- 1700s.

Ray‐based synthesis of bistatic ground‐penetrating radar profiles

An algorithm has been developed to numerically synthesize 2-D bistatic (common‐offset), ground‐penetrating radar (GPR) profiles using the principles of geometrical ray theory. By assuming nondispersive propagation, kinematic properties of electromagnetic waves are simulated by ray tracing. Dynamic properties are simulated by computing transmitter and receiver directivities, reflection and transmission coefficients, geometrical spreading, and attenuation coefficients. The main limitations are that wave effects, such as diffractions, and offline (3-D) effects are not included. The algorithm is applied to iterative modeling of multioffset, multifrequency GPR data acquired over an outcrop of fractured Austin Chalk in Dallas County in northeast Texas. Modeling is able to simulate realistically the main time and amplitude behaviors observed in GPR reflections at 50, 100, and 200 MHz at each of 1, 3, and 5 meter antenna separations from a single model. Detailed modeling produces quantitative estimates of the spatial distributions of electrical properties that are consistent with the geologic environment.

Archaeological Investigations at the Marshall Powdermill and Arsenal (41HS17), Confederate States of America 1864-1865, Harrison County, Texas

The Northeast Texas Archeological Society (NETAS), in conjunction with the East Texas, Dallas, and Tarrant County Archeological Societies has completed a year-long project at the Marshall Powder Mill, 41HS17, Harrison County, Texas. The Marshall Powder Mill manufactured gunpowder, small arms and cannon, and refurbished weaponry. It is one of several arsenals that served the Trans-Mississippi Department of the Confederate States of America, and was among the last in operation from 1864 to 1865. None have been thoroughly investigated archaeologically, thereby ignoring a major aspect of the Confederacy's war effort and an important industrial enterprise.

Evidence of Resource Procurement and Manufacturing Techniques in Caddoan Ceramic Assemblages from the Sabine, Cypress, and Sulphur River Drainage Basins, Rusk and Titus Counties, Texas

Texas Utilities Services and Espey, Huston & Associates, Inc. have conducted ongoing archaeological investigations of cultural resources in Northeast Texas for the past 15 years. As a part of these studies, prehistoric Caddoan ceramic assemblages were recovered from 13 sites in three distinct drainage basins: three sites from the Sabine River drainage; three sites from the Cypress Creek drainage; and seven sites from the Sulphur River drainage. Recent research on the ceramic collections has emphasized variability in surface treatment, vessel form, and paste composition by means of a detailed attribute analysis and petrographic examination of a sample of the Caddoan sherds. This paper focuses on the paste composition of a sherd sample selected to undergo petrographic analysis. The sample contains representatives among the sherds of the major tempering agents identified during a macroscopic examination of the pastes. The initial goal of the analyses was establishment of a baseline for paste composition in the study areas. A detailed point count, and grain size measurements, allowed for the identification of constituents in a range of frequencies from among the sites located in each of the three drainage basins. Upon completion of the initial studies, the results of the analyses from the three studies were compared. This paper presents a discussion of preliminary patterns identified in Caddoan ceramic assemblages of resource procurement and manufacturing techniques observed among the site samples.