Upland Landform Research Articles

Evaluating How Landform Design and Soil Covers Influence Groundwater Recharge in a Reclaimed Watershed

AbstractLandscape‐scale reconstruction and prescription of soil cover systems following oil sands mining is challenging due to the quality of available reclamation materials and the subhumid climate of the Boreal Plains of Canada. In an experimental reclaimed watershed (Sandhill Fen Watershed), basin‐scale upland landforms (i.e., hummocks) were designed to provide groundwater to adjacent lowlands, necessitating adequate recharge following establishment of forest vegetation. Volumetric water contents, soil water pressure heads, and groundwater levels were monitored for four years throughout the watershed and used to calibrate and verify numerical models in HYDRUS. Using a variably saturated two‐dimensional domain, we identified a threshold‐like relationship between recharge (or upflux) and upland hummock height, where upland hummocks not tall enough to limit root water uptake from the saturated zone decreased recharge or resulted in net upflux. Recharge varied with soil cover texture (higher in coarser‐textured) and associated soil hydraulic parameters. Furthermore, scenario tests indicated the importance and relative influence that maximum rooting depths, forest floor placement thicknesses, and leaf area indices (all associated with forest development) had on recharge. Simulations utilizing a historical climate record indicated that interannual climatic variability was as influential as variation in soil cover texture in determining recharge. Reclamation practitioners should recognize that the water balances of reconstructed landscapes are largely influenced by the trade‐off between optimizing forest productivity and sourcing water to downgradient landscape positions.

Late Caddo Titus Phase Ceramics from the McKay Site (41TT730), Titus County, Texas

The McKay site (41TT730) is a multi-component site on an upland landform about 100 m east of Hart Creek, a southward-flowing tributary of Big Cypress Creek. During house construction in 1990, archaeological deposits covering about 5 acres of the landform were exposed, and these deposits include occupations that date from as early as the Paleoindian and Archaic periods to as late as Early to Late Caddo period times (ca. A.D. 900-1680). The principal ancestral Caddo component at the McKay site belongs to the Late Caddo period Titus phase, dating generally from ca. A.D. 1430-1680. This component included both habitation deposits as well as burial features in the area of house pad construction; the habitation area is at least 50 m northwest of the cemetery. At least 17 burials were excavated there by local workers after the cemetery had been exposed by land leveling, and these burials included ceramic vessels as funerary offerings, along with Talco arrow points, two ground stone celts, and a ceramic elbow pipe. The workers removed an unknown number of exposed and complete vessels, although portions of a few of these vessels were documented. Broken vessels were scattered and mixed into the fill of the house pad.

Archaeological Investigations at the Mike Myers Site (41CE481) on Bowles Creek in Cherokee County, Texas

The Mike Myers site is a multiple component prehistoric site in the Bowles Creek valley in the Neches River basin in East Texas. The site is on an upland landform (400 ft. amsl), now a pasture with low surface visibility, between Bowles Creek to the east ca. 100 m and a spring-fed branch to the west. The confluence of Bowles Creek with Jackson Branch lies ca. 600 m to the south. Soils on the site are classified as Nacogdoches fine sandy loam. Based on the archaeological investigations conducted at the site to date, the known site area covers a ca. 150 x 60 m area (north-south and east-west) or approximately 2 acres, but the site may well extend to the south onto a lower upland ridge slope (390 ft. amsl) some distance; hopefully shovel tests can be excavated in this area in the near future to determine the full site boundaries. This article discusses the archaeological findings obtained to date from 2016 archaeological investigations at the Mike Myers site, much of it consisting of shovel tests across the site area, focusing particularly on the archaeological remains recovered in the work that date from Woodland and Caddo periods. Most notably, the shovel test work at the site recovered two sherds of non-tempered early Woodland period Tchefuncte pottery. As far as we are aware, this is only the second site in East Texas where Tchefuncte pottery has been found; the other site is the well-known Resch site (41HS16) in the Sabine River basin in Harrison County, Texas. Tchefuncte culture pottery has been recovered from the Louisiana Gulf Coast, in the Ouachita and Mississippi river basins in Mississippi, Louisiana, and southeast Arkansas, and in the Sabine Lake area of coastal Texas and Louisiana, more than 250 km east and southeast of the Mike Myers site.

41VN63: A Late Archaic-Woodland Period Site in the Upper Sabine River Basin, Van Zandt County, Texas

Site 41VN63 is a multiple component Late Archaic (circa [ca.] 5000-2500 years B.P.) and Woodland period (ca. 2500-1150 years B.P.) site on an upland landform in the upper Sabine River basin. The site was recorded by James Malone (1972) during the archaeological survey of then-proposed Mineola Reservoir on the Sabine River; the reservoir has not been built. Malone described the site in 1971 as being located on an upland ridge on the southeast side of Caney Creek, and covered a 20 x 50 m area. He noted and/or collected from the site surface chert, quartzite, and petrified wood lithic debris (n=28) and cores (n=11) . Malone also mentioned finding flake tools as well as plain pottery sherds at the site, but no such artifacts were mentioned in Malone’s tabulations. This collection has yet to be examined at the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at The University of Texas at Austin. Shortly thereafter, Bob D. Skiles learned of the site and, with the permission of the landowner, conducted surface collections there on several occasions over the next two years, and recorded the site as GS-1 in his site recording system. In the late 1980s, Skiles loaned Perttula the artifacts he had collected from the site, and they were studied and documented at that time. Now, this many years later, the results of those analyses are provided in this article.

Caddo Ceramic Vessels from the A. C. Gibson Site (41WD1) in the Sabine River Valley, Wood County, Texas

The A. C. Gibson site (41WD1) is an ancestral Caddo site located on a natural knoll at the base of an upland landform, adjacent to the floodplain of the Sabine River and Cedar Lake, an old channel of the river, in southwestern Wood County, in the Post Oak Savannah of East Texas. Two Caddo ceramic vessels are in the collections from the site held by the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at The University of Texas at Austin. These vessels are documented in this article.

The Robert Richey Site in Northern Van Zandt County, Texas

This article discusses a collection of ancestral Caddo ceramic and lithic artifacts found at the Robert Richey site in northern Van Zandt County in East Texas. The site is in a pasture on an upland landform facing year-round flowing Caney Creek about 130-180 m to the east, a northern-flowing tributary that merges with the Sabine River about 2.2 miles to the north. The site lies within the flood pool of the long-defunct Mineola Reservoir, but the Robert Richey site was not recorded at the time of the early 1970s archaeological survey of the reservoir. Sites 41VN53-56, prehistoric sites of either uncertain age (41VN53), Woodland period age (41VN54, 41VN55, and 41VN56), as well as ancestral Caddo (41VN55), likely Early or Middle Caddo period in age. were recorded on alluvial terraces on both sides of Caney Creek not far from the Robert Richey site. For years, Mr. Richey’s father had been advised by one of the old-timers who owned the adjoining ranch about a rise in his field “that particular mound in the pasture was an Indian mound.” Richey’s father identified the structure to him years ago. So, it was a known and identifiable rise in their land that had (tongue-in-cheek) been called an Indian mound for many years. Richey’s investigation into the rise was prompted by the fact that he had found a ceramic vessel sherd along the banks of a dam of a recently constructed pond. That sherd was discovered approximately 180 m south of the Robert Richey site, on a landform with tan sandy loam sediments; this place may be 41VN55 recorded by Malone. Malone indicated the site had plain sherds, scrapers, lithic debris, Gary points, as well as an ancestral Caddo sherd with a cross-hatched incised rim and rows of fingernail impressed punctations on the vessel body. From there, Mr. Richey took that rumor a step further last year and dug four test trenches about 3 feet deep and 10 feet long in the rise and waited for rain. Frankly, he did not expect to discover anything as he has not found much in the way of artifacts on the place. After digging the trenches he waited for rain. After a rain, the artifacts discussed in this article were found over an area about 15 m in diameter; they represent about 50 percent of what had been noted there. He did not note any charcoal in the trenches. The soil on the Robert Richey site appears to be a reddish-brown loam, and not the black lands characteristic of the soils in the Sabine River floodplain. There is an old and majestic Oak tree growing along the edge of the rise. Generally speaking, this is pasture land.

Another Look at the Snipes Site (41CS8) on the Sulphur River, Cass County, Texas

The Snipes site (41CS8) was excavated by Jelks in 1952 as part of the River Basins Surveys (RBS) program administered by the Smithsonian Institution in cooperation with the National Park Service, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the Bureau of Reclamation. Snipes was one of three sites excavated by the RBS prior to the inundation of a large part of the lower Sulphur River valley by Texarkana Reservoir, now Lake Wright Patman. The Snipes site was apparently occupied during at least some part of the Woodland period (ca. 500 B.C.- A.D. 800), mainly during the latter part of the period, and can be considered a component of the Fourche Maline Culture on the basis of the artifacts recovered from both habitation archaeological deposits and burial features. Other artifacts in the collection attest to the use of the Snipes site during Late Archaic and post-A.D. 900 ancestral Caddo times, as we will discuss below. The site was estimated to cover ca. 6-7 acres of an upland landform about 1.6 km south of the Sulphur River, and was marked by a scatter of lithic artifacts, mussel shell, animal bones, charcoal, pottery sherds, etc. Excavations were done in a series of 5-ft. squares dispersed across a 300 x 200 ft. area; according to Jelks, “additional squares were opened adjacent to the most productive test squares.” The archaeological deposits ranged from ca. 8-38 cm in thickness from the surface, and had been well disturbed by plowing. Apparent midden deposits marked by “a great deal of carbon and grease” were identified in several parts of the excavations. During the work at the site by Jelks, nine prehistoric burials were excavated there, including three (Burials 7-9) that were discovered an unknown distance northeast of Burials 1-6 during the last round of work at the site. Jelks reported that traces of human remains from adults of unknown sex were present in Burials 6 and 7, but failed to mention if such was the case for Burials 8 and 9. However, since Burial 8 was reported to have contained two individuals, and the orientation of the heads was recorded, human remains (again, probably from adults, although not noted) were obviously preserved in this burial as well, but apparently not recovered. For Burial 9, Jelks simply noted that preservation “was poor.” Burials 6, 7, and 8 contained individuals that were placed in graves in an extended supine (i.e., on their back) position. Burial 8 had two individuals in extended supine position. The position of the deceased individual in Burial 9 was not recorded. Burial 6 had a Coles Creek Incised, var. Stoner bowl by the right shoulder of the deceased, and one small bowl each had been placed as a funerary offering in Burials 7-9; in two instances, the small bowls were by the left shoulder of the deceased. Two other vessels were funerary offerings in Burial 1 and a separate burial feature excavated by I. B. (Bogey) Price after the main RBS investigations.

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.".

The Caddo Occupation of the L. B. Miller Farm (41HE4/55) in the Post Oak Savanna and Trinity River Basin in East Texas

The L. B. Miller Farm site (41HE4/55) is a Late Caddo period Frankston phase Caddo habitation site and small cemetery on an upland landform (400 ft. amsl) in the Coon Creek-Catfish Creek drainage in the Post Oak Savannah of the Trinity River basin. The ancestral Caddo artifact collections from the site at the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at The University of Texas at Austin (TARL) include four vessels from a burial feature, sherds from two unreconstructed ceramic jars found in habitation contexts, and 178 ceramic sherds from midden deposits.

Analysis of the Recovered Artifacts from the Controlled Surface Collection at the Peach Orchard Site (41CE477), Cherokee County, Texas

The Peach Orchard site is one of several historic Caddo archaeological sites recently recorded by Kevin Stingley in the Bowles Creek drainage in the middle Neches River basin in Cherokee County, Texas. The Peach Orchard site had been exposed in erosion along a county road that bisects the southern end of the upland landform, while the remainder of the landform was primarily grass-covered when it was first recorded earlier in 2015. In November 2015, the landowner decided to shallowly plow the site area to improve its grass cover, and this plowing provided an opportunity to complete a surface collection of the site area from November to December 2015.

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.

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.

Two centuries of vegetation change in an agricultural watershed in southwestern Virginia, USA1

Shifting disturbance regimes altered the vegetation of the Central Appalachian Ridge and Valley region during the past two centuries. The objective of this research was to use repeated public land surveys to characterize early Euro-American settlement vegetation and identify the nature and timing of post-Euro-American settlement vegetation change in an agricultural watershed in southwestern Virginia, USA. Land surveys (N = 297) from 1786 to 2000 were compared for temporal shifts in tree species, shrubs, stumps, snags, and non-vegetative markers. Tree species used in the land surveys were further classified by sprouting capability, shade tolerance, and seed type, and tested for temporal shifts in frequency. To identify potential topographic sampling bias in the surveys, the distribution of landform references recorded in the deeds was compared to the distribution of landforms classified from a digital elevation model (DEM). Landform references noted in conjunction with witness trees were used to further test for species associations with particular landforms. The pre-Euro-American settlement forest was dominated by Quercus alba L. and Castanea dentata (Marshall) Borkh. Quercus alba and C. dentata were relatively evenly distributed across all landforms, while Quercus montana Willd. and Quercus velutina Lam. were strongly associated with upland landforms. Post-Euro-American settlement landscapes experienced a decline in Q. alba, Q. velutina, and Quercus rubra L. and an increase in Q. montana and C. dentata. Vigorous sprouting and shade intolerance were silvical characteristics that dominated across all sampled land-use periods.

Prehistoric Sites in the Sabine River Valley in Northeastern Smith County, Texas Timothy K. Perttula and Mark Walters

In the winter of 2003, the junior author completed archaeological survey investigations of a small area of the Sabine River valley in northeastern Smith County in the East Texas Pineywoods. The work consisted of limited surface collections and shovel tests, and four archaeological sites were found during the work. The sites are about 2.4-3.0 km south-southwest of the Early Caddo period Boxed Spring mound site (41UR30) on the north side of the Sabine River. Two of the archaeological sites (41SM307 and 41SM308) are situated on alluvial landforms in the Sabine River valley at elevations of ca. 280-290 ft. amsl. The other two (41SM309 and 41SM310) are on upland landforms at elevations of 310 ft. amsl and 350 ft. amsl, respectively.

The Joe Meyer Estate #1 Site (41SM73) on Saline Creek in the Upper Neches River Basin in East Texas

The Joe Meyer Estate #1 site (41SM73) is an ancestral Caddo settlement and cemetery on an upland landform west of Saline Creek, a southern-flowing tributary of the Neches River in the upper Neches River basin. In the spring of 1957 members of the East Texas Archeological Society (ETAS), including John Mulligan, Sam Whiteside, Derrell Sanders, and Jowell Proctor, had located the site and commenced excavations. The site had substantial midden deposits as well as Caddo burial features. W. A. Davis and E. Mott Davis of The University of Texas visited the site in April 1957, took notes on the burial features and associated funerary offerings, and obtained a surface collection of artifacts. The summer of 1957, LeRoy Johnson, Jr. visited the site and obtained a surface collection as part of a broader survey of Blackburn Crossing Reservoir (now Lake Palestine) on the Neches River. In December 1957, E. Mott Davis visited the site again, at which time ETAS members had excavated two test pits (A and B) in the midden deposits. In June 1969 George Kegley and Dan Witter returned to the site, and made a small surface collection. They also noted that at least 25 Caddo burials (some, if not all, of apparent post-A.D. 1400 age based on the finding of Poynor Engraved vessels) had been excavated in 1966-1967 in another cemetery at the site; one of the main excavators of this cemetery was William “Red” McFarland of Whitehouse, Texas, a well known East Texas digger; this same cemetery may have also been explored by Buddy Jones and ETAS members some years before, where two burials were excavated. Finally, in August 1969 and March 1970, archaeologists from Southern Methodist University (SMU) returned to the Joe Meyer Estate #1 site as part of a more intensive survey of proposed Lake Palestine. A large assemblage of ceramic sherds (n=596) was collected from the surface of the site as part of this survey. About 86 percent of the decorated sherds in this assemblage were from brushed jars, suggesting the sherds were collected from a Late Caddo occupation area, probably an occupation dating to the 17th century given the very high proportion of brushed sherds in the decorated sherd assemblage. The Joe Meyer Estate #1 site was not one of the sites selected for excavation by SMU before construction of the reservoir, likely because the site was not to be inundated by the reservoir flood pool. There have been no professional archaeological investigations at the site since 1970.

The Steck Site (41WD529), a Titus Phase Settlement in the Lake Fork Creek Drainage Basin, Wood County, Texas

The Steck site (41WD529) is a 15th to early 16th century A.D. Caddo settlement situated in the far western margins of the modern Pineywoods of East Texas, in the upper Sabine River basin in Wood County. The site is specifcally situated in the uplands more than 12m above the Dry Creek foodplain, in the upper part of the Lake Fork Creek drainage basin. Two natural springs emerge from the Queen City Eocene formation immediately below the site. There are two midden deposits at the Steck site, as well as evidence for structures arranged around an open plaza in a small community. The archaeological investigations reported on in this article took place in 1976 in a ca. 9 m diameter trash midden deposit along the edge of the upland landform; the trash midden was ca. 30 cm in thickness. Available notes and analysis records have been used to reconstruct what was accomplished at the site and the kind and range of recovered artifacts.

Response to ‘Discussion: “Streamlined erosional residuals and drumlins in central British Columbia, Canada”’

A response is given to ‘Discussion: “Streamlined erosional residuals and drumlins in central British Columbia, Canada”’. Emphasis is made that the main purpose of the paper under discussion is to present the recognition of a distinctive landscape pattern in central British Columbia that appears to be an immense anastomosing channel network. A channel network of the magnitude described requires a large magnitude of flowing water to form it. Thus, that recognizable landscape pattern and associated upland landform shapes can be explained as products of water erosion. Such landscape patterns are observed being formed by water today.

Analysis of Surface Collections from Areas A and B at the Sam Roberts Site (41CP8) on Prairie Creek, Camp County, Texas

The Sam Roberts site is a large ancestral Caddo mound center and habitation site on the floodplain of Prairie Creek, an eastward-flowing tributary to Big Cypress Creek, as well as on an upland landform south of the creek. Robert L. Turner, Jr.'s surface collections came from what he labeled Area A (in a plowed field in the floodplain) and Area B (in the uplands), several hundred meters apart. His notes with the collection also indicated that Caddo vessels had been plowed up in another cultivated field well to the east of Area A in the Prairie Creek floodplain. The two Turner surface collection areas appear to correspond to two of the five distinct subareas (AE) identified by Thurmond. Thurmond's Area A is the same as Turner's, and Thurmond describes it as a "dense concentration or occupation debris on a floodplain rise adjacent to Prairie Creek, associated with a dark brown greasy soil. Large, dark outlines associated with concentrations of wattle-impressed daub may mark the locations of structures." Area A has a Late Caddo Titus phase component. Thurmond's Area B is the same as Turner's Area B, and this area is marked by an apparent Early or Middle Caddo settlement. Although unnoted by Turner, there was a Late Caddo, Titus phase mound and a midden deposit about 200 m west of Area A, also in the floodplain of Prairie Creek (Thurmond's Area E). The mound (15.2 m in diameter and 1.1 min height) was built over a burned circular structure. Two radiocarbon dates on burned structural materials have median calibrated ages of A.D. 1567 and A.D. 1681; these dates, along with the brushed and brushed-punctated sherds recovered in the excavations, indicate that the Area E mound was built during Titus phase times, along with a number of other mounds in the Big Cypress Creek basin. Thurmond's Area D may be at the same location where Turner noted vessels had been plowed up; this area also has Titus phase occupational remains. Thurmond's Area Cis just east of Area B, and also represents an Early to Middle Caddo habitation area with substantial amounts of ceramic sherds. Finally, the recovery of Gary dart points from Area A indicates that there was a limited Woodland period use in this part of the Sam Roberts site.

Eucalypt forests as indicators of the gradients within the central Queensland serpentine landscape of Australia

The eucalypt forests of the central Queensland serpentine landscape on the eastern coast of Australia are dominated by two overstorey species. These are Eucalyptus fibrosa F.Muell. subsp. fibrosa, the most dominant tree occurring throughout the landscape, and Corymbia xanthope A.R.Bean & Brooker, a serpentine endemic species which has a more restricted distribution. We hypothesised that the structure and foliage elements of the eucalypt forests could be used as biological indicators of the severity of the serpentine soils. This was tested by surveying 30 plots (50 × 20 m) within the upland landform patterns of the central Queensland serpentine landscape. The structure of the forests and abundance of the species were recorded and foliage samples from the dominant tree E. fibrosa subp. fibrosa were collected and analysed for metal and nutrient content. Soil samples from each site were collected and analysed for major cations, bio-available metals and fertility. Analysis of the data showed that there are significant correlations between the structure of the eucalypt forests and the landform patterns and soil chemistry. The relative basal area of C. xanthope is a useful measure of the severity of the serpentine soils and correlates to the soil Mg : Ca quotients. The tree E. fibrosa subsp. fibrosa was found to regulate its uptake of soil elements and cannot be used as an indicator of soil elements.

The Chasteen Site (41UR18) on Big Cypress Creek, Upshur County, Texas

The Chasteen site (41UR18), also known as the W. S. Chastain site appears to be an early Titus phase (ca. A.D. 1450-1550) mound center and village (with an associated cemetery) on an upland landform overlooking Big Cypress Creek. The small mound (18m in diameter and 1.5 m in height) at the Chasteen site, apparently constructed over an important building, is part of a larger complex of Titus phase mound centers at this locale, including the Harroun (41UR10), Camp Joy (41UR144), and the Dalton (41UR11) sites. The village deposits at the Chasteen site are estimated to cover 3-4 acres around the mound, and contain numerous ceramic sherds and concentrations of daub from ancestral Caddo house structures contemporaneous with the house mound. Other artifacts in the village indicate some very limited use of the upland in Late Archaic and Early Caddo periods. The Robert L. Turner, Jr. surface collection from the site came from a midden area within the village.