Sherd Assemblages from Sites in Bowie, Cass, Gregg, Lamar, and Sherd Assemblages from Sites in Bowie, Cass, Gregg, Lamar, and Red River Counties in East Texas Held by the Sam Noble Red River Counties in East Texas Held by the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History Oklahoma Museum of Natural History

Cite this Record Perttula, Timothy K. and Nelson, Bo (2017) "Sherd Assemblages from Sites in Bowie, Cass, Gregg, Lamar, and Red River Counties in East Texas Held by the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History," Index of Texas Archaeology: Open Access Gray Literature from the Lone Star State: Vol. 2017, Article 45. https://doi.org/10.21112/.ita.2017.1.45 ISSN: 2475-9333 Available at: https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/ita/vol2017/iss1/45


Introduction
The Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History (SNOMNH) has in their collections several assemblages of ancestral Caddo ceramic vessel sherds from sites in East Texas.We recently had an opportunity to examine and document these collections during a trip to the SNOMNH, and in this article,

Sherd Assemblages
In this article, we discuss ancestral Caddo vessel sherd assemblages in the SNOMNH from seven sites in Bowie, Cass, Gregg, Lamar and Red River counties in East Texas.Five of the assemblages recorded and their exact locations are not known at the present time.
Aiken Creek site, Bowie County mile east of the dam at Lake Wright Patman.It is not known from where on the creek this collection of sherds came, but they were collected by M. P. Miroir, Jr., a well-known collector and avocational archaeologist.It is possible that these vessel sherds are from the Molly Cameron site (41BW18), a wellknown Caddo settlement and cemetery on Aiken Creek (Perttula 2017a).
Miroir collected 16 ceramic vessel sherds from the Aiken Creek site (Table 1).They are from either grog-tempered (94 percent) or grog-bone-tempered (6 percent) wares; the one grog-bone-tempered sherd is from a utility ware vessel with horizontal incised lines.

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Sherds with brushed elements comprise 31 percent of the assemblage, and they include sherds that are likely from Pease Brushed-Incised vessels (see Suhm and Jelks 1962:Plate 60).Another sherd has horizontal incised lines on the rim, a row of tool punctations at the rim-body juncture, and vertical brushing marks on the vessel body (Figure 1b).
Creek site assemblage.

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Decorative method and element Rim Body N   vertical hatched lines, and a rim sherd with curvilinear, circular, and diagonal engraved lines as well as triangle elements (see Figure 2a).This rim may be from a Hatchel Engraved vessel (see Suhm and Jelks 1962:67).One body sherd is from a Barkman Engraved vessel with horizontal and vertical engraved lines and a horizontal row of excised punctations (see Table 2).

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The decorated sherds in the Aiken Creek site assemblage suggest that the site had two periods of with horizontal incised lines and a Crockett Curvilinear Incised rim sherd.The landforms overlooking the Bayou would have been prime settlement locations for ancestral Caddo peoples.The sherds at SNOMNH from the site were collected and donated by Pete Miroir.The 19 sherds in the small assemblage are tempered primarily with grog (89 percent), with grog-bone (5 percent), and bone-hematite-temper (5 percent) accounting for the remainder of the sherds (Table 3).

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The utility ware sherds in the assemblage are from brushed, brushed-incised, incised, incisedpunctated (Figure 3a), and punctated decorative elements (Table 4).The one incised-punctated sherd is (see Suhm and Jelks 1962:Plate 61).carinated bowls (see Figure 3c-d), and another sherd with concentric circles and curvilinear hatched and cross-hatched zones may be from a Hatchel Engraved vessel (see Figure 3e).The one grog-bonetempered sherd in the collection is from a carinated bowl with a curvilinear hatched zone and closelyspaced curvilinear engraved lines (see Figure 3b).
The principal ancestral Caddo settlement of the site took place during the early part of the Texarkana phase, from ca.A.D. 1400-1500, as indicated by the Barkman Engraved and likely Hatchel Engraved sherds as well as the sherds from vessels with brushed decorative elements.An earlier occupation during the Early Caddo period (ca.A.D. 1000-1200) is marked by the Pennington Punctated-Incised body sherd, and likely also by the sherds with incised decorative elements.The Coker Place is a Middle Caddo period (ca.A.D. 1200-1400) settlement with at least one constructed earthen mound and associated 5-6 acre village on the Sulphur River in the lower part of the basin.Archaeological investigations by the University of Texas archaeologists at the site in 1932 documented burned structures in one mound, along with the recovery of a substantial ceramic vessel sherd assemblage (Jackson 1932;Perttula 2015).A second apparent mound at the site was dug by looters in the 1990s, who uncovered a number of burial features and a Haley Engraved bottle, among other unknown funerary objects.The proportion of red-slipped sherds in the Middle Caddo period ceramic assemblage is notable (47 percent), as are the percentage of engraved sherds from red-slipped vessels (3.8 percent).Other decorative methods represented in the sherds include engraved (but not slipped) (6.3 percent), appliqued (6.9 percent)-probably from Pease Brushed-Incised vessels (Perttula et al. 1997:19)-incised (17.6 percent), punctated (8.2 percent), incised-punctated (0.6 percent), and brushed (10.1 percent).The one radiocarbon date from the Coker Place is A.D. 1300-1435 (2 sigma) (Perttula et al. 1997:17).
site (41CS1): a, appliqued; b, trailed; c, neck banded; d, incised; e, engraved rim sherd.The earliest Caddo ceramics at the Coker Place include sherds with horizontal incised lines (Davis Incised, see Figure 7a) and a rim sherd from a Crockett Curvilinear Incised carinated bowl (see Figure 6; see also Suhm and Jelks 1962:Plates 16 and 17).These are evidence of the Caddo use of the site in the Early Caddo period (ca.A.D. 1000-1200).
The principal Caddo settlement at the Coker Place took place during the Middle Caddo period, as mentioned above.The best evidence for this period of settlement is the high proportion of red-slipped rim and body sherds (see Figure 7b)-probably from Sanders Slipped vessels-as such sherds account sherds (including one rim sherd with a horizontal engraved line as well as slipped surfaces, (see Table 6).Other engraved sherds in this component includes a rim with stacked hatched triangles (see Figure 4e) and another rim sherd from a carinated bowl with stacked hatched triangles, diagonal hatched zones, and curvilinear and horizontal engraved lines (see Figure 7c).A second carinated bowl sherd has diagonal engraved lines and a curvilinear hatched triangle element (see Figure 7d).
The four shell-tempered sherds in the Coker Place assemblage include a plain body sherd and three appliqued ridges (see Figure 4a), and another is a Nash Neck Banded rim sherd with an appliqued lug at the lip (see Figure 5b).These sherds are from utility ware vessels that were manufactured by Late Caddo period McCurtain phase Caddo potters in the mid-Red River basin, and traded/exchanged with the Texarkana phase settlement on the lower Sulphur River, where shell-tempered ceramics were very common.Also part of this component is a grog-tempered Foster Trailed-Incised body sherd (see Figure 4b); such vessels were made after ca.A.D. 1500 in Texarkana phase contexts.
In addition to the ceramic vessel sherds, two bone-tempered long-stemmed Red River pipe stems are in the collection.Their stem diameters range from 11.4 mm to 13.4 mm, both probably from the Haley variety of the Red River pipe (Hoffman 1967:10).

Ware Acres Site (41GG31)
The ceramic sherds from the Ware Acres site came from midden excavations led by Buddy Jones in the early 1960s.This area, known as Area C (Perttula et al. 2013), was on an alluvial terrace of Grace terrace, and the archaeological deposits extended to the base of the terrace slope.The midden extended to ca. 76 cm bs, and it contained an abundance of ceramic sherds, animal bone, and a few lithic artifacts.Jones (1968:17) excavated a 4.6 x 6.1 m area in the southern part of Area C, and recovered over 15,000 ceramic sherds, including more than 2,500 rim sherds, from Ripley Engraved, Taylor Engraved, Wilder Engraved, Bullard Brushed, Karnack Brushed-Incised, and Harleton Appliqued vessels.Jones (1968:17-18) also noted that there were remnants of house structures-marked by "dark ash colored areas"-in Area C that were graded away in modern house construction on the crest of the terrace, upslope from the thickest part of the midden deposits.These deposits likely date to after ca.A.D. 1600 because of the common occurrence of sherds from Ripley Engraved, var.McKinney, Simms Engraved, and Taylor Engraved vessels in the assemblage.
There are 41 ceramic vessel sherds in the SNOMNH assemblage from the Ware Acre site, including 36 decorated sherds (Table 7).The sherds are almost all from grog-tempered vessels (92.7 percent); the other sherds are plain rims from grog-bone-tempered vessels (Figure 8d-e).

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The utility wares in this Ware Acres collection are dominated by brushed (see Figure 8a-b), brushedincised, and brushed-punctated body sherds from Bullard Brushed vessels (Table 8).The only other utility ware sherd is a body sherd with rows of linear tool punctations.
Acres site (41GG31) assemblage.The ceramic vessel sherds in this assemblage from the Sanders site were donated to the SNOMNH in July 1976 by R. K. Harris, a well-known avocational archaeologist from Dallas, Texas.The assemblage vessels tempered with grog (88 percent) and grog-bone (12 percent) inclusions.The assemblage is about Middle Caddo period Sanders phase component at the site (Perttula et al. 2016(Perttula et al. , 2017)).

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The utility ware sherds in this collection from the Sanders site include rim and body sherds from incised, incised-punctated, and punctated vessels (Table 10).These include sherds from Canton Incised vessels (Figures 12 and 13e-f) and body sherds from Monkstown Fingernail Impressed jars (Figure 13c).engraved lines (see Table 10), and a sherd from a carinated bowl with engraved curvilinear scrolls and sherds from Sanders Slipped carinated bowls (see Figure 13a-b) and bottles.

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head and the vessel have a red slip on both vessel surfaces.
In addition to the ceramic vessel sherds, there is a single Middle Caddo period grog-tempered var.Haley long-stemmed Red River pipe stem sherd in the collection (see Hoffman 1967).The stem diameter is 12.2 mm and the hole diameter is 4.1 mm.

Sam Kaufman (41RR16)
This sherd collection from the Sam Kaufman site, a well-known ancestral Caddo multiple mound center and village on Mound Prairie on the Red River (Perttula 2008;Skinner et al. 1969), was donated to the SNOMNH by Frank de la Mater.There are also a few chipped and ground stone tools in the collection (see below).percent) made by Late Caddo period McCurtain phase potters, but the remainder of the sherds are from grog (25 percent)-and grog-bone (2.9 percent)-tempered vessels that are part of the Middle Caddo period Mound Prairie phase occupation of the settlement (see Perttula 2008).

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The shell-tempered wares include a number of neck banded body sherds from Nash Neck Banded also be from a Nash Neck Banded vessel (see Suhm and Jelks 1962:111 and Plate 56).The incised and et al. (1967:136-138).The type occurs in both prehistoric and historic Caddo contexts, based primarily on a large assemblage of Late and early Historic Caddo McCurtain phase vessels from sites on the Red River in East Texas and Southeast Oklahoma.According to Story et al. (1967:137), Emory Punctated-Incised occurs as jars tempered with sand, sand-shell, sand and grog, or sand and bone."Some vessels have only punctations arranged into one to four rows around the vessel, usually just below the lip.If brushing is present, it may occur almost anywhere on the vessel, from the lip to the base.If incising is present, it usually consists of straight to slightly curved lines extending from below the rim to the base or to about the middle of the body.Punctations are often combined with either incising or brushing" (Story et al. 1967:137).Red River varieties of Emory Punctated-Incised, commonly shell-tempered, also include appliqued elements on the vessel bodies as well as horizontal row of punctations on the rim.
Kaufman site (41RR16) assemblage.The Mound Prairie phase ceramics from the Sam Kaufman site are dominated by Sanders Slipped rim and body sherds (see Table 12).There are also two body sherds from Sanders Engraved vessels-one of which is red-slipped-as well as four Canton Incised body sherds, and a rim with tool punctations (see Table 12).

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The lithic artifacts in this Sam Kaufman collection includes two Woodland period Gary points made from red or dark grayish-brown Red River gravel chert.The two points have 14.9-17.0mm stem widths, and range in thickness from 6.5-7.7 mm.Another tool is a brown jasper drill, along with a Late Caddo period triangular arrow point made from a heat-treated novaculite, probably also collected from Red River gravels.The last tool is the bit and body fragment of a greenstone or siliceous shale celt.

Bentsen-Clark (41RR41)
The collection of ceramic vessel sherds at the SNOMNH from the Bentsen-Clark site was collected and donated by R. King Harris.The Bentsen-Clark site, on the Red River, is a multicomponent ancestral Caddo settlement and cemetery (see Banks and Winters 1975).The assemblage includes only 21 sherds from grog-tempered (71 percent) and grog-bone-tempered (29 percent) vessels (Table 13).Most of the

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The utility wares from the Bentsen-Clark site include four rim sherds from Davis Incised vessels and a body sherd from a Dunkin Incised vessel with horizontal incised lines and a vertical hatched zone (Table 14; see Suhm and Jelks 1962:Plates 18 and 19).The one incised-punctated sherd (Figure 17c) may be from a Crockett Curvilinear Incised vessel.Such utility ware types suggest that this ceramic sherds in the collection strengthen that suggestion (see below).

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One distinctive incised-punctated body sherd in the Aiken Creek site collection has semi-circular and Incised bowl (seeSuhm and Jelks 1962:Plate 17).
along with one red-slipped rim with horizontal engraved lines.Red-slipped shell-tempered vessels are common in McCurtain phase sites in the mid-Red River basin, including sites in both East of three horizontal engraved lines around the rim of the vessel.
with red pigment in engraved lines Curvilinear Incised; d, Holly Fine Engraved.

Table 1 . Ceramic assemblage from the Aiken Creek site in Bowie County, Texas.
The later occupation was during the Late Caddo period Texarkana phase, perhaps sometime between ca.A.D. 1400-1550.The distinctive sherds associated with this component are from Barkman Engraved, Hatchel Engraved, and Pease Brushed-Incised vessels.At this time, the exact location of the Emerald Post Farm site in Bowie County is not known, but land records searched to locate the Post family lands in the county indicate that their lands overlook McKinney Bayou to the north, only a few miles from the Arkansas state line and not far east of the Texas A&M University at Texarkana campus (Lawrence Head, October 2017 personal communication).

c b a Acres site (41GG31) assemblage, cont.
Titus phase, with var.Carpenter and var.Gandy most commonly noted in early Titus phase sites and var.Williams dating to the late Titus phase(Perttula 2017b:Table 21).
(41GG31): a-b, brushed; c, horizontal engraved; d-e, plain rim sherds.e d *white pigment in engraved lines on one sherd