The Goss Farm Site (41FN12) on Bois d’Arc Creek, Fannin County, Texas

INTRODUCTION AND SITE SETTING The Goss Farm site (41FN12) is an ancestral Caddo settlement on an alluvial landform on the west side the Goss Farm on Bois d’Arc Creek; the Goss Farm site is likely part of the same ancestral Caddo settlement as the Sanders site. The recovered artifacts from Goss Farm strongly suggest that the occupations there are culturally related to that of the Sanders site (see Harris 1967; Jackson 2000; Krieger 1946; Perttula, et al. 2015).


INTRODUCTION AND SITE SETTING
The Goss Farm site (41FN12) is an ancestral Caddo settlement on an alluvial landform on the west side the Goss Farm on Bois d'Arc Creek; the Goss Farm site is likely part of the same ancestral Caddo settlement as the Sanders site. The recovered artifacts from Goss Farm strongly suggest that the occupations there are culturally related to that of the Sanders site (see Harris 1967;Jackson 2000;Krieger 1946;Perttula, et al. 2015). In August 1930, B. B. Gardner of the University of Texas conducted limited archaeological investigations at the site. He noted that the alluvial landform had midden deposits as well as burials, and he suggested that the site probably contained a large number of burials (Gardner 1930:15-19). In the work, a 15 cm thick ash features (Burials 1-3) were also excavated at the Goss Farm in 1930, two in close proximity (Burials 1 and skull (comparable to the skulls at the Sanders site, see Jackson et al. 2000) that was buried at a depth of ca. 30 cm bs in an extended position, with the head facing west. One shell-tempered bowl (14.0 cm in height with two sets of two appliqued nodes and two sets of three appliqued nodes. This decorative treatment is similar to Late Prehistoric Southern Plains shell-tempered decorated vessels (i.e., a variety of Nocona Plain) in the upper Brazos and Red River basins in North Central Texas (Brack 2000:Figures 4g-h and 7a-c).
The Goss Farm was periodically visited by members of the Dallas Archeological Society (Harris 1951(Harris , 1953(Harris , 1967Housewright 1946). Housewright (1946:10) excavated a child burial at the site that contained an extraordinary funerary offering of 260 disk-shaped turquoise beads and two turquoise pendants (Jurney and Young 1995:Figure 4). Found also during the excavation of the burial was a single red-slipped sherd, likely from a Sanders Plain vessel.

Ceramic Sherds
There is only a small ceramic sherd assemblage at the Goss Farm in the TARL collections (Table 1). It slip). About 69 percent of the sherds are from grog-tempered vessels, and the remainder are equally split between sherds from bone-and shell-tempered vessels. About 45 percent of the decorated sherds in the Goss Farm collection are from utility wares, and they include rim and/or body sherds from grog-, bone-, and shell-tempered vessels (Table 2). Among the grogthe rim and body of jars. These are likely from Monkstown Fingernail Impressed or Emory Punctated-Incised vessels, or tool punctated variants of the two types. One grog-tempered lower rim-body sherd from One bone-tempered body sherd, likely from a Canton Incised vessel, has parallel incised lines (see Monkstown Fingernail Impressed jar. Both shell-tempered body sherds from utility ware vessels are probably from Emory Punctated-Incised vessels (see Story et al. 1967:136-138). One has diagonal incised lines on the vessel body and a row of tool punctations at the rim-body juncture (see Table 2). The other shell-tempered body sherd has a row of large curvilinear engraved lines, one grog-tempered sherd that has a red slip on both interior and exterior vessel surfaces, and a body sherd from a carinated bowl with concentric circular and rectilinear elements ( Figure  2b). There is also a grog-tempered rim sherd with an inverted rim that has horizontal engraved lines under the vessel lip and at the carination as well as a vertical zone or band connecting the two horizontal lines that from early historic Womack Engraved vessels, probably all from carinated bowls (Figure 3). More than 71 percent of these sherds are from grog-tempered vessels, and there are single examples of sherds from either bone-tempered or shell-tempered vessels (see Table 2). The rim sherds have diagonal or curvilinear engraved scroll lines with excised tick marks, and they may be from Motif B (Figure 3a The lower rim-body sherds of Womack Engraved vessels include one sherd from a Motif A vessel (see (see Figure 3g). Finally, a Motif B Womack Engraved sherd from a carinated bowl has a large negative circle surrounded by a zone of cross-hatched engraved lines (see Figure 3d).

Chipped Stone Tools
The chipped stone tools in the TARL collections from the Goss Farm site include arrow points (n=2), several different prehistoric components, the earliest likely one that may have occurred in the Late Paleoindian period. This early occupation is marked by a possible Scottsbluff dart point fragment with blade The other dart points in the assemblage are Gary points (n=24). These are made from local quartzite (50 percent), Red River gravel chert (46 percent), and novaculite (4 percent).  One of the two arrow points in the Goss Farm collection is a Bonham point made from a black Big Fork chert. This point is associated with the Middle Caddo period, Sanders phase, occupation at the site. The other arrow point is a triangular arrow point made of novaculite, probably a Fresno point like those found in considerable numbers in possible early historic (i.e., late 17th-early 18th century) Caddo components at the Sanders, Womack, and Harling (41FN1) sites.
Other chipped stone tools in the collection include two early stage biface fragments made from Red quartzite and novaculite, and a quartzite unifacial adze. This tool has a chipped bit width of 43.0 mm, and it is 65.9 mm in length, 45.0 mm in width, and 19.6 mm in thickness.

Bone Tool
The one bowl tool in the collection from the Goss Farm is a polished bone awl (Figure 4). The awl is 73.6 mm in length, a maximum of 16.0 mm in width, and 7.9 mm thick. Figure 5. Mussel shell hoes from the Goss Farm site.

Mussel Shell Hoes
Harris (1951:20) reported on the discovery of a cache of four mussel shell hoes in the midden deposits at the Goss Farm. These hoes have a central perforation or hole through which a wooden handle could be mounted, as well as lateral and distal working edges with either crushed or polished use worn areas ( Figure 5). There are two glass beads in the TARL collections from surface contexts at the Goss Farm site. One is a medium-sized and olive-shaped opaque white bead (No. 6 in the Harris et al. [1965Harris et al. [ :309] bead clas-1965. These beads are likely associated with the Womack Engraved ceramic sherds and triangular arrow point in the collection, and are part of a late 17th-early 18th century Womack phase Caddo occupation at the Goss Farm.

Metal Buttons
diameter and is undecorated; it has a central perforation (Figure 6a) and resembles buttons from 18th century contexts at the Womack site (41LR1) (Harris et al. 1965: Figure 22k-l). The second and larger button (16.9 mm in diameter) has a concave interior, and a single circular engraved line near the exterior margin of the button ( Figure 6b); no interior attachment is preserved on the button.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
ence of Bois d'Arc Creek and the Red River at the far western extent of Caddo settlements along the Red River in East Texas. These Caddo occupations took place during both Sanders phase (ca. A.D. 1100-1300) and Womack phase (ca. late 17th-early 18th century) times; based on the number of Womack Engraved sherds in the collection, the Womack phase occupation may have been the most intensive. It was also occupied during Late Paleoindian and Woodland period times.
The site is best known for the discovery of many turquoise beads and pendants as funerary offerings in an ancestral Caddo burial of probable Sanders phase age by Housewright (1946). It is likely that both the Sanders phase and Womack phase settlements at the Goss Farm site on the west side of Bois d'Arc Creek are part of, or at least closely associated with, the extensive Sanders phase and Womack phase settlements at the Sanders site on the east side of Bois d'Arc Creek (Perttula et al. 2015).