Documentation of Ceramic Vessels and Projectile Points from the C. D. Marsh Site (41HS269) in the Sabine River Basin

Repository Citation Perttula, Timothy K.; Selden, Robert Z.; and Nelson, Bo (2014) "Documentation of Ceramic Vessels and Projectile Points from the C. D. Marsh Site (41HS269) in the Sabine River Basin," Index of Texas Archaeology: Open Access Gray Literature from the Lone Star State: Vol. 2014 , Article 52. https://doi.org/ 10.21112/.ita.2014.1.51 ISSN: 2475-9333 Available at: https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/ita/vol2014/iss1/52


INTRODUCTION
A total of at least eight Caddo burials were excavated at the C. D. Marsh site on Eight Mile Creek, a Burial 1, an historic (dating after ca. A.D. 1685) Nadaco Caddo burial (Jones 1968:89); European trade goods found with this burial include two small silver disks. The other burials (Burials 2-8) are part of an earlier Caddo cemetery that is thought to be associated with the ca. A.D. 1350-17 th century Pine Tree Mound com-2012:65, 78). Jones (1968:85) suggests that these latter burials are from a ca. A.D. 1200-1500 Caddo cemetery. east-southeast from the one Historic Caddo burial at the site. The burials were placed in extended supine position in north-south oriented pits in rows, with the head of the deceased at the southern end of the burial and facing north. Funerary offerings included ceramic vessels and mussel shells. In this article, we describe eight ceramic vessels in the Gregg County Historical Museum collections from Burials 1, 4, and 7, as well as projectile points from habitation contexts at the C. D. Marsh site; the location of Burial 7 relative to Burial 4 is not known.
There are also six other ceramic vessels from the ca. A.D. 1200-1500 burials at the site that are unassociated funerary objects in the Gregg County Historical Museum collections. This includes one vessel each from Burials 5 and 8; the provenience of the other vessels at the site is unknown. These vessels are documented in Perttula et al. (2013).
One of the unassociated funerary object ceramic vessels at the C. D. Marsh site is a Ripley Engraved, var. McKinney carinated bowl. Such vessels would not be expected in a ca. A.D. 1200-1500 Caddo cemetery, is rarely found in association with European trade goods. Therefore, it may represent a burial from a third temporal component (ca. A.D. 1600-1685) at the site.
Burial 1 is the historic Nadaco Caddo burial at the C. D. Marsh site. The burial was that of an adult individual placed in an extended supine position in an east-west oriented grave; the head of the individual faced to the west. Jones (1968:89) notes that six ceramic vessels were placed in the grave in a cluster around vessel-presumably the compound bowl mentioned by Jones (1968:88)-by the right foot of the deceased. silver disks were found on either side of the head, and were probably ear ornaments.
Burial 4 is that of an adult Caddo individual placed in an extended supine position, but with its legs akimbo, in a pit oriented north-south; the head of the deceased would have faced to the north. A 1960 sketch map by Jones shows that the deceased was accompanied by four ceramic vessels, one by the head and three along There is no information available about Burial 7 at the C. D. Marsh site in the notes and records of the Gregg County Historical Museum, except for one ceramic vessel, various soil samples from the pelvis and cranium areas, and fragments of human remains from an individual of unknown age and sex.

PROJECTILE POINTS
Several dart points in the C. D. Marsh collection document some use of the site during the Woodland and/or Late Archaic periods (Figure 11). This includes one Godley point of brownish-red chert; two Kent points of brown and red chert; and four Gary points. The Gary points are made from a local red (n=1) and brown (n=2) chert as well as a non-local gray novaculite. The stem widths on the Gary points range from 9.0-15.0 mm, indicating these are post-A.D. 200 varieties of Gary points (cf. Schambach 1982Schambach , 1998. There is also a single parallel stemmed dart point of brown chert in the collection.  Figure 12). About 78% of the arrow points are made from local brown and red chert, but one Perdiz and one Bonham point are made from non-local grayish-brown and dark gray chert. One of the preforms is made from a gray novaculite (Figure 12c). The ceramic vessels placed as funerary offerings in Burial 1 are consistent with those expected in an Historic Caddo period grave in Kinsloe focus/phase components in the Sabine River basin: a Natchitoches Engraved bowl, a Simms Engraved carinated bowl, a Taylor Engraved bottle, and two jars: La Rue Neck Banded and a probable Emory Punctated-Incised vessel. The silver disks from this burial are not available for study. characterize. The vessels discussed here include a Pennington Punctated-Incised carinated bowl, another carinated bowl with motifs seen in Middle Caddo contexts in other East Texas sites (cf. Hart and Perttula 2010): hatched zones and ladders and concentric ovals. Vessels from Burials 5 and 8 in the Gregg County Historical Museum include a bowl with a hatched and cross-hatched engraved motif and another Pennington Punctated-Incised carinated bowl (Perttula et al. 2013). Together, the two Pennington Punctated-Incised vessels from this earlier cemetery suggest that at least some of the interments there date to no later than ca. A.D. 1300 (cf. Story 2000).