A Frankston Phase Settlement and Cemetery at the H. C. Slider Site on the Neches River in Cherokee County, Texas

Cite this Record Perttula, Timothy K. and Nelson, Bo (2013) "A Frankston Phase Settlement and Cemetery at the H. C. Slider Site on the Neches River in Cherokee County, Texas," Index of Texas Archaeology: Open Access Gray Literature from the Lone Star State: Vol. 2013, Article 32. https://doi.org/10.21112/.ita.2013.1.32 ISSN: 2475-9333 Available at: https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/ita/vol2013/iss1/32


A Frankston Phase Settlement and Cemetery at the H. C. Slider Site on the Neches Rivet~ in Cherokee County, Texas
Timothy K. Perttula  According to Jones' notes, the site is on three sandy knolls along a Neches River terrace, approximately II miles southwest of the city of Jacksonville. These knolls (A-C) have midden deposits with ceramic sherds and lithic artifacts ( Figure 2). Knoll A has a cemetery. and Jones excavated four burials

BURIAL EXCAVATIONS
The four burials excavated by Jones at the H. C. Slider site are dispersed across a ca. 10 m long area at the northwestern edge of the Area A knoll (see Figure 4). The burial pits were oriented northwest-southeast, with single individuals interred in an extended position, with their heads apparently at the southeastern end of the pits, facing to the northwest. Each of the burials contains ceramic vessels as associated funerary offerings.

Burial]
Burial l is that of a young adult; the human remains were poorly preserved, including part of the cranium and portions of the upper and lower leg bones ( Figure 4). The burial pit extended to 1.12 m below the surface, reaching about 2 em into the sterile B-horizon red clay. A single engraved effigy vessel was placed with this individual ( (Perttula 2011 :271) Buria/2 Burial 2 was in a grave pit that was 91 em in depth and 76 em in width; the burial pit was estimated to he 1.52 min length ( Figure 7). Only fragmentary cranial remains and teeth were preserved in the grave. Six ceramic vessels were placed in the grave as funerary offerings: two jars above the head, a bottle by what would have been the left leg, and three vessels (two carinated bowls and a jar) by what would have been the lower right leg (see Figure 7). The vessels include two Killough Pinched jars, one with a pedestal base ( Figure  Burial 3 is that of a poorly preserved adult interment in a pit that was 1 .75 min length, 76 em in width, and 96 em in depth ( Figure 12). Only leg bones were preserved, along with a few fragments of crania and teeth. There were frequent charcoal lumps along the floor of the grave, suggesting that fires had been lit in the grave before the body was interred, probably part of the Six Day burial rites of the Caddo (cf. Gonzalez 2005).
Three vessels (Vessels 8-10) are associated with Burial 3 (see Figure 12), two by the head and upper left leg and a third that was found at 46 em bs in the grave fill. These vessels are a brushed-pinched jar with strap handles (Figure 13c), a large plain carinated bowl (Figure 13f), and a diagonal incised jar (Figure I 3d).

Buria/4
No human remains were preserved in Burial 4; the size and depth of the grave pit suggests that this was the burial of an adult. The pit was 76 em in depth, 74 em in width, and approximately 150 em in length ( Figure 15). Three vessels were placed in the grave as funerary offerings, two-a Poynor Engraved bottle and a plain carinated bowl (see Figure l3a-b) near what would have been the right side of the head, and a large plain carinated bowl (see Figure l3e) by what would have been the lower left leg.

Elbow Pipe Sherd
An elbow pipe bowl rim sherd from the H. C. Slider site is in the Gregg County Historical Museum collections, bul its provenience within the site is not known. The elbow pipe stem, tempered with grog, has four horizontal engraved lines on the upper part of the stem, and sets of curvilinear engraved lines on the lower part of the stem, perhaps extending onto the lower part of the bowl (Figure 16). This particular pipe resembles an upper Neches Var. C. elbow pipe (Perttula 20ll: Figure 6-23). These pipes are found in ca. A.D. 1400-1650 Frankston phase sites, in both domestic and mortuary contexts.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
The H. C. Slider site is a Late Caddo frankston phase domestic settlement with a small cemetery on an alluvial terrace of the Neches River in western Cherokee County, Texas. Buddy Jones investigated the site in November and December 1967, documented three distinct midden deposits on terrace knolls (see Figure  2), and knoll A had a small cemetery with four burials. Jones excavated the four burials, all of which were aligned with the body's head at the southeast end of the grave, the body in an extended, supine position, facing to the northwest. This is a common form of burial treatment in the upper Neches River basin at this time.
The burials each had associated funerary offerings, namely between 1-6 ceramic vessels. A total of 13 vessels were included with the burials, both fine wares (n=4), utility wares (n=5), and plain wares (n=4). Among the fine wares are a Hood Engraved, var. Hood effigy bowl, one Poynor Engraved, Var. A carinated bowl, and two cylindrical Poynor Engraved bottles with short necks, while the utility wares include three Killough Pinched jars (one with a pedestal base), a diagonal incised jar (possibly Maydelle Incised) , and a Bullard Brushed jar. The plain wares arc globular-shaped (n=2) and simple (n=2) carinateu bowls of several sizes.
The decorated vessels, and the distinctive vessel forms, from the burials are stylistically consistent with a Frankston phase component in the upper Neches River valley. The occurrence of the one Vttr. A Poynor Engraved vessel and the Hood Engraved, var. Hood effigy vessel at the site suggests that the burials date from the early part of the Frankston phase, from ca. A.D. 1400-1480 (see Perttula 20ll : Table 6-37).