Initial Findings from the Archeological Investigations of the Hardin A Site (41GG69), Gregg County, Texas

Repository Citation Boyd, Bryan E. and Perttula, Timothy K. (2001) "Initial Findings from the Archeological Investigations of the Hardin A Site (41GG69), Gregg County, Texas," Index of Texas Archaeology: Open Access Gray Literature from the Lone Star State: Vol. 2001 , Article 27. https://doi.org/10.21112/.ita.2001.1.27 ISSN: 2475-9333 Available at: https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/ita/vol2001/iss1/27

) is a prehistoric Caddo Indian settlement located on a high terrace overlooking the Sabine River flood-plain in Gregg County, Texas. The modem channel of the river is about 650 m to the south, and there is a small, intermittent tributary ca. 180 m to the west. The senior author discovered the Hardin A site in 1997, after he was told about it by informants who were looting a midden and cemetery area, and he formally recorded it in February 2000.
In an effort to better understand the temporal and archeological context of the prehistoric Caddo occupation at the Hardin A site, limited hand excavations (Unit 1, a 1 x 2 m unit) were completed in the midden area ( Figure 1) by the senior author, with the assistance of Mark Walters, Texas Archeological Steward, in the spring of 2000. That work exposed deep (+90 cm) archeological deposits in a sandy loam soil ( Figure 2a) with some preserved midden, as well as part of a pit feature in the northern and eastern part of the unit (Figure 2b ). The pit feature (Feature 1) extended to approximately 160 cm below surface (bs ), and contained dark brown to very dark grayish-brown fill with large amounts of ceramics (including about 50 decorated sherds), animal bone (Schniebs 2000), and charred plant remains ( especially hickory nutshells). Analyses are ongoing on these remains. In this paper, we discuss the results of our radiocarbon and oxidizable carbon ratio (OCR) studies in the Hardin A midden.

RADIOCARBON DATES
Two radiocarbon dates have been obtained from the Hardin A site, one from the midden (50 -70 cm bs) in Zone B of the Unit 1 profile (Figure 3), and the other 5 from near the base ofFeature 1 (140-150 cm bs). The calibrated radiocarbon age range (following Stuiver et al. [1998] andTalmaand Vogel [1993]) from the midden

OXIDIZABLE CARBON RA TIO DATES
Sixteen OCR samples were submitted to OCR Carbon Dating, Inc. (Essex, Vermont) from Unit I (Table 1) Ap_ril 2001 the undisturbed midden and Feature 1 in the east profile, and lies at the same level as the upper part of the midden in the south profile. OCR dates from Zone A range between 134 -281 years B.P., or AD. 1669-1816. In actuality, these dates are probably a composite of modern pedoturbation activities ( associated with the recent pothunting) and older oxidizable carbon from the underlying midden. Either way, the OCR dates from Zone A are not relevant to ascertaining the age of the site's undisturbed archeological deposits.
Four of the five Zone B OCR dates range from459-610 B.P. , or AD. 1340-1491 (Table l )

CONCLUSIONS
Although much analytical work remains to be completed on the material culture remains from the Hardin A site, particularly the ceramics and the charred plant remains, the limited excavations 2000 have produced an interesting set of radiocarbon and OCR dates that provide a 8 reasonable temporal context for the prehistoric Caddo occupation. The earliest dates from Zone I suggest the possibility of an initial occupation between ca. AD. 7 50 -1250, although it is just as likely that these dates simply reflect the pedogenic age of the soils under the midden. Certain- if there was an occupation during this broad interval, it was not extensive.

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The Zone B midden and Feature l appear to be virtually contemporaneous, with the best cluster of OCR dates from the midden ranging between A.D. 1340 -13 96, with a