Southwestern Pottery and Turquoise in Northeastern Texas

Rare and often questionable occurrences of southwestern pottery and turquoise artifacts have been reported in northeastern Texas. These artifacts may mark major interaction networks. Both southwestern pottery and turquoise artifacts have been found at the Sanders site, which is located in the core distribution of these •erratics. "


Introduction
Southwestern pottery types and turquoise artifacts are rare occurrences in the Caddoan area. yet northeastern Texas has several reported finds. The majority of these have been collected, reported, and curated by avocational archaeologists ( Figure 1). Many such finds ~re thought to ultimately derive from the southwest, yet the empirical evidence associated with their discovery and, in some cases, the items themselves. are lost to posterity. To set this problem in focus. we decided to pool our knowledge of finds of exotic southwestern pottery and turquoise; from both avocational collections and the literature. Data drawn from archaeological sites across the Southern Plains and the Trans-Mississippi South are used to examine the timing and spacing of Southwestern-Caddoan interactions.
Strategic resources in this exchange are thought to be bison hides, meat, hair rope and textiles (Creel 1991 :40-42) from the Plains; salt and bow wood from the Caddos (Schambach 1993;Jeter et al. 1994): and turquoise and cotton blankets 15 from the Southwestern Pueblos (Swanton 1942:37). Southwestern pottery is not mentioned in historical accounts, but it also played a role: possibly in the exchange of seed maize.
Occurrences of southwestern pottery vessels or turquoise artifacts in northeastern Texas, were discussed by Kreiger (1946). We have not progressed much farther than he in the interpretation of this important aspect of prehistoric interregional trade. However, some incidental scientific finds have been noted since then, providing additional direct associations between Southwestern and Caddoau peoples. Also, direct geophysical methods of sourcing pottery and turquoise that were developed in the interim add to the empirical evidence for the origin of materials and anifacts.
Recent discussions (Schambach 1993;Jeter et al. 1994;Wilson 1993Wilson , 1994 have indicated the potential existence of Spiroan trade networks between the Southwest, Plains, and Lower Mississippi Valley, with overland connections between the Red River and Arkansas River. Apparently overland trails extended west to the Rio Grande Pueblos. The Sanders site is the principal candidate for such an entrepot in northeastern Texas. and it is predicted that the distribution of known turquoise and southwestern pottery will center around the Sanders site.
There appears to be a gap in the distribution of these erratic exotics from Montaque County to Rockwall County in northern Texas. Dan Prikryl, in his analysis of R. King Harris' collections in the Smithsonian. notes Southwestern sherds (untyped) at Hickory Creek (41DN49) and 41DN353, in Denton County, Texas (Prikryl 1990). "Types" which have been found as erratics in the Caddoan area include sherds identified as Chupadero (southern New Mexico), dating from the 12-1 Sth centuries are common on Heurietta (Wichita?) sites in Clay and Montague counties. They are also noted in the Young fami ly's collections at the Sanders Site in Lamar County on Bois d' Arc Creek and the Red River, and d1e Hughes collection from Shelby County on the Sabine River (Kreiger 1946:208). "Upper Gila" (Arizona), brown corrugated wares dating to the 15th C. were identified by H. P. Mera and described by Kreiger in his examination (?) of tlie Hughes collection from the Sanders Site on Red River (Kreiger 1946:208). The "Chupadero" identification of the specimens collected by Young as well as those in the Hughes collection need to be reexamined by current typologists. "Mogollon brownware," ascribed 10 the Tonto Region. Arizona was identified from Harrison County (Hayner 1955:245). A nearly whole vessel ( Figure 2) was found ou Aud's Creek, near Paris in Lamar County; however H. P. Mera identified it (by photographs) as Zuni dating to the mid-19tl1 century (Wright 1943:92-95). This specimen certainly merits reexamination if it can be located. Unidentified 18 southwestern sherds were reported from Cass and Franklin countie::s hy Krdger, hut the collections were:: unspecified (Kreiger 1946:208 A. D. 1250A. D. -1450A. D. (Thunnan 1990. The Steck site, in Wood County, Texas, yielded a neck-banded ware which appears to derive from the Southwest (Timothy K. Perttula, personal communication 1995).
Au important. but generally overlooked, find is the stirrup-spout vessel recovered from the SM U salvage excavation of the Lower Rockwall site. typed Arboles Black-on-White (AD 950-1050), and thought at the time to be derived from the Navajo Reservation area of northwestern New Mexico (Lorrain and Hoffrichter 1968). The stirrup-spout bottle (Figure 3) was recovered from Backhoe Trench I at the Lower Rockwall site (essentially the only excavation in the eastern half of the site, the western half contained a "Wylie focus pit, " which received greater attention), about l m below ground surface in the rich black waxy of the Ease Fork Trinity River floodplain. TI1e vessel is nearly whole. missing only the neck of the stirrup. It is rock tempered with a black-on-white painted design on the upper half. It appeared to be coated with a fine-textured organic deposit in the field, which was scrubbed off in the laboratory. Initial analysis by Kathleen Gilmore indicated a southwestern origin. confinned by A. E. Ditter! Jr. (Lorrain and Hoffrichter 1968:53-57). Numerous eccentric vessels were produced in nortbwestern New Mexico and southwestern Colorado during Pueblo I. but the 950-1050 date for Arboles Black-on White places the vessel in Pueblo II times; necessitating the assumption tJ1at these eccentric vessels continued in use (Lorrain and Hoffrichter 1968:56).  (Wright 1943).

Southwestern Pottery Sourcing
Petrographic Analysis. The analysis of the temper in tltis vessel was stimulated by research on "Wylie Focus" sites in the Richland/-Chambers Reservoir project (McIntyre and McGregor 1982;Irvine, inBruseth 1987:116 These areas seem to be the logical source of the material.

Turquoise
Turquoise beads, pendants, and even semiworked raw turquoise ore fragments have been found throughout northeastern Texas (Krieger 1946:207-208). Among the most significant was a necklace with beads and pendants from a juvenile burial at the Goss Farm (41FN12) in Fannin County (Housewright 1946: 10). A turquoise pendant was reportedly found by Perino at the Holdeman site in Red River County (Timothy K. Perttu.la, personal communication 1995). At least two burials at the Sam Kaufman site yielded turquoise artifacts similar to those at Goss Farm (Harris 1953;Skinner et al. 1969). A substance thought to be turquoise was recovered from the Hatchel site (Darrell Creel, personal communication 1995). The William Young family has collected three turquoise artifacts 21 from the Sanders site.
Turquoise is known from a larger area as well. It is reported from the Moore site (Fort Coffee focus) near Spiro, in the Arkansas River Valley of Oklahoma (Orr 1946;Bell 1947;Weigand et al. 1977:31); and from the Standridge site in the Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas (Early et al. 1988:130-131). It is reponed from the Menard site of the Arkansas River near the Mississippi (note: This personal communication came from Richard Polhemus. and needs to be checked against Marvin Jeter and/or John House before it is entered as fact) . . from Goss fann, west of the Sanders Site across Bois d' Arc Creek is undoubtedly the most spectacular find in the region and contains more turquoise than anywhere else in the study area combined (Housewright 1946: 10). The burial was that of a five to six year old child, placed in a gray clay; one red-filmed pottery sherd was present "below the plow zone." The beads were found around the head and shoulders "in short groups from 0.5-3.0 inches long." The necklace consisted of 260 small disc-shaped beads (diameter 3/32-5/32 inch) and two pendants (9/16 inch long, 6/16 inch and 5/16 inch wide, and 3/32 inch thick); which when joined fonn a string 10.25 inches long (Figure 4). They ranged in color from bright blue, to bluish green, to almost white.
At the Sam Kaufman site, Burial 8, a poorly preserved person of indetenninate sex. was placed in the village area east of the county road. Two shell-tempered vessels (not illustrated or catalogued?) were included as grave furniture, along with two small turquoise pendants and five turquoise beads "of the same type ( Figure 5) as found by Rex Housewright in a burial on Goss Fann in Fannin County" (Harris 1953:59). Skeleton 17 in the shaft tomb at Sam Kaufman Volume 6, Number 2 Figure 5. Turquoise beads and pendants from the Sam Kaufman Site (Harris 1953).
yielded 30 disc-shaped turquoise beads (3 -5 mm diameter, 1 mm thick). In addition, this individual was buried with shell beads, conch shell inlays, shell cameos (hwnan heads), shell gorgets, and pearl beads, and was accompanied with earspools. A radiocarbon date (ca. 1400 -1500) on this tomb has been obtained by the Texas Historical Commission, and will soon be reported (Timothy K. Perttula, personal communication 1995).
The turquoise in the Young collection was recovered from the Sanders site ( Figure 6). These items include a small bead, a fragment of a pendant similar to those from Goss Fann and Sam Kaufman, and a piece of raw turquoise with incipient grinding on one surface.

Turquoise Sourcing
There have been remarkably few studies conducted on the sourcing of turquoise, with the assumption that all is derived from die Soud1west. Two beads from a Caddoau burial at the Moore site near Spiro were sourced through trace element chemistry (neutron activation) to specimens from a Pueblo IV site in die Rio Grande valley of New Mexico (Weigand et al. 1977:31;Early etal. 1988:130-131).
In contradistinction, eight tiny turquoise beads found in the skull area of a burial from Feature 23 9 at the Standridge Site in Arkansas were sourced through trace element chemistry (neutron activation) 10 the Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas. Key trace elements include barium, which is apparently absent in southwestern turquoises (Early et al. 1988: 130-131).
An excellent test of the Southwestern-Caddoan interaction would be the sourcing of the turquoise from Sanders, Sam Kaufman, and Hatchel. The Rio Grande-Northeast Texas trajectory is predicted.

B=Bead P=Pendant
,-} , O=Ore . I Figure 6. Location of the Turquoise Finds at the Sanders Site, Lamar County. Made by the Young Family.

Additional Evidence for Exchange
Other evidence for direct exchange between the Southwest and the Texas Caddoan area was noted by Kreiger where Patton Engraved pottery sherds were recovered from Concep9ion Focus houses in Presidio County on the Rio Grande, and Concep9ion Focus arrow points were recovered from the Patton Site in Anderson County on the Trinity River (Kreiger 1946:209).
Although not directly related, a distinctive type of trade pendant, similar to the turquoise ones from sites along the Red River, was made by the Cahokia Illini ca. 1690-1750 (Walthall and BenchJey 1987: 30). These pendants are made from crushed blue glass beads, interlace with crushed white glass beads, which are re-melted and fused. The resulting material is polished and resembles turquoise in both color and appearance.

Discussion
The Sanders site and the Lower Rockwall site are strategically located at the frontier of the hypothesized Southwestem-Caddoan trading network that began ca. A. D. 950 ·(Kreiger l 946; Lorrain and Hoffricbter 1968) and apparently flourished until the 19th century . Analysis of avocational collections and the archaeological literature indicate three loci of Southwestern influences in Texas. Two of these appear to be related to 14th-century Puebloan expansions and interaction with pre-horse plains groups (extending as far as the Pratt Complex in Kansas (Hofman 1989), the third appears to be related to an earlier 10th century Caddoan interact. ion sphere possibly relating to trade in salt and bow wood for bison hides, fur, and meat. Caddoan ceramics have been noted in Plains (Baugh 1986) and southwestern Texas (Kelley 1939;Kelley et al. 1940) contexts dating to these periods. Both areas exhibit Southwestern trade items dating to the post-horse period (ca. 1680) when fiream1s apparently replace tl1e bow woodJ trade, further complicating the situation.
Another distributional correlation, which appears to be related, is the location of the socalled "Wylie focus pits " in comparison to these Southwestern trade erratics. The northernmost "Wylie focus pits" cluster along the East Fork Trinity River and are located within the zone of native stands of bois d'arc (Jurney 1994). The Lower 25 Rockwall site and the Sanders site are strategically placed at the northern and southern end of this stand, according to the same pattern as the trade erratics ( Figure 1). The Richland/Chambers "Wylie focus pits" are located intennediate between the Patton site -where Concep9ion complex artifacts were recovered -and the Lower Rockwall site , suggesting some type of strategic placement.
In conclusion, this exercise has called into focus an urgent need; that of proper curation of archaeological materials for future analyses. This applies to professionals as well as avocationals. Grave goods are required to be reburied in federal repositories, thereby losing the opportunity to source the beads. (Many private collectors are reluciant to donate to such federal repositories for this reason, money is another) . Also, many avocation collections, such as Housewright's may eventually be sold on the auction block removing it farther from public access. Either way. the necklace from the Goss Farm site is one of the most phenomenal items in the southern Plains , indicating Southwestern trade and great reverence for a child, and it may pass to oblivion. The high incidence of turquoise and Southwestern pottery fmds at the Sanders site and related sites along the Red River confimi a major role in Southwestern-Caddoan iuteraction.