Article Title

Rowland Clark and Dan Holdeman Site Human Skeletal Remains

Authors

Carol J. Loveland, UnknownFollow

Agency

Journal of Northeast Texas Archeology

DOI

https://doi.org/10.21112/.ita.1994.1.9

Abstract

The Rowland Clark site was occupied by Caddoan Indian groups from approximately A.D. 1300-1600+. Twenty one of the 39 burials recovered during the Museum of the Red River excavations were assigned to the earliest McCurtain phase occupation (ca. A.D. 1300-1450); 14 burials were ascribed to a later McCurtain occupation between ca. A.D. 1450 and 1600; four burials belonged to the final McCurtain occupation (ca. A.D. 1600+) of the site. Since infants and children were buried under house floors rather than in the cemetery area associated with each time period, their interment does not necessarily follow the assigned time period. Due to poor preservation and small sample sizes all burials were evaluated as a single Caddoan population.

The burials from the Dan Holdeman site were found in a mound and three cemetery areas located on a terrace adjacent to the Red River. Skeletons of 26 individuals were recovered. The remains of an additional 15 individuals could not be retrieved due to their poor preservation. The acidity of the soil at the site contributed to considerable disintegration of the bones, leaving all burials in fragmentary condition.

Three time periods are represented in the burials from the Dan Holdeman site. Burials 22, 23, and 25 were associated with a Formative Caddoan occupation (that Perino designated the Spiro Focus) dating about A.D. 1000. Interments corresponding with the Middle Caddoan Sanders Focus, dated about A.D. 1200, include Burials 1-20 and 24. One subadult, Burial 21, dates to the latter portion of the McCurtain phase (ca. A.D. 1650). The skeletal material that could not be retrieved represented individuals living during the Formative and Middle Caddoan occupations.

Since much of the data on the osteoarcheology of the Clark and Holdeman sites has been presented in Loveland, specifically stature estimates, skeletal anomalies, and caries rates, it is the purpose of this appendix to summarize other aspects of the skeletal biology of the prehistoric inhabitants of the two sites. However, the poor condition of the skeletons recovered from the sites precludes accurately assessing the biological condition and adaptive efficiency of the people who lived at the site. However, the analyses presented here, and in Loveland, present data that provides a fairly complete picture of Caddoan adaptive efficiency on the Red River in Northeast Texas.

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