Article Title

Documentation of Archaeological Materials from the Cherokee Lake Site (41RK132), Rusk County, Texas

Authors

Timothy K. Perttula, Heritage Research Center, Stephen F. Austin State UniversityFollow

Agency

Journal of Northeast Texas Archeology

DOI

https://doi.org/10.21112/.ita.2012.1.20

Abstract

The Cherokee Lake site was discovered by Buddy Calvin Jones in 1956, after a terrace area along Tiawichi Creek, inundated by the construction of Lake Cherokee in 1947, had been graded for the constmction of fish hatcheries there. Jones identified a single burial and a large storage pit in Area A at the southern end of the terrace, where there was a shallow (0-30 em bs) midden deposit.

The burial in Area A is an Historic Nadaco Caddo grave that probably dates to the early 18th century based on the recovery of 15 blue glass beads. This strand of beads was placed near the legs of the deceased individual. The Caddo person had been placed in an extended supine position in a pit that was 1.83 m long and 0.76 em in width, with the head facing towards the west. The estimated depth of the grave was 0.76 m, and its fill was a dark charcoal-stained midden.

In addition to the strand of glass beads, three ceramic vessels had been placed as funerary offerings in the grave along with a Fresno arrow point by the upper left leg. One Simms Engraved vessel was on the left side of the body, near the foot of the grave, while a second Simms Engraved vessel had been placed by the individual's right foot, along with a Maydelle Incised jar. A plain clay elbow pipe had been placed inside the jar. Two of the vessels from this burial have been recently documented in the collections of the Gregg County Historical Museum in Longview, Texas; the Maydelle Incised vessel is no longer in the collection.

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