Article Title

The Eli Moores Site, a 17th to early 18th Century Caddo Site on the Red River, Bowie County, Texas

Authors

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

Agency

Friends of Northeast Texas Archaeology

DOI

https://doi.org/10.21112/ita.2014.1.10

Abstract

The Eli Moores site (41BW2) is an important ancestral Caddo mound center and habitation site on the Red River in the East Texas Pineywoods, likely part of the Nasoni Caddo village visited by the Teran de los Rios entrada in 1691. The site may have been the residence of the caddi of the Nasoni Caddo when it was visited by the French and Spanish, and the Xinesi lived in a temple on the mound at the nearby Hatchel site. The site was investigated by the University of Texas in 1932, and in one of the mounds and in associated midden deposits, the remains of Caddo structures, midden deposits, features, eight burials (with nine individuals), and a large ceramic and lithic assemblage were recovered, along with well-preserved plant and faunal remains.

Unfortunately, however, the results of these excavations and the recovered artifact assemblage received only the most cursory investigation and analysis. As a result the significance of the site with respect to how it can contribute to a better understanding of the regional Caddo archaeological record for the 17th and early 18th century as well as a better appreciation of the nature of early contacts between Nasoni Caddo peoples and French and Spanish explorers and traders has not been realized. This monograph remedies this situation by completing a reanalysis of the existing 1932 excavation and feature records as well as the recovered artifact assemblage and plant remains that are curated at the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at The University of Texas at Austin (TARL) and presents in detail the significant archaeological findings of the 1932 excavations. This reanalysis was initiated in the Fall of 2013.

AS discussed below, the artifact analysis focuses on the detailed stylistic and technological analysis of the plain and decorated sherds; vessels and vessel sections; clay pipes; chipped and ground stone tools; and bone and shell tools and ornaments in the Eli Moores assemblage. Drawings and/or photographs have been taken of representative artifacts from the different artifact classes, and photographs taken of the vessels and vessel sections, along with drawings of their decorative motifs and elements. The artifact analysis also includes descriptions of the small assemblage of European glass beads and lead balls (from burial J-3) in the Eli Moores collection.

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