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Article Title
Agency
Journal of Northeast Texas Archeology
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21112/.ita.2014.1.51
Abstract
A total of at least eight Caddo burials were excavated at the C. D. Marsh site on Eight Mile Creek, a southward-flowing tributary to the Sabine River, by Buddy C. Jones in 1959-1960. This includes Burial 1, an historic (dating after ca. A.D. 1685) Nadaco Caddo burial; European trade goods found with this burial include two small silver disks. The other burials (Burials 2-8) are part of an earlier Caddo cemetery that is thought to be associated with the ca. A.D. 1350-17th century Pine Tree Mound community along the Sabine River and its tributaries. Jones suggests that these latter burials are from a ca. A.D. 1200-1500 Caddo cemetery.
According to Jones and notes on file at the museum, Burials 2-8 are located ca. 120 m east-southeast from the one Historic Caddo burial at the site. The burials were placed in extended supine position in north-south oriented pits in rows, with the head of the deceased at the southern end of the burial and facing north. Funerary offerings included ceramic vessels and mussel shells. In this article, we describe eight ceramic vessels in the Gregg County Historical Museum collections from Burials 1, 4, and 7, as well as projectile points from habitation contexts at the C. D. Marsh site; the location of Burial 7 relative to Burial 4 is not known.
There are also six other ceramic vessels from the ca. A.D. 1200-1500 burials at the site that are unassociated funerary objects in the Gregg County Historical Museum collections. This includes one vessel each from Burials 5 and 8; the provenience of the other vessels at the site is unknown.
One of the unassociated funerary object ceramic vessels at the C. D. Marsh site is a Ripley Engraved, var. McKinney carinated bowl. Such vessels would not be expected in a ca. A.D. 1200-1500 Caddo cemetery, and although this type of fine ware is commonly seen on post-A.D. 1600 Titus phase sites in the region, it is rarely found in association with European trade goods. Therefore, it may represent a burial from a third temporal component (ca. A.D. 1600-1685) at the site.
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