Woodland Period Sites in the Middle Trinity River Basin, Houston and Madison Counties, Texas

CRHR Research Reports

Volume 1 Article 4

2015

Timothy K. Perttula Archeological & Environmental Consultants, LLC, [email protected]

Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/crhr_research_reports

Part of the Archaeological Anthropology Commons, Geography Commons, and the History Commons Tell us how this article helped you.

Recommended Citation Perttula, Timothy K. (2015) "Woodland Period Sites in the Middle Trinity River Basin, Houston and Madison Counties, Texas," CRHR Research Reports: Vol. 1 , Article 4. Available at: https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/crhr_research_reports/vol1/iss1/4

This Article is brought to you for free and open access by SFA ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in CRHR Research Reports by an authorized editor of SFA ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Woodland Period Sites in the Middle Trinity River Basin, Houston and Madison Counties, Texas

Timothy K. Perttula

Archeological & Environmental Consultants, LLC Center for Regional Heritage Research, Stephen F. Austin State University ______

Woodland period sites of the inland Mossy Grove tradition are common in the middle Trinity River basin in East central Texas. The study of lands along the Trinity River and several tributaries in Houston and Madison counties identified an abundance of Woodland period sites dating from 2155-1180 years B.P. on alluvial landforms and terraces as well as upland landforms overlooking the Trinity River floodplain. Several of these Woodland period sites have midden deposits and features that are indicative of more intensive and permanent settlements along the Trinity River, and the earlier Woodland period sites are marked by Gary and Kent dart points and Goose Creek sandy paste ceramic vessel sherds, while the later Woodland period sites—dating after ca. A.D. 700—have early arrow point types (Steiner and Friley points), and Goose Creek sandy paste ceramics, including a few sherds from sandy paste vessels tempered with small amounts of burned bone or grog. Through time, beginning in the Woodland period, the Native American groups in this part of Texas became less mobile, and developed distinctive territories within which diverse settlement and subsistence patterns began to fully develop. ______

Introduction the Trinity River—such as Jones Hill In this article, I discuss the character of (41PK8) and Burris 1 (41PK88)— Woodland period sites in the middle With few exceptions in the last 2000 suggest that the intensity of prehistoric part of the Trinity River basin as seen years of the prehistoric era, the middle use of this part of the basin began to in a large sample of sites from the Trinty River basin in the east central increase about this time, as certain sites Eastham State Prison Farm (ESPF) part of the state of Texas was first are known that contain features and and Ferguson Prison Unit (FPU) in settled by mobile hunter-gatherers and burials indicative of lengthier and more Houston and Madison counties, Texas foragers, and remained an area lived in intensive settlement (Story 1990). (Figure 1). More than 40 sites with by residentially mobile hunter-gatherer populations until the time of European contact (Story 1990; Fields 2004; Ricklis 2004; Foster 2008). By around 2500 too 1150 years ago, during the Woodland period, however, prehistoric Native Americans began to settle down in small hamlets and camps throughout the region. These Native Americans made plain sandy paste pottery (Fields 1993, 2004) and used first Gary and Kent dart points for hunting and other tasks, and then replaced them with early stemmed arrow points (primarily Steiner and Friley points) about 1250 years ago. Story (1990:Figure 39) includes such sites within an inland Mossy Grove culture or tradition. Sites of the Woodland period are quite common in this part of the Trinity River basin. Excavations at several occupation Figure 1. Location of the Eastham State Prison Farm and Ferguson Prison Unit in Houston and sites to the south at Lake Livingston on Madison counties, Texas.

Published by SFA ScholarWorks, 2015 1 latter part of the Woodland period (after Table 1. Prehistoric site component ages and landform associations. ca. A.D. 700) at the Dancing Snakes (41HO268), G. Robbins (41HO282), and Clay Pit (41HO299) sites. Woodland period midden deposits have also been identified at the Vondra Woodland period components have There are three prehistoric sites on Road site (41MA42) on the Ferguson been investigated in the recent survey the ESPF that have Woodland period Prison Unit (FPU). Another site—the of the two prisons (Perttula et al. 2015). midden deposits, indicative of a lengthy Wright Creek site (41HO341)—has The Ferguson Prison Unit and Adjacent and/or intensive occupation during a concentration of burned clay pieces Eastham State Prison Farm lands are prehistoric times (Table 2). These between 60-100 cm bs in two adjoining in the middle part of the Trinity River midden deposits appear to date to the shovel tests, along with a clump of ash. basin, along the boundaries of both the Table 2. Woodland period settlements in the middle Trinity River basin. Post Oak Savanna and Pineywoods in East Texas (see Diggs et al. 2006:Figure 2). The headwaters of the Trinity River originate in the Blackland Prairie well to the north. The Blackland Prairie is a zone of tall grass prairie and clayey soils, with a riparian deciduous forest of oak, hickory, and other tree species. The Post Oak Savanna to the east and south of the Blackland Prairie is a narrow southwest-northeast trending woodland that marks an ecotone between the more xeric Blackland Prairie to the west and the more mesic Pineywoods to the east and southeast. The woodlands in the Post Oak Savanna consist of broadleaf deciduous forests, primarily including several species of oak as well as hickory and pecan. Small areas of tall grass prairie were present in this physiographic province, as well as in the Pineywoods. Site Characteristics About 67 percent of the Woodland period components in this stretch of the middle Trinity River basin are found on Holocene (T-1) alluvial terraces (Table 1). Woodland period components are also common on sandy alluvial rises and on upland landforms on both sides of the Trinity River; the occupation of higher Pleistocene terraces (T- 2) during Woodland period times is uncommon. The Woodland period is the principal period in aboriginal times when this part of the middle Trinity River basin was used and settled (Perttula et al. 2015:Table 5.1). https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/crhr_research_reports/vol1/iss1/4 2 The burned clay and ash are probably the residue of a buried hearth feature, earth oven, or some other sort of cooking/heating feature in one part of the site (Perttula et al. 2015:334).

The Woodland period sites in this part of the middle Trinity River basin are spatially expansive and dispersed across alluvial and upland landforms. Site components range from 0.2-52.5 acres, with the largest sites—characterized by several spatially discrete artifact clusters and/or midden deposits— found on the T-1 of the Trinity River and tributary streams like Negro Creek and Salt Branch where Woodland period sites are particularly common.

Material Culture Remains

The most common material culture evidence for the Woodland settlement of the middle Trinity River basin is the occurrence of plain and decorated Figure 2. Plain rim sherds from Eastham State Prison Farm sites: a, Goose Creek Plain, 41HO190, sandy paste Goose Creek Plain, var. ST 2655, 20-40 cm bs; b, 41HO268, ST 85, 60-80 cm bs; c, 41HO268, ST 101, 60-80 cm bs; d, 41HO312, ST 3052, 60-80 cm bs. unspecified (Figure 2) (Story 1990; Aten and Bollich 2011:156-157), Goose Creek Incised (possibly var. Goose Creek), and Goose Creek Punctated sherds. There are also several varieties of contracting stem Gary dart points (Figure 3) in the assemblages that date to the Woodland period (see Schambach 1982, 1998) along with Kent dart points. Early arrow point forms—including Friley and Steiner points—are thought to have been manufactured between ca. A.D. 700- 800 (Shafer and Walters 2010).

The Woodland period ceramic sherds are from Goose Creek sandy paste vessels, and a few of the sandy paste vessel sherds (6.8 percent) also have small amounts of either burned bone or grog (crushed sherds) added to the paste (Table 3). These latter sherds are part of Late Woodland period ceramic Figure 3. Gary dart points from Eastham State Prison Farm sites: a, 41HO269, Surface; b, assemblages (ca. A.D. 700-900) where 41HO291, ST 247, 40-60 cm bs; c, 41HO297, ST 1110, 80-100 cm bs; d, 41HO304, Surface; two kinds of tempers were added to the e, 41HO306, Surface; f, 41HO309, ST 2927, 0-20 cm bs; g, 41HO322, Surface; h, 41HO334, paste during vessel manufacture. Goose ST 4293, 40-60 cm bs; i, 41HO341, ST 4815, 20-40 cm bs; j, 41HO346, ST 5365, 20-40 cm bs.

Published by SFA ScholarWorks, 2015 3 Table 3. Woodland period ceramic assemblages on prehistoric sites on the Creek Plain, var. unspecified is described Eastham State Prison Farm and Ferguson Prison Unit. by Aten and Bollich (2011:156) as having a paste “prepared from naturally occurring sandy clay, with the latter GCp usually predominantly containing fine to very fine grained sand.” The vessels are of unrestricted form (bowls and jars, see Aten and Bollich [2011:Figure 48]), with small (less than 16 cm) orifice diameters, moderately thick walls, and conical or rounded bases.

The sandy paste wares have only six decorated sherds (2.2 percent of the sandy paste sherds), including three Goose Creek Incised and three Goose Creek Punctated sherds (see Table 3). Goose Creek Punctated includes fingernail punctated sherds on vessels with a sandy paste or with a sandy- bone tempered paste. The Goose Creek Incised sherds have simple geometric straight-line decorative elements placed on the vessel rim (Aten and Bollich 2011:157). The Goose Creek Punctated sherds have rows of either fingernail or tool punctations.

Radiocarbon Dates

Four samples of charred hickory nutshells from the archeological deposits at three Woodland period sites have been radiocarbon-dated from the ESPF. The 1 and 2 sigma calibrations of the eight samples are based on the IntCal13 calibration curve (Reimer et al. 2013) for the Northern Hemisphere) (Table 4).

The calibrated radiocarbon age ranges from these Woodland period sites in the middle Trinity River basin provide direct evidence that indicates that Woodland period populations lived in this locale from as early as 2155 years B.P. (205 B.C.) to as late as 1180 years B.P. (A.D. 770). The Dancing Snakes site (41HO268) had multiple Woodland period occupations.

https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/crhr_research_reports/vol1/iss1/4 4 Table 4. Radiocarbon samples from Woodland period prison sites in Houston County, Texas. Operating Company, LLC. Thanks to Lance Trask for preparing the figures in this article.

References Cited

Aten, L. E. and C. N. Bollich 2011 Early Ceramic Sites of the Sabine Lake Area, Coastal Texas and Louisiana. Studies in Archeology 43. Texas Archeological Research Laboratory, The University of Texas at Austin.

Fields, R. C. Summary and Conclusions develop (see Gadus et al. 2002). 1993 Study Unit: The Introduction Caddo farmers lived farther to the of Ceramic Technology in the Woodland period sites of the inland east in the East Texas Pineywoods Middle Trinity River Basin. Mossy Grove tradition are common in (Perttula 2004, 2008; Story 1990), In Archeology in the Eastern the middle Trinity River basin in East including in the Neches River basin in Planning Region, Texas: A central Texas. The study of lands along the eastern half of Houston County. Planning Document, edited the Trinity River and several tributaries Small contemporaneous settlements by N. A. Kenmotsu and T. K. in Houston and Madison counties (with middens and occasionally small Perttula, pp. 118-120. Cultural identified an abundance of Woodland cemeteries) are also known in the Resource Management period sites dating from 2155-1180 middle stretches of the Trinity River Report 3. Department of years B.P. on alluvial landforms and basin that date to both earlier (ca. Antiquities Protection, Texas terraces as well as upland landforms A.D. 800-1400) and later (after A.D. Historical Commission, overlooking the Trinity River 1400) portions of the Late Prehistoric Austin. floodplain. Several of these Woodland period. In terms of their material period sites have midden deposits and culture, these sites are characterized 2004 TheArcheology of the Post features that are indicative of more by a variety of stemmed arrow points, Oak Savanna of East-Central intensive and permanent settlements the continued manufacture of plain Texas. In The Prehistory of along the Trinity River, and the earlier sandy paste pottery (Story 1990:275), Texas, edited by T. K. Perttula, Woodland period sites are marked by and decorated non-sandy paste pottery pp. 347-369. Texas A&M Gary and Kent dart points and Goose having affiliations with Caddo pottery University Press, College Creek sandy paste ceramic vessel from the eastern and northeastern parts Station. sherds, while the later Woodland period of Houston County (Story 1990:275 sites—dating after ca. A.D. 700—have and Table 58). These Late Prehistoric Foster, W. C. early arrow point types (Steiner and sites in the middle Trinity River basin 2008 Historic Native Peoples of Friley points), and Goose Creek sandy tend to occur on low terrace remnants, Texas. University of Texas paste ceramics, including a few sherds terraces, and floodplain rises, and Press, Austin. from sandy paste vessels tempered with upland landforms were not apparently small amounts of burned bone or grog. as intensively used. Gadus, E. F., J. K. McWilliams, and R. C. Fields Through time, beginning in the Acknowledgments 2002 Data Recovery Excavations Woodland period, the Native at the McGuire’s Garden Site American groups became less mobile, I appreciate the hard work of Bo Nelson (41FT425), Jewett Mine, and developed distinctive territories and crew in completing the 2014 Freestone County, Texas. within which diverse settlement and archeological survey work at the two Report of Investigations No. subsistence patterns began to fully prisons. This work was done for SEM 134. Prewitt and Associates, Inc., Austin.

Published by SFA ScholarWorks, 2015 5 Perttula, T. K. Ricklis, R. A. Story, D. A. 2004 The rehistoricP and 2004 The Archeology of the Native 1990 Cultural History of the Caddoan Archeology of American Occupation of Native Americans. In The the Northeastern Texas Southeast Texas. In The Archeology and Bioarcheology Pineywoods. In The Prehistory Prehistory of Texas, edited by of the Gulf Coastal Plain, by of Texas, edited by T. K. T. K. Perttula, pp. 181-202. D. A. Story, J. A. Guy, B. A. Perttula, pp. 370-407. Texas Texas A&M University Press, Burnett, M. D. Freeman, J. A&M University Press, College Station. C. Rose, D. G. Steele, B. W. College Station. Olive, and K. J. Reinhard, pp. Riggs, G. M., Jr., B. L. Lipscomb, M. D. 163-366. Research Series No. 2008 Caddo Agriculture on the Reed, and R. J. O’Kennon 38. Arkansas Archeological Western Frontier of the 2006 Illustrated Flora of East Texas, Survey, Fayetteville. Eastern Woodlands. Plains Volume One: Introduction, Anthropologist 53(205):79- Pteridophytes, Gymnosperms, 105. and Monocotyledons. Sida, Botanical Miscellany, No. 26. Perttula, T. K., B. Nelson, and S. W. Ahr Botanical Research Institute 2015 Archeological Survey Investigations of Texas and Austin College, on the Eastham State Prison Farm Fort Worth. and Ferguson Prison Unit, Houston, Madison, and Walker Counties, Schambach, F. F. Texas. Report of Investigations 1982 An Outline of Fourche No. 142. Archeological & Maline Culture in Southwest Environmental Consultants, Arkansas. In Arkansas Archeology LLC, Austin and Pittsburg. in Review, edited by N. L. Trubowitz and M. D. Jeter, pp. Reimer, P. J., E. Bard, A. Bayliss, J. 132-197. Research Series No. W. Beck, P. G. Blackwell, C. 15. Arkansas Archeological B. Ramsey, C. E. Buck, H. Survey, Fayetteville. Cheng, R. L. Edwards, M. Friedrich, P. M. Grootes, T. P. 1998 Pre-Caddoan Cultures of the Trans- Guilderson, H. Haflidason, I. Mississippi South. Research Series Hajdas, C. Hatte, T. J. Heaton, 53. Arkansas Archeological D. L. Hoffmann, A. G. Hogg, Survey, Fayetteville. K. A. Hughen, K. F. Kaiser, B. Kromer, S. W. Manning, Shafer, H. J. and M. Walters M. Niu, R. W. Reimer, D. A. 2010 The Browning Site (41SM195A) Richards, E. M. Scott, J. R. Lithics: Considering Patterns Southon, R. A. Staff, C. S. M. of Identity and Interaction Turney, and J. van der Plicht through Lithic Analysis. Bulletin 2013 IntCal13 and Marine13 of the Texas Archeological Radiocarbon Age Calibration Society 81:127-151. Curves 0-50,000 Years Cal BP. Radiocarbon 55(4):1869- 1887.

https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/crhr_research_reports/vol1/iss1/4 6