The Archeology of the Native American Occupation of Southeast Texas
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06-A2946 4/13/04 12:02 PM Page 181 LLL6 LLL The Archeology of the Native American Occupation of Southeast Texas Robert A. Ricklis The area of southeast Texas straddling nent; from north to south, the Gulf of The Environment major environmental ecotones was occu- Mexico coastal zone presents a mosaic of pied by nonagricultural native populations landforms, bays, lagoons, and riverine es- The implicit theoretical perspective from Paleoindian times through the pe- tuaries that have broad salinity gradients here is human-ecological, insofar as cul- riod of early European contact. The cul- and a mix of low marshy areas that inter- tures are complex adaptive systems in ture history for coastal and inland south- face with well-drained higher ground and continuous interaction, via the human east Texas is reviewed here, with emphasis attendant variations in flora. ecosystem, with the temporal dynamics on differences in prehistoric artifact as- The most detailed archeological work and spatial variability of their environ- semblages in the context of long-term in the area has been done in the coastal ment. Southeast Texas is part of the environmental change and basic human- zone, for which cultural chronologies and Western Gulf Coastal Plain (Fenneman ecological patterns of subsistence, settle- models of long-term cultural and demo- 1938). The coastal zone is flat, except for ment, and demography. Attention is graphic change have been developed incised stream channels and low stabilized devoted to recent key findings that signifi- (Ambler 1967, 1970, 1973; Aten 1983; dunes, ridges, and swales fringing seaward cantly augment earlier regional overviews. Patterson 1987, 1991a; Wheat 1953). In- barrier island shorelines. Moving inland, Generally, the currently available data sug- vestigations in the adjacent interior of topography becomes slightly rolling, al- gest that southeast Texas offers an archeo- southeast Texas have been less successful though local relief is never great. logical record of both intra-regional cul- in defining long-term cultural patterns, in Except for localized Holocene eolian tural development and linkages with large part because work has been focused and alluvial deposits, the surface geology developments in adjoining regions. on archeological sites with temporally of the flat coastal zone consists of broad mixed deposits and also because investi- fluvial deltaic sandy and silty clays of the gations have had less continuity in re- Pleistocene Beaumont Formation. The The Area and Scope of Interest search perspectives and goals. Thus, the flat topography is broken only by local- Southeast Texas includes the upper greater part of this chapter focuses on the ized dune and ridge-and-swale formations Texas coast, from the Sabine River south- coastal zone, for which it is possible to of- on barrier islands and by incised stream westward to the Brazos River delta, as fer a fairly coherent summary of the pre- valleys containing Holocene alluvium well as the adjacent inland coastal plain historic cultural history. and terminal Pleistocene silty clay alluvial (Fig. 6.1). This environmentally diverse This regional overview is by necessity Deweyville terraces (Aten 1966; W. Fisher area was home to hunting-and-gathering selective, given the quantity of archeolog- et al. 1972). Moving inland, stream val- populations from Paleoindian times up to ical data generated in recent decades. leys are partly filled with Holocene allu- and into the Early Historic period of Therefore, the approach here is to sum- vium, and numerous small natural sand Euro-American exploration and coloniza- marize available information, with partic- mounds occur on floodplains. tion. The region straddles two broad eco- ular attention given to important findings Climate is generally mild, with hot tones: along a roughly east-west transect, that postdate the detailed overviews of re- summer months and cool-to-warm win- the vast woodlands of southeastern North gional research (Guy 1990) and prehis- ters. During the winter months, frequent America give way to the more or less tory (Aten 1983; Story 1990) presented cold fronts move through the area, push- open grassland prairies of the midconti- elsewhere. ing temperatures to near or below freez- 181 G&S Typesetters PDF proof 06-A2946 4/13/04 12:02 PM Page 182 182 / COASTAL GROUPS salinities and corresponding changes in floral and faunal biota according to the salinity preferences of species. A number of economically important marine fishes inhabit the estuaries, in- cluding black drum, redfish (or red drum), seatrout, and sheepshead (Hoese and Moore 1977; Shew et al. 1981). These fish are tolerant of a wide range in salinity, and their bones and otoliths have been identified in archeological contexts from the barrier islands inland to brackish wa- ter deltaic areas. Also ranging throughout the estuaries are gar fish, the prehistoric exploitation of which is indicated by bones and scales at shoreline sites throughout the area. The wooded floodplains from stream mouths and farther inland are home to various economically useful animals, most notably white-tailed deer, as well as various smaller mammals and reptiles. Herds of antelope and bison roamed the inland prairies in the western part of southeast Texas in Late Prehistoric and Early Historic times. Patterns of Paleoenvironmental Change Recent research in southeast Texas and Fig. 6.1. Map of southeast Texas indicating major rivers and coastal bays and broad zones of nearby areas has highlighted two kinds of vegetation: 1, longleaf pine and mixed pine–hardwood forests; 2, oak savannas and grasslands; 3, coastal upland prairie; 4, coastal marsh–prairie zone (simplified from Diamond et al. 1987). fundamental, long-term environmental changes, both of which probably have significant implications for understanding ing. There is a significant moisture gradi- east, the interior supports more or less human adaptations within the region. ent from east to west, so that the eastern dense longleaf pine forest, along the west- Relevant to both inland and coastal areas part of the area experiences an average ern margin of the extensive southern U.S. are major fluctuations in climate. Impor- annual precipitation of fifty-four inches, pine woodlands (Diamond et al. 1987). tant for elucidating long-term patterns of while the western sector averages about The Texas coast is a low-relief coastline coastal settlement and estuarine resource forty inches (Carr 1967). marked by a series of shallow-water estu- use is the evolution of the coastline dur- Several major vegetation zones can arine embayments. Like such areas else- ing the Holocene and concomitant shifts be identified in the region (see Fig. 6.1). where, these estuaries are characterized by in biotic productivity. Along the coast, marsh plant communi- high primary productivity (Odum 1971; ties occupy low-lying, inundated, or Whittaker 1975) that provided prehistoric A Brief Overview of poorly drained areas, while higher and peoples with abundant and predictable Long-Term Climate Change better-drained ground generally supports aquatic resources (see, e.g., Bernstein Although there is a dearth of informa- shortgrasses. In river delta areas at the 1993; Perlman 1980; Yesner 1980). On tion from southeast Texas per se, studies mouths of major streams such as the the upper Texas coast, major protected in neighboring areas suggest broad tem- Brazos, San Jacinto, and Trinity Rivers, bay/lagoon systems are Sabine Lake and poral trends in climate. Since the south- brackish marshes interdigitate with water- the Galveston Bay system with extensive east Texas area straddles the transition tolerant arboreal vegetation (e.g., cypress) back-barrier lagoons and shallow, low- from moist eastern woodlands to the and in better-drained areas, with mixed salinity secondary bays. The open Gulf is drier prairies to the west, major past fluc- hardwood forests. On coastal uplands be- connected to the estuaries by a few nar- tuations in climate may have significantly tween streams and low-lying marshes are row tidal passes, near which bay/lagoon affected the distributions of floral and extensive tallgrass coastal prairies. Farther waters tend to have moderate-to-high faunal resources within the region. inland, the western part of the area is salinities. Toward river-influenced areas Extensive studies of fossil pollen from characterized by upland oak savannas and with the bays, salinities are lower, so that the eastern United States indicate that in prairies on slightly rolling terrain. To the the estuaries are characterized by variable terminal Pleistocene times, ca. 18,000 – G&S Typesetters PDF proof 06-A2946 4/13/04 12:02 PM Page 183 OCCUPATION OF SOUTHEAST TEXAS / 183 10,000 years b.p., generally moister and tent these changes affected the relatively earlier research, insofar as a stepwise, dis- cooler conditions than those of the pres- moist region of most of southeast Texas. continuous rise is broken by intervals of ent prevailed in south-central North However, recent findings at the Eagle’s more or less stable sea level as indicated America. Consequently, the eastern wood- Ridge site (41CH252) in the Trinity by diagnostic bay/lagoon and offshore lands extended farther west than today, River delta area suggest a drier-than- sediment facies (J. Anderson and Thomas and all of the southeastern part of present modern climate during the Middle Holo- 1991; J. Anderson et al. 1992; M. Thomas Texas was within a broad belt of mixed cene. At the base of a Late Holocene cu- and Anderson 1994). These findings can oak–hickory–southern pine forest. In- mulic soil of largely eolian origin Lee be summarized to suggest the following creasing temperatures and aridity charac- Nordt and colleagues (1998) found a basic pattern of Holocene sea level change terized the Hypsithermal Interval of the weathered and eroded surface of a Late (from M. Thomas and Anderson 1994): Middle Holocene, ca. 8000 – 4000 b.p., Pleistocene Deweyville terrace, suggesting and open grasslands came to characterize reduced vegetation cover and presumably 1.