A Ceramic Analysis of a Caddo Village Site in the Northern Caddo Frontier: An Archaeological Investigation of the School Land I Site (34DL64) in Delaware County, Oklahoma

Abstract

School Land I was a Spiroan Caddo village site positioned near the northern periphery of the Caddo cultural area in present-day northeast Oklahoma. This site was excavated in 1939 and 1940 as a salvage attempt to gather what information they could before the site was destroyed by the subsequent flooding caused by the construction of the Pensacola Dam. The WPA uncovered 15 structures in nine areas along with an assortment of artifacts including ceramics, lithics, and faunal materials. The focus of this thesis is on the ceramic assemblage recovered from School Land I. I analyzed 1,497 ceramic sherds for this study. No whole vessels were recovered. This analysis focused on physical attributes such as size, wall thickness, weight, temper, and surface treatment for all sherds. Diagnostic sherds such as decorated and rim, sherds underwent additional analysis. These ceramic attributes, along with sherd counts and ethnographic evidence, are used to interpret the structures of this site were used. The results of my analysis will show various statistics concerning sherd counts and averages of the individual sherds and such attributes such as tempers, surface treatments, and decorations as they relate to the site as a whole and to individual structures. This data will be used to answer the questions: Are there any differences in the assemblages between buildings? If there is a difference between the structure’s assemblages, do these reflect time of occupation, or do they reflect different purposes and uses of those buildings?