East Texas Caddo Ceramic Sherd Database

Abstract

A considerable amount of effort has been expended over the years by archaeologists in the identification, description, and classification of ancestral Caddo ceramic vessels and sherds recovered from sites across East Texas, beginning with the masterful efforts of Alex D. Krieger. These analyses have led to an appreciation of the stylistic, technological, functional, and morphological character of Caddo ceramics, as well as their age, and their role in the identification and scale of social networks of different Caddo communities in existence as early as ca. A.D. 850 to the early 19th century. The purpose of the compilation of attribute-level data on Caddo ceramic sherds in East Texas is to build on the understandings already achieved through many years of study by numerous individuals regarding the stylistic, technological, and functional character of Caddo ceramics. This compilation is a distillation of 50+ years of the analysis and study of Caddo ceramics—particularly the quantification of the methods of decorations present on sherds from different assemblages—and a compilation that is useful for both present and future detailed studies of the sherds from ceramic vessel made by perhaps 40 or more generations of skilled Caddo potters.