Incised–Punctated Utility Ware Sherds from Lake Sam Rayburn Ancestral Caddo Sites

Abstract

One of the more distinctive of the decorative methods represented in the ancestral Caddo ceramic assemblages from Lake Sam Rayburn sites is sherds and vessels with incised–punctated decorative elements. This diversity in the range and character of sherds and vessels with incised–punctated decorative elements is also the case in ancestral Caddo sites on the Sabine River and tributaries in the Toledo Bend Reservoir area of East Texas and Northwest Louisiana. Jelks included the incised–punctated vessels and sherds from the Lake Sam Rayburn sites in a newly defined type: Pineland Punctated–Incised. Pineland Punctated– Incised is a grog and/or bone–tempered utility ware, and occurs primarily as beaker–shaped jars as well as ollas and deep bowls. The vessels have concentric, triangular, rectangular, and curvilinear incised zones on the rim filled with tool punctation. Ollas and bowls have design elements on the vessel bodies. At Lake Sam Rayburn sites, Pineland Punctated–Incised sherds and vessels occur in both Middle Caddo (ca. A.D. 1200–1400/1450) and Late Caddo (ca. A.D. 1400/1450–1680) contexts. Based on the analyses discussed below, incised–punctated utility wares are most abundant in later Middle Caddo period components estimated to date from ca. A.D. 1300–1400/1450, and least common in post–A.D. 1400/1450 Late Caddo period components.