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Sunday,
Oct. 2, the descendants of the Caddo Indian tribe that once thrived on the prairies
of East Texas returned to the home
land of their ancestors at the Caddo Mounds State Historic Site, located just
east of Weches, TX off State Highway 21 west.
An estimated 300 visitors,
from various regions of the state, took part in the celebration of the Caddoan
culture, according to Michelle Ivie, an employee at the Mounds.
Onlookers
watched as the Caddo Indians performed their traditional cultural dances and music.
Visitors also had the opportunity to experience life as the Caddo Indians once
did by engaging in a spear throwing contest, flintknapping, hot rock cooking,
and pottery making and decorating.
A mock archeological dig was also an
activity that guest were able to participate in. October is Texas Archeology Month.
Though tourism to the site has decreased in recent years, Ivie said the
Historic Site sees approximately 300 visitors per month, not including special
events. |
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Caddo
Burial Mound
Photo courtesy Dana Goolsby, October 2010 |
More than 1,200 years
ago, a group of Caddo Indians known as the Hasinai built a village and ceremonial
center just east of Weches. Today, three earthen mounds still rise from the Neches
River valley which was the southwestern-most ceremonial center for the great Mound
Builder culture. The Caddoan culture thrived in the eastern North America woodlands
for more than 2,500 years.
In 1834, according to the Texas Parks and Wildlife
Department (TPWD) booklet, the Caddoan Mounds: Temples and Tombs of an Ancient
People, an American traveler along the
old Camino Real came across the protruding earthen mounds. Amos Andrew Parker
paused to investigate the mounds and made an entry in his journal about his observation.
“I have seen no satisfactory explanation given of the origin and use of
these mounds… and, at this late stage of the world, their origin and use may never
be fully and satisfactorily explained,” Parker noted in his journal.
Parker’s
statement has so far proved true, leaving many mysteries and questions surrounding
the mounds, despite archeological digs at the site.
In 1919 the Bureau
of Ethnology, a federal agency created to study native American cultures, sent
the first professional archeologist, J.E. Pearce to record the site. By 1933 E.B.
Sayles, an Arizona archeologist, had made the journey to the mysterious mounds
to collect surface artifacts.
The first systematic excavations of the
Coaddoan Mounds were not conducted until 1939, and lasted until 1941. The University
of Texas sent H. Perry Newell to East
Texas under a grant from the Works Projects Administrations. Newell and his
team excavated over half of the High Temple Mound. The university concluded that
the site had been an important Caddoan community for several centuries. |
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Caddo
Burial Mound
Photo courtesy Dana Goolsby, October 2010 |
In 1968 an excavation
of the Low Temple Mound, the Burial Mound, and portions of the village
area began under the supervision of University of Texas Professor, Dee Ann Story.
Story lead the dig, utilizing more refined excavating and analytical techniques,
including radio carbon dating. Story’s investigation produced evidence that the
Early Caddos had occupied the site from about 800 A.D. to 1300 A.D.
The
largest mound, at the southern edge of the site, known as Mound A, is thought
to be the earliest and most significant mound. Mound A is the High Temple Mound,
and was used for ceremonial purposes. Approximately 40 houses were built around
it, but not all were in use at the same time. Less than half of the original mound
was preserved after the first archeological dig.
Mound B, located near
the center of the state park, is the Low Temple Mound. The mound dates
from around 1100 to 1300. This rectangular platform mound measures roughly 175
feet north to south, and 115 feet east to west. The Low Temple Mound is presumed
to be where tribal chiefs lived.
The northernmost mound, known as Mound
C, was used as a ceremonial elite burial mound for most of the time the site was
occupied. Six different levels containing the remains of approximately 90 Caddo
Indians that once inhabited the region are buried there.
A large hole in
the earth’s surface, north of the site, called the Borrow Pit is where
dirt was removed with pointed sticks, and transferred to mounds by baskets.
The
Caddos lived in thatch dwellings that were designed to be warm in the winter and
cool in the summer. The dwellings were large structures, shaped like a bee hive,
and made from native grasses. |
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Caddo
Pottery
Photo courtesy Dana Goolsby, October 2010 |
Caddo
Tools
Photo courtesy Dana Goolsby, October 2010 |
Caddo Indians brought
a way of life including, agriculture, a stable political system, and rich religious
ceremonies to East Texas. The Caddos
dominated the Piney Woods of East Texas,
until their fate was sealed when the first French and Spanish explorers arrived,
followed by American settlers.
In 1857 the Caddos were driven from their
homeland, and moved to a reservation on the Brazos River. Many Caddo Indians starved
and died on the reservations, while being harassed by hostile Plains tribes with
whom they were made to share the reservation with. Two years later the United
States government transferred them to a Indian Territory in Oklahoma, where they
shared a reservation with the Wichita tribe. Texas takes its name from the Caddo
word tejas, meaning friend, despite the harsh feelings between the severed Caddo
nation and the state.
The Caddo descendants still live on allotted land
around Anadarko and Binger, Oklahoma. |
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Caddo
Mounds State Historic Site Sign
Photo courtesy Dana Goolsby, October 2010 |
The Texas Parks and
Wildlife Department established a historic park in 1974, and another twenty-three
acres was added to the park in 1981, along with an interpretive visitors center.
In 2008 control of the property was transferred to the Texas Historical Commission
(THC).
THC purchased the Texas Forest Service (TFS) operated Indian Mound
Nursery site adjacent to the Caddo Mounds State Historic Site in May of 2010.
The addition of this property expanded the Caddo Mounds State Historic Site from
93 acres to 397 acres, and now virtually the entire site is protected through
state ownership.
THC is collaborating with multiple partners in an effort
to expand the interpretation of the site. The Caddo Mounds contains resources
related to the El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail, which runs
from Louisiana to Mexico. New exhibits at the site will emphasize the impact and
influence this corridor had on the development of the area and Texas.
The
THC also continues to work with the Caddo Nation on improving and expanding public
education about the culture and customs of the Caddo people.
More is unknown
of this robust culture of people than is known.
Caddoan Mounds State
Historical Park is open to the public 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Thursday-Monday. It features
an interpretive center with audio-visual presentations, plus a self-guided trail
to the mounds.
The Historic Site is a fun and educational source of entertainment
for the entire family. Walk the site where an ancient civilization thrived for
centuries, view artifacts collected from the site, and learn about the Caddo Indian
culture to preserve an important piece of Prehistoric Texas History. Currently
there are no upcoming events posted, however Ivie said she anticipated a star
viewing party would be the next event held at the historic site.
Log on
to www.visit caddomounds.com to learn more about the site, or call (936) 858-3218.
©
Dana Goolsby
"They
shoe horses, don't they?" Guest
Column, November 8, 2010
First Published in The Grapeland Messenger
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Texas State Parks/State Historic Sites |
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