Archeological Data Recovery Excavations at the Santa Land Site (41SM490) and Testing Excavations at 41SM149, Smith County, Texas

Summary

On February 11 and from February 20–March 11, 2019, AmaTerra Environmental, an ERG Company (AmaTerra) conducted archeological excavations at the Santa Land Site (41SM490) on behalf of the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) in support of the proposed expansion of Interstate Highway 20 (IH-20) in Smith County, Texas (CSJ 0495-04-065). As TxDOT and the Texas Historical Commission (THC) deemed the site eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) and for designation as a State Antiquities Landmark (SAL), the investigations entailed the phased data recovery excavation of site 41SM490. Stage I entailed test excavations to determine the need for any further investigations, and Stage II would have entailed a full data recovery excavation. The fieldwork at 41SM490 consisted of establishing a grid across the project area to aid in shovel testing and subsequent test unit placement. Remote sensing consisting of UAV mapping, magnetic gradiometry, and electromagnetic investigation, and later metal detection aided in locating high probability areas and disturbances. Based on the shovel testing and remote sensing results, the field crew excavated 19 1 x 1 m test units, with the test units totalling 18 cubic meters of excavated sediment. AmaTerra conducted the fieldwork under Texas Antiquities Permit No. 8754.

Excavations at 41SM490 produced few artifacts and only one buried cultural feature, a cluster of 24 sandstone rocks (many burned) within a 40-cm diameter area. No charcoal was recovered from the feature and few other signs of in-situ thermal alteration were present, and no artifacts were associated with the feature. Artifacts recovered from the excavation include 65 pieces of debitage (with 57 additional pieces recovered from the heavy fraction of soil samples), two arrow points, one distal dart point tip, 142 ceramic sherds (of which 65 were decorated), and 70 faunal bone fragments. The diagnostic projectile points consist of Alba and Scallorn, likely from a Late Woodland occupation. Most of the recovered charcoal, mineral specimens, and other organic materials were obtained from collected sediment samples. No organic materials were radiocarbon dated due to lack of association with cultural features, as well as the fact that they were all demonstrated to be modern. Based on diagnostic projectile points and ceramics such as Bullard Brushed and Maydell Incised, the age range of the site primarily spans the ancestral Caddo period (particularly A.D. 1440-1490) with a few older Woodland-aged Goose Creek artifacts. The artifacts were also compared with the nearby site 41SM149, where three flakes and 63 ceramic sherds were recovered by TxDOT archeologists in 1983. 41SM149 has remained unpublished and represents a TxDOT legacy project, with this report serving to present the 41SM149 excavation results in addition to 41SM490. The results indicate that both sites are primarily domestic occupation with both Woodland and late Middle Caddo to early Late Caddo components., suggesting that the Little Saline Creek valley represents a community of Caddo peoples including potters. As a result of the sparse artifact recovery, lack of stratigraphic integrity, and only one possible feature recorded, work at site 41SM490 did not proceed to Phase II excavation.

Artifacts and samples collected during the 41SM490 excavations, all project-related records, and will be curated at the Center for Archaeological Studies (CAS) in San Marcos, Texas.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contributor(s): Robert Lassen

Lab Director(s): Katherine Seikel

Principal Investigator(s): W. Nicholas Trierweiler

Project Director(s): Aaron Norment

Sponsor(s): Jen Anderson; Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT)

Record Identifiers

AmaTerra Project Number(s): 062-162

TxDOT CSJ#(s): 0495-04-065

TX Antiquities Permit#(s): 8754

Notes

Redaction Note: The attached report is a version developed for public use; sensitive data has been redacted from this version of the report.

Source Collections

Center for Archaeological Studies, San Marcos, Texas (Texas State University)