Chapter II: Part 2

The 65 _Smithport Plain_ rims include 15 which are everted, 26 vertical, and 18 incurvate; additionally there are rims from two simple, shallow bowls, one rim with an exterior roll, one everted rim with interior bevel and exterior strap thickening, one bottle spout, and one shallow toy dish. The everted rims are unmodified in seven instances, and thinned in eight with rounded lips. Lip thinning of everted rims was effected by exaggerating the outward curve of the rim interior; that of incurvate bowls by exaggerating the exterior curve. The vertical rims are unmodified with rounded lips in 12 instances, thinned and rounded in eight, flat in four, and have beveled exteriors in two. The incurvate rims are thinned with rounded lips in nine, unmodified with rounded lips in five, flattened lips in two, externally beveled in one, and thickened with rounding in one.

The plain sherds include 20 recognizable as bases, nine of which are complete flat discs. These range from 6 to 13 cm. in diameter and are 6 to 12 mm. thick. One large basal sherd has a smooth central perforation, 13 mm. in diameter, and rounded edges. It possibly was used as a spindle whorl. These are frequently found at Bossier and Belcher sites, but usually are smaller and lighter.

An additional 46 plain sherds show the wall-base junction. Eight of these are from open flat bowls, one from a deeper bowl, one from a bottle, four from miniature vessels and 32 from jar, deep bowl or cylindrical vessel forms.

The plain sherds have paste characteristics similar to the decorated types already described. Nine of the 644 sherds are bone tempered.

Glendora Focus and Other Late Ceramics

A group of 37 sherds have characteristics completely alien to the ceramics described above. They are lighter feeling, often with porous surfaces or with obvious shell tempering, confirmed by tests. Eight are engraved; a shell tempered sherd, reddish in color (Fig. 10, P), with horizontal engraved lines from which triangular spurs project; four other shell tempered with red or orange color and engraved lines, untyped; two black shell tempered with indeterminate engraving, and one black polished clay tempered sherd of type _Hodges Engraved_ (Fig. 10, R).

There are 11 sherds, shell tempered and orange to gray in color, with curvilinear incising (Fig. 10, N, S). This ware was once termed _Wilkinson Negative Meander_ but was never formally described. Another name should be chosen, because the Wilkinson Site, like Smithport, is primarily Alto with transition to Bossier, and has a minimal late (Natchitoches) occupation.

Two sherds have linear punctations on shell tempered ware (Fig. 10, Q) and two others, untyped, have horizontal incising. There are 14 plain, 4-6 mm. thick, of which nine are shell tempered, two bone, three clay.

Other Pottery Artifacts and Negative Ceramic Traits

A fragment of perforated pottery base, presumably a spindle whorl fragment, was mentioned in the discussion of plain pottery. There were also three fragments of fired daub with grass impressions and one flattened surface. One tiny cone-shaped pottery fragment suggested a figurine or doll leg. No other clay or ceramic artifacts were found. Noticeable by their absence are pipes or pipe stem fragments, animal figurines or heads, clay labrets and ear ornaments, all of which are not unusual in this area.

Other negative ceramic traits are the absence of shell temper, except in the small group of obviously late wares; red filming; pigment impression into the lines of decoration; handles or other vessel appendages; squared bases (not unusual elsewhere in Coles Creek and Alto ceramics); squared or castellated rims (Vessel 105, Fig. 4, I is the only instance of scalloped rim); vessel effigies, either whole vessel or rim attachments; stamping (one foreign sherd), and cord marking.

Pottery Alignments and Sequences

Table 1 shows the assignment of burial vessel and sherd types to various ceramic complexes, based on the descriptions of Ford (1951), Ford and Willey (1940), and Quimby (1951) for central Louisiana; Newell and Krieger (1949), and Suhm, Krieger, and Jelks (1954) for east Texas Alto; and the author’s publications (1948; 1959) and collections from northern and central Louisiana. It becomes apparent that neat typing and alignment of sherd collections from this site, true of many other sites in northwestern Louisiana, is a phantasy. This site lies within a broad contact zone, extending into southwestern Arkansas and eastern Texas, between the expanding populations and flowering cultures of the lower Mississippi-Red River confluence in central Louisiana and Mississippi on one side and the four-state Caddoan area on the other, in post-Hopewell-Marksville times.

TABLE 1
Pottery Type or Group
_Whole _No. of %
Vessels_ Sherds_

Distinctive Alto Types
_Holly Fine Engraved_ 10 0.66
_Hickory Fine Engraved_ 2 9 0.60
_Holly or Hickory 6 0.40
Engraved_
_Carmel Engraved_ 17 1.13
_Davis Incised_ 1 17 1.13
_Kiam Incised_ vessels 4
_Pennington 36 2.40
Punctated-Incised_
_Pennington-Crockett_ 11 0.73
Hybrid
_Weches Fingernail 19 1.26
Impressed_
_Smithport Plain_ 9 65 4.36
Subtotal 16 190 12.67
Distinctive Coles Creek or Troyville Types
_Coles Creek Incised_ 8 0.53
_Chevalier Stamped_ 1 0.06
_Mazique Incised_ 2 0.13
Subtotal 11 0.72
Types shared by Alto and Coles Creek
_Wilkinson Punctated_ 1 153 10.20
Triangular punctations 4 0.26
between parallel lines
Subtotal 1 157 10.46
Types shared by Alto, Coles Creek, Bossier and Plaquemine
_Kiam-Hardy Incised_ 174 11.60
_Dunkin-Manchac Incised_ 182 12.13
_Harrison Bayou Incised_ 9 0.60
_Sanson Incised_ 9 0.60
Free and atypical zoned 1 38 2.53
punctations
(_Pennington-Rhinehart_)
Small, zoned punctations 6 0.40
(_Dupree_-like)
Round punctations between 7 0.46
lines
Isolated, semilunar 1 0.06
punctations
Subtotal 1 426 28.40
Distinctive Bossier Types
_Pease Brushed-Incised_ 38 2.53
_Belcher Ridged_ 11 0.73
_Sinner Linear Punctated_ 4 0.26
_Maddox Engraved_ 3 0.20
_Glassell Engraved_ 2 0.13
Subtotal 58 3.86
Types Shared by Bossier and Plaquemine
_Bossier-Plaquemine 31 2.06
Brushed_
_Karnack Brushed-Incised_ 34 2.26
Subtotal 65 4.33
Uncertain Affiliation or Untyped
Curvilinear Incised 2 0.13
Untyped engraved 1 2 0.20
Plain body sherds 579 38.60
Fingernail pinched 8 0.53
Subtotal 1 591 39.46
Subtotal, Early Occupation 19 1498 100.00
Late Occupation, Possibly Historic
Shell tempered 11
curvilinear incised
Shell tempered engraved 7
_Hodges Engraved_ 1
Other untyped decorated 4
Late plain 14
Subtotal 37
Grand Total 1535

As a result (or as evidence) of this cultural admixture and interchange, we see large groups of sherds from this site, in the punctated and incised categories, which cannot with impunity be assigned to a previously described type in a specific cultural assemblage. They could be as easily assigned to a companion type in one, two or even three other surrounding assemblages. Only by having whole vessels available—from which details of vessel size and shape, and decoration can be determined—or by correlation of sherds with distinctive types, may one draw tentative conclusions about affiliation. I have therefore found it necessary (Table 1) to list certain types from this site as possibly deriving from Alto or Coles Creek ceramics, others from Alto, Coles Creek, Bossier or Plaquemine, and yet a third group of brushed and incised which might derive, insofar as characteristics of a given sherd or group of sherds indicate, from Bossier or Plaquemine. The absence of distinctive Plaquemine types eliminates this assemblage from consideration, but distinctive types of Alto, Coles Creek and Bossier are present and give our clues for major alignments. We should be able to work on the assumption that the indeterminate types will derive from the three complexes, Alto, Coles Creek and Bossier, in about the same proportion as these complexes are represented by distinctive types.

It appears, then, that the major complex at this site is Alto; certainly the burial pottery is of this complex. Coles Creek is present to a minor extent and it is probable that some of the uncertain punctated and incised sherds are from _Hardy_, _Manchac_, and _Rhinehart_ types. Finally, occupation seems to have lasted into the Alto-Bossier transition to the stage when distinctive Bossier Focus types had developed, so that there is a respectable representation of this period. The brushed wares and some of the incised and punctated also probably relate to the Bossier pottery complex. It is improbable, however, that Bossier occupation lasted very long, certainly not long enough for a transition to late Glendora Focus times when the small group of shell tempered sherds would have been made. The site was probably deserted for a long time, then briefly occupied by late Natchitoches-related people, possibly in the historic period. The Yatasi village mentioned by Marcelo De Soto (D’Antoni, 1961a) is to be considered.

Stone Artifacts

Dart Points

The 61 larger projectile points which are classified as dart points are, with few exceptions, comparatively small and rough. Most are made of quartzite, cherts, and petrified wood found locally. Thirty-five are of tan chert, four of petrified wood, two of red chert, six of white or light gray quartzite, and others of varying shades of brown, or mottled materials.

_Gary_ points (Fig. 11, N-P) total 14; with most made of tan chert, two of petrified wood, and one of white quartzite. The range in length is 2.8 to 5.6 cm. with nine of the 14 in the category of _Small Gary_ (Ford and Webb, 1956: 52). The latter are less than 4.5 cm. in length.

_Ellis_ points (Fig. 11, Q-S) number 16, of which 12 are made of tan, gray or yellow local cherts, two of petrified wood. The length varies from 2.6 to 4.6 cm., the width 1.5 to 2.9 cm. Shoulders tend to be straight, only two having barbs. Stem bases are usually straight or mildly convex.

_Carrollton_ points (Fig. 11, X), four in number, are made of materials different from the prevailing tan chert. One each is of granular quartzite, waxy gray chert, white chert, and black chert. They are 4.1 to 4.5 cm. long, 2.3 to 2.8 cm. wide. Stems are not smoothed.

_Kent_ points total five (Fig. 11, T, U), and are typically crude in manufacture. They are of gray, tan, and mottled cherts. Lengths are 3.7 cm. to 4.5 cm., widths 1.6 to 2.4 cm.; they are somewhat smaller than those in eastern Texas (Suhm and Jelks, 1962).

The three _Pontchartrain_ points (Fig. 11, EE, FF) are the largest and best made points from this site. Two are of light tan chert, the third of darker tan. Lengths are 7.7, 9.3, and 9.7 cm.; widths 2.5, 2.9, and 3.2 cm., respectively. The blades are rounded on one face, ridged on the other, have good large flake scars, and typical fine retouch at the edges. One (Fig. 11, FF) has an asymmetrically placed stem; another (Fig. 11, EE) has a rectangular stem and short barbs; the third has a contracting stem.

One projectile point (Fig. 11, Y) is hesitantly called _Ensor_ because of the low, narrow side notches and straight stem base. It is small, 3.7 cm. long and 1.8 cm. wide, of tan chert, roughly flaked. The blade edges are convex and irregular serrated.

Two specimens have outlines like _Desmuke_ points but are made of poor materials, petrified wood and gnarled chert, and the typing is questionable. Both are thick, with bifacial ridges. A third of similar appearance has an _Almagre_-like basal tip, but is much smaller than this type, 5 cm. long, 2.5 cm. wide.

Two points are classified as _Elam_ (Fig. 11, V, W). They are short, thick and stubby, slightly asymmetrical and identical in size, 3.5 cm. long, 2.3 cm. wide. They are made of tan and brown quartzite.

Twelve projectile points are unclassified. Three of these are broken. A group of four (Fig. 11, Z) is characterized by rough manufacture, irregular wide blades with poor tips, and small, poorly formed stems. Similar specimens have been found at other sites in north Louisiana, never in large numbers. Possibly they were used as hafted knives or scrapers. One specimen (Fig. 11, AA) has long, shallow side notches which are smoothed and a stubby, poorly made blade. Possibly it is a reworked _Yarbrough_ point or an atypical _Trinity_ point. A small point of gray quartzite (Fig. 11, BB) has blade edge notches and expanded stem resembling _Evans_ points, but it is much smaller than _Evans_. Similar small points with one to several blade edge notches have been found on sites in Bossier and De Soto parishes, they will probably be typed by another name than _Evans_ (the name _Sinner_ has been suggested because of their frequency at the Jim Sinner Site).

A small point of white chert (Fig. 11, CC) has a greater width than length; the base is wide and short; one shoulder is barbed, the other barely suggested. Another small point has a rectangular stem and triangular blade but is much smaller than _Carrollton_, or even _Elam_ points.

The most unusual point (Fig. 11, DD) has a long rectangular stem, a small shoulder on one side only, and a short, asymmetrical blade. Blade and stem edges are beveled bilaterally on each face, with fine retouch flaking which serrates all edges. The base is mildly concave and is thinned by removal of a long, shallow channel flake on one face, a shorter channel flake on the other, terminating in a hinge fracture. The base and lower stem edges are smoothed.

Arrow Points

There are 55 small projectile points sufficiently intact for typing and 12 broken so that typing is impossible. Materials include tan, red, brown, and gray chert from local gravels; two gray-white chert; one novaculite, and two dark brown to black flint.

_Alba_ points (Fig. 11, A, B), 20 in number, are mostly of tan or reddish-brown local cherts. They vary from slender to wide, with a range of 2 to 3.8 cm. in length. Most recurve to form widened shoulders which may be right angled or barbed; edges may be mildly serrated. I have placed in this type only points with square or rectangular stems.

There are two _Hayes_ points (Fig. 11, C, D), of gray and red-brown chert. They are small, 2.6 and 2.8 cm. long, 1.3 and 1.9 cm. wide; the first differs from the type description in having straight edges and no barbs, but the stem shape is typical.

Five points are of _Friley_ type (Fig. 11, E, F), characterized by definite shoulders with extreme curves so that the barbs turn toward the blade tip. Stems are expanded or rectangular. Three are of red-brown chert, two of tan chert. Lengths are 1.4 to 2.5 cm., widths 1.0 to 1.5 cm.

One typical _Maud_ point (Fig. 11, G) of tan chert, has a deeply concave base and mildly serrated edges.

Four points are included in the _Cliffton_ type (Fig. 11, H). They are hardly more than roughly shaped small, wide flakes but have vague stems and some secondary flaking. They are uniform in size, 2 to 2.3 cm. long, 1.6 to 1.9 cm. wide and all are made of tan chert. A fifth small point (Fig. 11, I) of dark gray flint has a pointed stem, concave blade edges, and a strongly pointed tip; in essence, it is a concave-edged hexagon. It may be a variation of _Cliffton_, but has been left untyped.

A group of 21 points (Fig. 11, K-M) is characterized by expanded stems produced by corner notching, and blades which are much like _Alba_. This point has been the subject of considerable discussion because of its frequency in Louisiana and southern Arkansas; it has been included in the _Alba_ type in some publications, in the _Scallorn_ type in others, but has distinct and, we believe, meaningful differences from each of these types. We have therefore given it the type name _Colbert_. It rivals the _Alba_ type in frequency at sites like Smithport Landing, Colbert, Greer, Swanson’s Landing, and Mounds Plantation (Fig. 1) where there are Alto and Coles Creek components in respectable amounts. It is found, along with _Alba_, in central Louisiana, especially in Troyville-Coles Creek context (Ford, 1951: Fig. 45, U-W). Recent excavations at the Crenshaw Site in southwestern Arkansas uncovered Coles Creek and Caddoan burials in Mound B; consistently the Coles Creek burials had points similar to _Colbert_ (called _Homan_ in Arkansas) and the Caddoan had _Alba_ or _Hayes_. The _Colbert_ points have triangular blades with concave or recurved edges, distinct and usually wide shoulders, barbs, and triangular or fan-shaped stems. The stem bases may be straight or more often convex, rarely concave. Specimens from Smithport are made of tan, reddish-brown, white and gray local cherts, one of novaculite, and two of white quartz. Lengths are from 1.2 to 3.2 cm., widths from 9 mm. to 2 cm.

A large flat point of tan chert (Fig. 11, J) has the flake characteristics of an arrow point despite its large size, 4.3 by 3 cm. It has the corner notching and wide barbs characteristic of _Catahoula_ points.

A small triangular point of brown chert probably belongs to the _Fresno_ type. The tip is broken but the original length was about 2 cm.

Miscellaneous Chipped Stone Tools

Generally, the tools from this site are made from native tan chert cores and flakes, or from petrified wood, and are rough to the point of being almost nondescript. Imagination is often required to attempt assignment to types.

A massive axe-shaped object of petrified wood is worked to a near-blade form at the expanded end (Fig. 12, K), but appears to have been used as a maul. The groove is natural. It is 15 cm. long, 9 cm. wide, and 4.5 cm. in thickness. Two smaller objects of petrified wood (Fig. 12, G, H) are partially shaped, showing some of the original surfaces. They resemble choppers or picks and are 7 × 5.1 × 2.3 cm. and 8.8 × 4.7 × 2 cm. A fourth object of petrified wood, 10.5 cm. long and 4.2 cm. wide, is more suggestive of a pick but shows little evidence of use.

Smaller core tools include two choppers or end scrapers of tan chert and quartzite. The first has much of its original surfaces, with one end pointed by bifacial beveling. It is 5.5 cm. long. The second is unifacially beveled across one end and onto one edge; it is similar in size. Two possible gouges of red and tan chert, 3.4 and 4.2 cm. long, are ovate in outline and roughly flaked bifacially at one end. Eight smaller objects are keel-shaped core scrapers or small choppers of tan and gray chert. They are irregularly ovate, triangular or elongate, from 2.5 to 4 cm. in length, 1.8 to 3.3 cm. in width. Flaking is bifacial but those with one flat face have minimal flaking on this side. Two larger, thick leaf-shaped forms (Fig. 11, GG, HH) may have served as knives or scrapers.

Other tools are made from flakes. Two might be knives: one (Fig. 11, II) is of gray chert, long and ovoid, rough at the base but well finished around the edges. It is 5.9 cm. long, 2 cm. wide. The second is made from a flat, triangular-shaped piece of petrified wood, which is unmodified at one end (the base), but has good secondary flaking around the edges. It is 5.1 cm. long, 3 cm. wide, and 6 mm. in thickness.

A thumbnail end scraper (Fig. 11, LL) is of gray quartz, 3 × 2 cm. in diameters, 6 mm. thick. Unifacial beveling on one end and one side is quite steep and the reverse face shows many tiny fractures around the cutting curve.

There are 15 small scrapers (Fig. 11, MM-PP) which are ovate or triangular in outline and made from flakes which vary from 3 to 8 mm. in thickness. They are of tan, brown and mottled gray chert, petrified wood, and gray quartzite. Most are flaked bifacially but some show a preponderance of flaking on the convex face. Sizes range from 2 to 4.5 cm. Five small broken flake objects show some flaking.

There are four drills, all made of tan chert. One flake drill (Fig. 11, KK) has an expanded base, a shaft which is triangular in cross section and a keen point which shows use polish. A second (Fig. 11, JJ) has a geniculate form, is less well made, but shows usage at the tip. The other two are tiny, 2.1 and 2.2 cm. long, have one flat and one keel-shaped face, and are worked on two of the three planes. They could have been used as gravers or drills.

Polished and Ground Stone Objects

Few objects of polished stone were found. One large celt (Fig. 12, I) is from the surface. It is symmetrically ovate, 17.5 cm. long, 7.5 cm. wide, and 3.8 cm. thick. It shows pecking marks on the faces, but is well ground at the bit and along the edges. A triangular hard sandstone pebble, 7.5 × 7 × 3.3 cm., has round pits, 3 cm. in diameter, on each face, (Fig. 12, E). There are smooth depressions on two edges. A large pitted mortar stone is of ferruginous sandstone, 22 × 16 cm. One face has an oval depression, 13 × 12 cm., in the center of which, and on the opposite face, are deep hemispherical pits, 3.5 cm. in diameter.

An oval-shaped hammerstone (Fig. 12, J) of tan chert is smoothed on two faces, roughened by pecking around all edges. A whetstone of brown sandstone (Fig. 12, F) has one deep and two shallow grooves on one face, two grooves on the opposite.

A rectangular flat tablet of mottled brown slate (Fig. 12, A) was found during the burial excavations but not in direct association. It is 6 cm. long, 4.5 cm. wide, and 3.5 mm. thick. The faces are polished and the edges ground smooth with rounded corners, but there are no decorations or perforations.

A bead of gray and brown banded slate (Fig. 12, B) was found on the surface of Hill 1. It is pear-shaped, 9 mm. long, 12 mm. wide, counter-drilled and highly polished. A small perforated sandstone concretion (Fig. 12, D) may have been used as a bead, but the perforation seems to be natural, and the surfaces are not modified.

An oval, reddish claystone concretion was found on the surface. It is 12 × 6.5 cm., and 2.7 cm. thick. The hard cortex had been removed, exposing the soft ocher, which was a probable source of paint.

Bone Object

A segment of bone, 2.6 cm. long, was found on the surface. The ends are cut squarely across and there is a small (natural?) perforation. It is probably a bead of bird bone (Fig. 12, C), is hard, very white, and the surface is polished. No other artifacts of bone or shell were found, but the test pits in dark soil exposed numerous animal bones as well as mussel and snail shells. No identifications were secured.

DISCUSSION

The Smithport Landing Site is one of a number of village and mound sites along the Red River valley and its tributaries in northwestern Louisiana (Fig. 1) at which varying amounts of Alto Focus pottery, whole vessels or sherds, have been found. The mound sites shown are within the river flood plain, with exception of Thigpen Mound and Village Site, which are on a terrace immediately overlooking the valley; Gahagan, Curtis, Mounds Plantation, and Belcher mounds are on old river channels near the present stream. The burial vessels at Gahagan were Alto types—five _Holly Fine Engraved_, three _Hickory Engraved_, one _Kiam Incised_—and 12% of the 76 sherds from the surface are the distinctive Alto types (_Hickory_, _Carmel_ and _Holly Engraved_, _Davis Incised_, _Crockett Curvilinear Incised_, _Weches Fingernail Impressed_ and _Pennington Punctated-Incised_). The Thigpen Site is preponderantly Bossier, but included in the scant collection of 102 sherds are one _Weches_, five _Dunkin_, and five _Wilkinson_. We have only a few sherds from the Curtis Mound (Sunny Point in Moore’s 1912 report) but _Hickory Fine Engraved_ is included. At the Belcher Mound Site (Webb, 1959) the premound level had sherds and burial vessels of both Alto and Haley types.

The Mounds Plantation (Pickett Landing in Moore’s 1912 report) Site has recently been explored with some intensity (McKinney, Plants and Webb, to be reported). Twenty-six percent of the decorated sherds in the previous surface collection were of the distinctive Alto types, 4.15% Coles Creek. A trench through one of the mounds showed intrusive Belcher Focus burials but the fill, habitation, and premound level sherds were Coles Creek and Alto, with admixture at all levels but increasing amounts of Alto in the top levels. Alto types are _Davis_ and _Harrison Bayou Incised_; _Hickory_, _Holly_ and _Carmel Engraved_; _Pennington_, _Crockett_, _Wilkinson_, and _Weches_ in the punctated and punctated-incised categories. Coles Creek types were _Coles Creek_, _Chase_ and _Beldeau Incised_; _Rhinehart Punctated_; and the shared types _Hardy_ and _Sanson Incised_. Deep burials in a second mound had scant pottery but the two vessels were _Holly Engraved_ and a bowl with _Crockett_ and _Pennington_ designs, both black and polished.

The non-mound village sites shown in Figure 1 are on hills fronting the valley or on tributaries and lakes. All of those shown have Alto and Bossier pottery types, most have Coles Creek-Troyville, all have a good representation of the shared types _Hardy-Kiam_, _Dunkin-Manchac_, _Harrison Bayou_ and _Sanson Incised_, _Wilkinson Punctated_, and _Rhinehart_-atypical, _Pennington Punctated-Incised_. Omitting these shared types and using only distinctive types, the Allen Site has 7% Alto, no Coles Creek; the Wilkinson Site has 10.5% Alto, 0.3% Coles Creek; the Chamarre Site has 14% Alto, 1.5% Troyville; Williams Point has 4% Alto, no Coles Creek; East Smithport has 8% Alto, no Coles Creek; the Colbert Place has 1.6% Alto, 5.45% Coles Creek; Greer has 6.7% Alto, 1.8% Coles Creek; Pease and Sinner are strong Bossier sites but have 0.3% and 0.5% Alto, respectively; Swanson’s Landing has 4% Alto and 4% Coles Creek; and Harrison Bayou has 1% Alto.

Not all of the mound or village sites in this same area show this kind of representation of Alto or Coles Creek; there are as many or more which are well developed Bossier sites and have little or no Alto. For example, we have 230 surface sherds from the Vanceville Mound in Bossier Parish with no Alto or Coles Creek types; the 3942 sherds from the lower and premound levels of the Oden Mound include two questionable _Hickory Engraved_, no other Alto or Coles Creek types; 1275 surface sherds from the Marston Village Site show no Coles Creek, one _Holly Fine Engraved_, and three _Pennington Punctated-Incised_. In these same sites, as the distinctive types drop out, the shared incised and punctated types like _Dunkin-Manchac_, _Rhinehart-Pennington_ variants, _Wilkinson_, _Harrison Bayou Incised_ and even _Hardy-Kiam Incised_ are almost completely replaced by _Pease Brushed-Incised_, _Belcher Ridged_, and the brushed types (Webb, 1959). Large projectile points and heavy scraper types also disappear, replaced by small arrow point types and thumbnail-size, triangular and rectangular flake scrapers (Webb, 1959: Fig. 126).

The Smithport Landing Site shares with the other hilltop or hill slope village sites of this earlier Caddoan period the carry-over of late Archaic dart points, especially types like _Gary_, _Ellis_, _Kent_, _Carrollton_, _Palmillas_, _San Patrice_, _Evans_, _Maçon_, and _Pontchartrain_. Large as well as small scrapers, pitted stones, manos of hand size, oval metates, small drills, large and small celts, brown and white sandstone hones, hammerstones, and crude choppers are usual at these sites. Triangular and ovate knives, recurved-edge (_Copena_-like) knives, stone beads and polished stone problematicals (boatstones, bannerstones, gorgets) or plummets are all missing or very rare, although stone beads and problematicals occur in the late Archaic. The slate bead from Smithport, a recurved (_Copena_) blade fragment from the Thigpen Site, and a two-hole gorget from a small site north of Wallace Lake (Webb, 1948: Pl. 16, 9) are exceptions. Small projectile points, generally of _Alba_ and _Colbert_ types, about equal the number of large ones at these sites. Ear ornaments, shell and bone tools are infrequent.

In conclusion, the Smithport Landing Site is one of the larger village sites of the earlier Caddoan (Gibson Aspect, Alto Focus) period along the Red River valley in northwestern Louisiana. It shares with a number of other village sites of this period evidences of a carry over of late Archaic projectile points and stone artifact traits. It also shares with numerous village and mound sites evidences of admixture of Coles Creek ceramic types and influences with the Alto pottery types as the earliest pottery at these sites. It seems increasingly clear that the advent of Coles Creek and Alto Caddoan peoples and/or ceramics, arrow points, and riverine mound building into this area were virtually simultaneous occurrences. Out of this blending developed the subsequent Bossier Focus ceramics and other cultural manifestations over a wide portion of northwestern Louisiana, extending into eastern Texas and southern Arkansas.

It is possible that the large ceremonial mound groups, like Gahagan and Mounds Plantation, served as ceremonial centers for a number of villages, including those in the adjoining hill areas, accounting for the frequency of specialized burials, with ceremonial copper and polished stone objects, pipes and ornamentation, and highly developed burial ceramics, in the mound sites, in comparison with the paucity of these objects in the hill villages.

Considerable research is needed (1) to establish the nature of the relationships between mound sites in the valleys and the villages in the hills; (2) to trace the extent of Coles Creek and Alto contacts and the process of amalgamation of these two strong cultures over the wide area from central Louisiana into Arkansas, Oklahoma and eastern Texas (this must have been friendly, as it is inconceivable that Caddoan peoples would have supplanted Coles Creek almost overnight in hundreds of villages); (3) and the development out of this amalgamation of Bossier, Plaquemine, and other later cultures.

FOOTNOTES

[1]Thanks are extended to Monroe Dodd, Jr., George Freeman, and other
friends who assisted in the site exploration; to Alex Krieger and
James A. Ford for assistance with pottery identification and
typology; to A. L. Wedgeworth, Jr., for photography; and to Gordon
Maxcy for film developing and assistance with the plates.

REFERENCES CITED

D’Antoni, Blaise C.

1961a. Bayou Pierre, Land of Yesteryear, Chapter 2. Newsletter, North
Louisiana Historical Assn., April, pp. 9-14.

1961b. Bayou Pierre, Land of Yesteryear, Chapter 3. Newsletter, North
Louisiana Historical Assn., July, pp. 7-12.

1962. Bayou Pierre, Land of Yesteryear, Chapter 5. Newsletter, North
Louisiana Historical Assn., May, pp. 13-15.

Ford, James A.

1951. Greenhouse: A Troyville-Coles Creek Period Site in Avoyelles
Parish, Louisiana. Anthropological Papers of the American Museum
of Natural History, Vol. 44, Part 1.

Ford, James A., and Clarence H. Webb

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Transcriber’s Notes

—Silently corrected a few typos.

—Retained publication information from the printed edition: this eBook
is public-domain in the country of publication.

—In the text versions only, text in italics is delimited by
_underscores_.