Analysis of the native ceramics from the Deshazo Site, Nacogdoches County, Texas

This reports the analysis of the native-made ceramics from the Deshazo Site (41NA27), Nacogdoches County, Texas (Fig. 1). The goals of this study are: (1) to describe the collection in detail so that it can be used by other researchers, and (2) to explore questions of intrasite differences in chronology, function, and interaction. The primary component at Deshazo represents an Allen Phase, or early historic, Caddoan small village or hamlet. Most of the structures, probably all of the burials, the midden, and most of the artifacts relate to this component. Also present are an Early Ceramic component, represented by ceramic and lithic artifacts, and an early-19th-century component, represented by Euro-American artifacts and the remains of one structure. The research on this site is important because Deshazo is one of the most intensively investigated occupational sites in the Caddoan area. The bulk of previous archeological research on the Caddo has been oriented toward the more spectacular sites, especially cemeteries and mounds, while the numerous hamlet and small village sites have received relatively little attention. Thus, the intensive research on the Allen Phase component provides rare and valuable information on one of the basic elements of the Caddoan settlement system. This introductory section discusses the history and general methods of investigation, describes the site, and outlines the scope of this study. The second section covers the theoretical background underlying the analysis and discusses in greater detail its goals and problems. The third and fourth sections describe the vessel ceramics, present their distributions, and analyze the significance of these distributions. The fifth section describes and examines the distributions of the non-vessel ceramics. The final section summarizes and synthesizes the previous ones to present a unified discussion of the ceramic collection and what it can tell us about Deshazo. Finally, the appendix presents the statistical manipulations used in this analysis