EXCAVATIONS AT TEXARKANA RESERVOIR, 

 SULPHUR RIVER, TEXAS ^ 



By Edward B. Jelks 



INTRODUCTION 



During the period April 28 to June 25, 1952, limited arclieological 

 excavations -svere carried on at three sites now inundated by the 

 Texarkana Reservoir — the Knight's Bluff, Snipes, and Sherwin sites 

 in Cass County, Tex. This project was part of the nationwide 

 arclieological salvage program of the River Basin Surveys, admin- 

 istered by the Smithsonian Institution in cooperation with the Na- 

 tional Park Service, the Armj'' Corps of Engineers, and the Bureau 

 of Reclamation. 



The excavations at Texarkana were under the immediate super- 

 vision of the writer, who was ably assisted in the field by Ensor O. 

 Miller, Edward H. JMoorman, and Adolph H. Witte, all three of 

 whom served as foremen and assistant archeologists. 



I wish to extend my thanks to all the men who worked on the 

 Texarkana sites for their industry on the dig. I should like also 

 to express my pei*sonal thanks, as well as the gratitude of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution, to M. P. IMiroir, Texarkana, and I. B. ("Bogie") 

 Price, Jr., of Atlanta, Tex., both of whom extended every possible 

 assistance and courtesy to the entire field crew. Their interest in 

 our investigations greatly facilitated the progress of the excavations. 



The assistance rendered in the laboratory by Edward H. Moor- 

 man, who reconstructed the pottery and skeletal material and helped 

 tabulate the artifacts, is gratefully acknowledged. Alex D. Krieger, 

 who helped with the identification of pottery types and offered many 

 valuable suggestions, contributed much to this report. 



Most of all I am indebted to Miss Dee Ann Suhm, who not only 

 cataloged all the artifacts and prepared the notes on physical an- 

 thropology for all three sites, but also proffered numerous suggestions 

 regarding interpretation, many of which are incorporated herein. 



1 Manuscript submitted February 28, 1955. 



