pjp. N^f; 2^lY' TEXARKANA RESERVOIR — JELKS 47 



every case) down to the grave floors, but the burials had been dug 

 entirely through the occupational zone and no cultural material of 

 any kind occurred beneath the graves. 



Analysis in the laboratory indicates that the distribution patterns 

 of the two different ceramic traditions at Snipes are similar, with 

 concentrations in the central portion of the excavated area and a 

 thinning out peripherally. No differences in vertical distribution 

 were detected. The only suggestion of differentiation is the relative 

 frequency of Caddoan sherds, as compared with Lower Mississippi 

 sherds, in the eastern portion of the site. Actually, both kinds are 

 scattered very thinly in that area, and the comparative frequency of 

 Caddoan material may not be particularly significant. This slightly 

 different intrasite distribution does suggest some differences in the 

 cultural affiliations of the two ceramic traditions within the site — as 

 was to be expected — but does not clarify the question of whether 

 the Caddoan material represents a separate occupation of the site, 

 is present as trade material, or represents accretions to a basically 

 Lower Mississippi complex. 



CERAMICS 



The predominant pottery style at Snipes has a thick, friable paste 

 with chalky exterior. It appears to be identical with the type 

 Baytown Plain (Phillips, Ford, and Griffin, 1951, pp. 76-82) in paste 

 characteristics with the exception that Baytown evidently is never 

 bone tempered while 33.7 percent of the Snipes sherds contain angu- 

 lar fragments of bone in addition to clay particles. Because of the 

 bone tem-pering and other factors, the Snipes specimens will not be 

 definitely identified as Baytown Plain; however, similarity to Bay- 

 town is so close that separation as an entirely different type is not 

 warranted. Consequently this pottery will herein be termed Bay- 

 town-like.* 



Baytown Plain is the basic clay-tempered type for the Lower 

 Mississippi area from the Tchefuncte Period to the beginning of the 

 Plaquemine Period (or the period G-C in the chronology of Phillips, 

 Ford, and Griffin). In addition to plain vessels, many decorated 

 pottery types of the Marksville, Troyville, and Coles Creek Periods 

 are also of Baytown paste. 



Color of Baytown-like, the comparable type at the Snipes Site, 

 ranges from light buffs (occasionally tinged with orange) through 

 creams and browns to grays. Surfaces are smoothed, but bumpy, 



•Author's note. Since this paper was written I have examined specimens of Williams 

 Plain pottery from Fourche Mallne sites in eastern Oklahoma that are similar in paste 

 characteristics to what Is here called Baytown-like. The vessel shapes of Williams Plain, 

 though, are somewhat different from the Baytown-Uke ware found at Texarkana as 

 nearly as can be determined from the sherds. Both kinds of pottery, in any event, appear 

 to be related to the Baytown series of the Lower Mississippi Area. 



