Project Name: US 69 Lindale Relief Route Archeological Testing

Project Location: Smith County, Texas

Project Type: Eligibility Test Excavations; Geoarcheological Studies

Owner: TxDOT Tyler District

During Summer 2011, investigators from Hicks & Company conducted eligibility test excavations and geoarcheological studies at two archeological sites, Sites 41SM388 and 41SM393, and investigated a landform that was noted as a possible platform mound during earlier work. The test excavations consisted of mechanical trench excavations and hand-excavated test units. Artifacts recovered during mechani­cal and hand excavations at Site 41SM388 include 284 ceramic sherds (with 49 identified as incised/decorated and eight identified as pipe stem fragments), 15 lithic flakes, one biface, one petrified wood burin, 1 fragment of groundstone, and two projectile points (an unidentified projectile point and one similar to a Perdiz point). The diagnostic ceramics and Perdiz point indicate a Late Prehistoric/‌Middle Caddo occupation. At Site 41SM393, artifacts recovered include 141 ceramic sherds (with 30 identified as incised/decorated, and eight specimens identified as pipe stem fragments), 247 items of lithic debitage, six bifaces/biface fragments, a core, a retouched flake, and eleven projectile points. As with Site 41SM388, the diagnostic ceramics and projectile points indicate a Late Woodland to Early Caddo occupation. Both sites were found to be occupied during the Early Caddo and the beginning of the Middle Caddo periods, time frames which are poorly understood. Because of these considerations both sites are eligible for listing as archeological properties in the National Register of Historic Places (36 CFR 800.16(1)).