Lake Creek Site example essay topic

"Lake Creek: A Woodland Site in the Texas Panhandle" by Jack T. Hughes Jack Hughes wrote this journal to report the results of some initial investigations of an Indian campsite with probable Woodland affiliations in the Panhandle of Texas. Hughes reports this to help the reader better understand the existence and both lifestyles and habits of the Indians in this area. The site is located on the J. Events Haley Ranch in the eastern part of Hutchinson County in Texas. It is situated on the west bank of Lake Creek, which empties into the South Canadian River about 4 miles southeast of the site. For a better understanding of the background of the area, Hughes stated that this stretch in the Canadian Valley was a favorite wintering ground of the Comanche and their allies. Nearby, in a creek valley three miles east of Lake Creek are the remains of a fort built in 1840 by William Bent for trade with the Comanche.

As the excavation of the site progressed, it was noted that the first foot dug consisted of a brownish humic sand which turned yellowish towards the bottom. At this depth, some flint chip specimens were found which indicated that more was to come as the archaeologists dug deeper. They were right, as many artifacts were found, with 132 in all. The artifacts that were found consisted of projectile points, knives, scrapers, graves, blades, choppers, chopper-hammers, cores, manos, grinding slabs, bone beads and animal remains. The existence of these particular artifacts suggests that the Indians of the time were both hunters and gatherers. The projectile points and knives were undoubtedly used for hunting and skinning purposes, as the grinding slabs and scrapers were probably used for crops and other food preparatory purposes.

Most of the objects were composed of Alibates flint, which is a common stone of the area. This suggests that the Indians weren't as nomadic as other tribes. Among these previously mentioned artifacts, pottery was also excavated at the site. The Lake Creek site produced about forty-eight sherds of two very different kinds of pottery, which may be characterized as corded ware and plain ware. Hughes entered this into the article to once again better get an idea of the way of life of the people.

Pottery found also indicates that the tribe didn't relocate very often, as artifacts of this nature would have taken much time to produce. Hughes puts such artifacts, as the knives and points into categories. There are three categories for the knives; beveled, plain and flake. Hughes describes a beveled knife as being a small tip fragment of a narrow-pointed, straight-edged knife. A plain knife is described as being a simple knife, with no bevels whatsoever.

Many specimens of this type were found. The flake knife is a knife with bi-facially retouched edges. Near all of these were found to be comprised of Alibates flint. Hughes put this information about the differences in knives to help readers understand both the sophistication and technological advances of this Indian tribe. It is not clear whether or not the tribe invented the different knife varieties or if they were adopted, however, the artifacts were found fairly shallowly in the ground, suggesting a more recent tribe, which indicates a later existence in the area. Hughes concludes the article with comments about the site, such as the suggestion that the Lake Creek Focus represents a group residing in the region, rather than passing through it.

My conjecture about this was also verified when he mentioned that the traits found about the Indians gave further evidence of residences, such as the pottery and trading evidence. I think that Hughes did a very good job writing the article, supplying the reader with extensive details about the dig, which helps the reader visualize the excavation..