Reconnecting the Present to the Past:
The Caddo People Return to the
Lower Red River Valley
Bowie County Levee Realignment Project
In May 2005, the Caddo Nation Cultural Preservation Office received funding through the Lopez Garcia Group to accompany the Caddo Repatriation Committee to examine Caddo sites within the boundaries of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Levee Realignment Project in Bowie County, Texas. With the assistance of Dr. Frank Schambach of the Arkansas Archeological Survey, the Caddo were also able to visit associated sites in Miller and Lafayette counties in Arkansas. This project allowed Repatriation Committee members to identify and examine traditional cultural properties associated with some of the oldest and most important Caddo occupation and ceremonial sites on and near the Great Bend of Red River.
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Battle Mound, Lafayette Co., Ark: Caddo, largest Caddo mound, located within a large, extended settlement area: occupied over several centuries until the early 19th century.
From the top I could see the whole area and visualize the villages and the river.
—Mary Botone
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Horace Cabe, Bowie Co., Texas: Caddo, 7 mound site within the boundaries of the Nasoni Caddo community depicted on Terán's 1691 map, occupied over several centuries until the early 19th century.
I was glad to be close to the mounds. I got an inner feeling, standing where my ancestors stood.
—Marilyn Threlkeld
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Hatchel Mound, Bowie Co., Texas: Caddo, single mound thought to be the hill on which Tsa-Caddo instructed her children; depicted on Terán's 1691 map, occupied over several centuries until the early 19th century.
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Boyd Hill, Lafayette Co., Ark: large ridge near Red River on which the Caddo procured important mineral and natural resources.
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Crenshaw, Miller Co., Ark: at least 5 mounds, one of the earliest, most complex Caddo ceremonial sites; believed to be one of the primary places where the Caddo cultural traditions began, ca. A.D. 600-1100.
Caddo Connection to the Lower Mississippi Valley->
Sites:
- Horace Cabe Site: Bowie County, Texas. Site access courtesy of Gary Langdon and family.
- Hatchel Mound Site: Bowie County, Texas. Site access courtesy of Jimmy Curtis and Truman Arnold.
- Battle Mound: Lafayette County, Arkansas. Site access courtesy of the Brent family. Information and assistance provided by Dr. Frank Schambach.
- Chickaninny Prairie, Boyd Hill: Lafayette County, Arkansas. Site access arranged by Dr. Frank Schambach
- Crenshaw site: Miller County, Arkansas. Site access courtesy of Larry Head and Judy Harrison Head.
Credits:
- Terán's map of the Nasoni Caddo village, 1691, Center for American History, Univ. of Texas, Austin
- Project conducted under a contract between the Lopez Garcia Group for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Caddo Nation Cultural Preservation Office, 2005.
- Scott Sundermeyer and John Penman, Lopez Garcia Group project archaeologists.
- Site photographs by Dayna Bowker Lee, project tribal liaison.