Copyright by Paul Shawn Joseph Marceaux 2011 - Repository ...

component of the subsistence economy, and accounts document the Caddo
planted two crops of maize in historic times. The Caddo groups were by no
means reliant only on corn, however, and they made use of a diversified food
production system (Perttula 1992:14‐15). For example, the Caddo also fashioned
bows, arrows, and other weapons in order to hunt buffalo, deer, and other game
for food and skins. The Franciscan chronicler Casañas noted (Hatcher 1927:211)
that the Caddo men “have only one occupation, hunting.”
Crucial to my research, the Caddo produced finely made and distinctive
ceramic goods. The Caddo constructed ceramics in a wide variety of shapes and
forms, some with elegant and intricate decorations occurring primarily on the
rims and the body of vessels. The decorations and designs, along with certain
technological attributes, are the primary basis for establishing and defining
ceramic types. Found in different contexts, including domestic and mortuary,
ceramics are the most frequently recovered material remains from Caddo sites.
Coarse ware vessels, typically jars, used in everyday functions such as
cooking, serving and storing food dominate domestic archaeological
assemblages. These utilitarian vessels are both plain and decorated, and some of
the largest could reach several feet in height and in orifice diameter. The well‐
made fine wares generally have thinner walls, finely crushed inclusions, and
most have a special surface treatment. The elaborately decorated fine wares
include mostly bowls, carinated bowls and bottles, but there are other vessel
forms as well. The Caddo used fine wares in domestic contexts, but they
typically dominate the mortuary assemblages.
Finally, ceramics have played a large part in building regionally specific
chronologies of Caddo sites. While chronology‐building is an important part of
my research, I also attempt to determine if and how Caddo ceramics can be used
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