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Extract
Below are given trait lists of the three mound phases, together constituting an Alto Focus. The “phase” framework is only a convenience for discussing what happened. At no time was there any pronounced change, it being quite evident that the three phases apply to a single cultural continuum undergoing subtle changes of two kinds: (1) modifications and innovations arising within the resident group, including the transfer of attributes from one type to another; and (2) acquisition of new traits by outside contacts, including the imitation of styles seen on “trade” objects.
The houses and non-pottery artifacts provide rather definite traits that can be listed in the conventional manner. Pottery, however, can be broken down into an infinite number of “traits” according to what the analyst wishes to present. Thus, various grades of temper, hardness, finish, design arrangement, even color tones, could all be listed as traits, as could any change in frequency in any feature at any given time. Naturally, these events cannot all be recorded, but the following phase lists attempt to show changes as well as patternizations during the life of the focus at this site; they should be more fruitful than plus-and-minus check lists.
- Type
- Part II. Analysis and Interpretation
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1949
References
1 Previous to erection of first flat-topped mound.
2 “Attribute” is used in the sense advanced by Rouse (1939). A type consists of such and such attributes, each of which can be borrowed or modified independently of the others. This concept is of great importance in historical processes.
3 Primary mound.
4 Trait continued from Phase 1. Unnumbered traits first appear in Phase 2.
5 Secondary mound.
6 Trait continued from Phase 2. Unnumbered traits first appear in Phase 3.
7 A brief account of the Frankston Focus, its connection with Hasinai tribes, and indicated dates, will be found in Krieger (1946, pp. 206-12). In this work, the Frankston Focus was said to extend into a European contact period after circa 1600 A.D. Since then, an Allen Focus has been defined for the contact period, Frankston Focus now being entirely pre-contact circa 1400-1600 A.D.). Frankston has the same pottery types and other artifacts as before except that Patton Engraved belongs entirely to the new, historic Allen Focus (see Fig. 18 in the 1946 work). Frankston was doubtlessly the immediate ancestor of the Allen Focus, and therefore of the historic Hasinai Caddo tribes. Not a single artifact of the Allen Focus was found here.
8 The connections consist mainly of the general practices of engraving and incising pottery, as well as neck-banding of utility vessels, but the specific treatments are so different they can hardly be confused. The cultural evolution from Alto to Frankston Focus probably did not take place in this region, but farther east, probably in the Red River Valley system, so that a subsequent westward spread of “Caddoan” traditions brought about the Frankston and other late foci in eastern Texas.