Mound Bound - Part 1, Poverty Point State Historic Site

I have fond memories of childhood road trips. Loading up station wagon (first lime green, then wood paneled) and trailer and heading out for grand adventures with my mom, dad, and sister - the mountains of New Mexico and Colorado, Texas swimming holes, forests, prairies, and deserts. The smell of cooking bacon will forever bring to mind many happy camp memories. This road trip legacy has carried over to my adult life with my own husband and children. I never turn down an opportunity to see new sites: the scenic, the historic, and the weird. 

Poverty Point, Epps, LA

Last week we dropped my son off for a summer program at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) in Atlanta. This provided an excellent opportunity for a Mound themed trip home. With my archaeologist husband in tow, we visited Poverty Point, Moundville, and a couple other hidden mound gems.

Visiting other mound sites is incredibly helpful for understanding where Caddo Mounds fits in time and space within the archaeological record. Hopefully, this brief account of my travels will help you understand our own Mound site a little better too.

One of the oldest known mound sites in the US, Poverty Point was just recently declared a World Heritage Site!

Poverty Point includes five mounds, six concentric semi-elliptical ridges separated by shallow depressions, and a central plaza. Poverty Point dates to around 3,600 years ago. That means, that Poverty Point predates Caddo Mounds by more than  2,000 years.

Traveling the path to the largest mound of the Poverty Point complex takes you over the six semi-elliptical ridges that frame Mound A. 

Mound A

There is no doubt about it, all three mounds at Caddo would fit neatly inside Poverty Points' Mound A! Here is a mind blowing set of facts from the Louisiana State Parks and Historic Sites, Poverty Point website:

Poverty Point is indeed a rare remnant of an exceptional culture. It has been estimated that landscape preparation and earthworks construction may have required moving as many as 53 million cubic feet of soil. Considering that a cubic foot of soil weighs 75-100 pounds, and that the laborers carried this dirt in roughly 50-pound basket loads, it is obvious that this was a great communal engineering feat.

Walking the steps to the top of Mound A allows plenty of time for reflection about the ancient hunters and gathers who lived at this site.

Of course, it doesn't hurt to travel with your own archaeologist to help explain things.

Many artifacts from the Poverty Point culture are preserved and displayed in the site museum. This material culture represents the skills and beliefs of these ancient peoples. Animal effigies, fertility symbols, jewelry, and weapons are among the artifacts displayed. Birds are prominently featured among the Poverty Point artifacts, which have lead some to visualize a bird shape to Mound A.

The explanation of the atlatl caught my attention. It is always great to absorb new facts that can be used in our own site programs.

Did you know that atlatl is an Aztec word and the oldest atlatls date back to Africa over 25,000 years ago?

Check out our Facebook @ Caddo Mounds State Historic Site to see more Poverty Point images, and check back next week for a short write-up of my experiences at Moundville Archaeological Park.

A short serendipitous tale.

It is a fairly safe bet that, following a storm, there will be a new treasure of blooms at Caddo Mounds. Earlier this week I stumbled across a sunny patch of copper lilies (pictured above). These beauties cropped up in close proximity to a 1920's era barn near our main road segment of el Camino Real de los Tejas. Seeing these lilies so close to the barn had me wondering if they were one of the blooms that help archaeologists spot historic home sites. I bounced this thought off my archaeologist husband and got a "probably not". There are plenty of flowers that are known for marking historic house sites, but apparently not the copper lily.

Sonnia Hill, Native Plant Society of Texas

Lately, we've been fortunate to have volunteers from the Native Plant Society of Texas (NPSOT) and the Texas Master Naturalists exploring our site and identifying plants. Every time they are on site I learn something new and interesting. After hours of identifying plants around the borrow pit, Sonnia Hill (NPSOT) sat behind my computer and helped identify all of the plants I have been photographing on my daily wanderings around Caddo Mounds. Sonnia loved the copper lilies, but she agreed with my husband that they were more wild than cultivated. She thumbed through her giant, magical plant book so I could write down the copper lily's binomial (habranthus tubispathus), and...

From Illustrated Flora of Northeast Texas

Did you catch that last sentence?

Hook J. Holmes and Wells (1980) proposed that this species is native to South America and was introduced in the U.S. in the late 1600s or early 1700s possibly by Spanish missionaries. 

Recall, that the historic barn is right next to our swale of el Camino Real de los Tejas. If you were to follow the Camino Real six miles west you would arrive at the site of the first Spanish Mission in East Texas:

NUESTRO PADRE SAN FRANCISCO DE LOS TEJAS MISSION. Nuestro Padre San Francisco de los Tejas Mission, originally established in 1690 as San Francisco de los Tejas Mission, was near the west bank of the Neches River in what is now Houston County. It was given the longer name when it was reestablished in 1716 by the expedition of Domingo Ramón and moved across the Neches River to Bowles Creek, in what is now Cherokee County. Fray Francisco Hidalgo and Fray Isidro Félix de Espinosa were placed in charge. In 1719, because of the French invasion from Louisiana, the mission was again abandoned. It was reestablished in 1721 by the Marqués de San Miguel de Aguayo, who moved it to a new location and renamed it San Francisco de los Neches.

"NUESTRO PADRE SAN FRANCISCO DE LOS TEJAS MISSION," Handbook of Texas Online(http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/uqn01), accessed June 14, 2014. Uploaded on June 15, 2010. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.

Also, the Caddo Mounds area was known by the Spanish as a paraje or perpetual campground, a welcome high, dry spot to rest following a perhaps muddy and difficult crossing of the nearby Neches River.

Father Margil surrounded by worshipful Caddo, a point of view discussion for another post 

Another interesting tidbit, Father Margil, a Franciscan Friar and friend of the Espinosa party who established Mission Tejas, spent much time in Central America and east Texas. Stories of the miraculous work of Father Margil are folk legend around east Texas, especially in Nacogdoches where this historic marker resides along the Lanana Creek Trail.

"Los Ojos de Padre Margil" (The Eyes of Father Margil) - A Franciscan missionary who spent almost 50 years with the Indians of Central and North America, Father Antonio Margil de Jesus (1657-1726) was born in Valencia, Spain, and came to the New World in 1683. He founded three Catholic colleges before joining the Domingo Ramon Expedition to East Texas in 1716. He established three missions in this region, including Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe at present Nacogdoches. A severe drought, which began in 1717, ruined crops and caused many Indians to leave the mission. In the summer of 1718, according to tradition, Father Margil was led by a vision to a point near this site where the bed of La Nana Creek made a sharp bend. There he struck the overhanging rock shelf with his staff, and a stream of water gushed forth. Some accounts say that he made two openings in the rock, which became known as "The Eyes of Father Margil." This miraculous event inspired the Indians, and a relief expedition later found conditions at the mission greatly improved. In 1720, Father Margil founded Mission San Jose y San Miguel de Aguayo in San Antonio. He died in Mexico City. "The Holy Spring," now dry except during very rainy weather, symbolizes the faith and endurance of the Spanish missionaries.

Espinosa even wrote this book about his friend's missionary work - The Exemplary Life of the Venerable Father Friar Antonio Margil de Jesus

In reality, these puzzle pieces of knowledge may never fit together, but, it is intriguing to imagine the ancestor bulbs to our copper lilies arriving at Caddo Mounds in the robes of Father Margil perhaps on a trip to visit his friend Espinosa.

Spirit of Place and Mother Earth’s (Wa-da-t’-i-na) Bounty

 The camino real, or more aptly the caminos reales, is more than a route, more than a series of parajes between two end points. It is a complex set of relationships between travelers and nature, buyers and sellers, governors and governed.

~Jesus F. de la Teja, 1991

I've made a daily ritual of leaving my desk to explore the land known today as Caddo Mounds State Historic Site and breathe in the spirit of the place. With every little journey, the history beneath my feet blends with the living legacy of the mound prairie in an ever changing kaleidoscope of nature and culture.

El Camino Real de los Tejas road segment at Caddo Mounds

For thousands of years this slice of East Texas has been permanent residence and perpetual campground to Tejas/Caddo, Spanish, French, Anglo, African American and a variety of other peoples. During the time of European contact, Spanish travelers to the land of the Tejas journeyed along el Camino Real de los Tejas (the oldest road in Texas) and faced a muddy and difficult crossing at the Neches River. The dry mound prairie, a welcome site to weary travelers, served as a paraje, or perpetual campground. The Spanish named this place paraje el Cerrito, the campground at the little mound or hill, and it offered a high, dry land with grass for grazing animals, edible plants for foraging, and a nearby water source.

Each day, on my explorations of Caddo Mounds, I discover the natural bounty that has attracted man and beast throughout history. A novice forager, I know I have only discovered a fraction of the edible and healing plants on the site. 

1. Mullein, 2. Dewberries, 3. Bull Nettle, 4. Wild Plum, 5. Elderberry, 6. Dandelion

In glimpses, songs, and chance meetings I've seen some of the wildlife that has helped sustain life in east Texas. Both the common place sightings of buzzards and the rare treat of coyote or eagle ties my experience today with the people I study in history and myth. In 1905, an ethnographer named George Dorsey collected and published the traditional stories of the Caddo people. These stories, along with traditional songs, and stories still being passed down to new generations add to my understanding of the Caddo Mounds site. As I make friends with the characters of Caddo traditional stories, my interpretation and presentation of this small piece of sacred land is enriched, and as I explore the Mound site, I find myself looking for the characters in the stories I'm learning. Even a glimpse of one of the many deer who claim Caddo Mounds as home is a thrill.

Artists Yonavea Hawkins and Chase Earles' representations of the Caddo Origin of Night and Day

From Chase Earles' website Caddo Pottery: History and Culture Past and Present :

CADDO ORIGIN OF NIGHT AND DAY

As told by Tsa Bisu "Mr. Wing."

In the beginning the people all lived in darkness. After a time they became dissatisfied and wanted light. They called a council to discuss how they could get light. Coyote was the first to speak, and he said: "We have had enough darkness; we must now have light. it is right that we should have both and not all darkness." There was a man at the time who was a prophet, and Coyote said they he appointed the prophet to investigate and see how the people might obtain light. The prophet thought over the question and then reported:

"There are yellow, black, spotted, half spotted, and white deer upon the earth. These deer are here for some purpose. If you kill the yellow deer, everything will be yellow all the time. If you kill the white deer, everything will be white all the time, if you kill the spotted one, everything shall be spotted and very bad. If you kill the black one, everything shall be black as it is now. But if you kill both the black and the white deer, then we shall have day and night. During the day everything will be white and we can go about and hunt and visit, and during the night we can return to our homes and rest."

The people accepted the prophet's words and start out and hunted until they killed the black and white deer, and from that time we have had day and night.

I would encourage all of you, on your next visit to Caddo Mounds, to look beyond the wayside panels and mounds for the evidence of Mother Earth’s (Wa-da-t’-i-na) bounty, a gift that brought the Caddo and all who followed to eastern Texas.

Musical Thoughts

I grew up in Houston, TX where a 36 mile commute to work could take hours. Today, my 36 mile commute from home to Caddo Mounds takes about 36 minutes. 36 minutes driving down the historic El Camino Real de los Tejas surrounded by the beautiful hills and piney woods of East Texas, luxuriant pastures, and spring wildflowers. This time is great thinking time, since it is kept peaceful by lousy cell phone reception. It is amazing the energy you can devote to contemplating life when you can't pass your drive time chatting with friends and family.

Last week while driving, on the 50th anniversary of the spaghetti western, I listened to an interview on NPR with composer Ennio Morricone. Perhaps this interview was not the most likely time to find inspiration for this blog, but at the very end Morricone talked about his work on the 1986 film the Mission. Morricone said that the music for this film was conditioned by the period it was set, 1750. He describes the difficulty of combining the three threads of music representing the Spanish Jesuits, the Catholic church, and the South American Natives. In the piece "On Earth as it is in Heaven", these cultural stories merge, and the result is moving.

 

I found myself wondering how a theme for the story of Caddo Mounds might sound. With many more than three threads, this theme would be a challenge even master composer Morricone should appreciate.

The Hasinai branch of the Caddo people lived in what is now the Caddo Mounds area from 750 AD until about 1849. First as one of the last great Mississippian Mound building cultures and after around 1250 AD as a more dispersed farming community. From creation the Caddo embraced music; according to Caddo mythology, the first man left the land of darkness and carried a drum, fire, and a pipe -"First was an old man carrying fire and a pipe in one hand, his drum in the other".

More on Caddo Dance & Song From Caddo Pottery: History & Culture Past & Present.

You can also listen to the Songs of the Caddo Ceremonial and Social Dance Music album on Spotify.

I began my love affair with Caddo mythology as an undergraduate at Stephen F. Austin (SFA) State University. A trio of mentor professors (Jim Corbin, Anthropology; Hebe Mace, Literature; and Doug McMillan, History) nurtured my passion for culture and myth. I spent a semester immersed in Caddo stories, archaeology, and ethnohistory looking for ties between information. Animals, often given sacred powers and human characteristics - Snakewoman, Coyote, Medicine Screech Owl, and Buzzard - are represented in almost every Caddo traditional story. No theme song for Caddo Mounds would be complete without the sounds of the land in which the Caddo thrived for decades.

Three hundred years after the close of the mound building chapter of the Caddo Mounds story, the Spanish arrived looking for gold in the New World. The gold they were seeking was never found, but they did find land, natives to try to convert, and adversaries to fight. In the late 17th century Spanish Franciscan Friars established the first mission in the province of Texas, Mission San Francisco de los Tejas, The site of the Mission is now Mission Tejas State park about 6 miles up the road and across the Neches river from us.

Modern day Franciscan Friars in concert.

Following the Europeans, the American immigrants arrived in the Caddo homeland (then Mexican Tejas) searching for cheap land and escape from American debt. Many Texas legends journeyed the Camino Real to the land of the Tejas in their work of colonization and commerce. Moses Austin and then his son Stephen F. Austin, “the Father of Texas”, traveled the royal road in a quest to establish the first Anglo-American colony in Texas. Although Moses Austin perished before the colony was established, his son saw it grow into an independent republic. Davy Crockett (on his journey to the Alamo) and Sam Houston (first President of Anglo Texas), also traveled El Camino Real de los Tejas through the Caddo homeland.

the Actual Deguello (Slit Throat) played at the Alamo

These video clips represent just a few of the many possible disparate and sometimes dissonant threads of music that run through the rich, long, and moving history of the area known today as Caddo Mounds State Historic Site. What other sounds might help tell this epic story?

Welcome!

Since joining the team at Caddo Mounds SHS as the educator/ interpreter, I've spent time pondering the place of traditional Caddo stories in my work as liaison between the heritage represented at this site and the travelers who visit it. Within the world of parks resides a complex tapestry of stories that when told well, inspire, intrigue, and sometimes challenge our beliefs about our own history. As a park interpreter at Caddo Mounds, I have the privilege and the challenge of educating visitors about a rich history not entirely my own. Through narratives about history and culture, the local significance of this East Texas treasure is blended with the larger tales of our state and nation. Among others, this site holds the stories of the Caddo Indians who lived here, the invasion of the Spanish and French traveling down El Camino Real de los Tejas, American immigration to Mexican Texas, the Caddo people's relocation to Indian territory in Oklahoma, and the story of Texas Independence.

The magical thing about stories is that often their message transcends specific communities or cultures. Recently, I heard a museum colleague, describing the work of history museums as "bringing to life things that reside in memory." What a great job for stories!