River Basin Surveys Papers, No. 4: Archeological Survey of the Addicks Dam Basin, Southeast Texas

The archeological survey of the Addicks Dam Basin was initiated in March 1947 by the writer as a part of the River Basin Surveys. The initial phase of the operation involved the locating, testing, and evaluation of all sites likely to be damaged or lost through the construction of the reservoir and associated channel rectification and subsequent inundation, silting, etc. This phase culminated in the partial excavation of two sites, begun late in May and concluded on July 15, 1947. This paper constitutes a report on the survey and excavation of the Addicks Dam Basin sites. The area is poorly known historically and almost unknown archeologically. Sporadic collecting has been done by amateurs in plowed fields, stream channel exposures, as well as some minor digging into two or three known middens, but the existence of numerous small middens located along the drainage ways was unsuspected. Since this research marks the first major archeological research done in the area, the results have been presented in some detail.
The construction of a local chronology and correlation with other areas has been carried as far as the data warrants. The lack of strictly comparable published material has made such correlation difficult.