Documentation of Associated and Unassociated Caddo Funerary Objects

Documentation of Associated and Unassociated Caddo Funerary Objects by Timothy K. Pertulla, et al., presents the documentation and study of Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) funerary objects from prehistoric sites in the collections at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas. The study arose from the 2006 concern that SFA was going to lose its anthropology program and its archeological repository. This concern brought Texas archeologists together to determine what might be done to keep the programs viable and to preserve Caddo articles in SFA’s collection. The result, ultimately, was a continuing partnership between archeologists, the Caddo Nation, the university, and permanent faculty hired to maintain and study the Caddo collection. Documentation is the record of the completed NAGPRA inventories of funerary objects in the SFA collection, which were discovered at five known and recorded sites in northeastern and East Texas. The book documents and describes a number of ceramic vessels in the collection and characterizes vessel type and decoration as found at the burial sites. Among the book’s features are maps of burial mound sites and illustrations of funerary objects found there. More than 100 colored photographs of funerary objects and artifacts illustrate the text; accompanying tables and appendixes detail these items.

TIMOTHY K. PERTTULA is the Manager of Archeological & Environmental Consultants, LLC (Austin, Texas), a Cultural Resources Management firm. He has a PhD from the University of Washington (1989) and has pursued research on Caddo archaeology and ethnohistory for more than 30 years.