The Clay Ball Site in the Upper Neches River Basin of East Texas

The Clay Ball site is an ancestral Caddo site believed to be located in the upper Neches River basin in East Texas. The site is notable for its series of small, square vessels with Frankston phase (ca. A.D. 1400- 1650) engraved motifs, as such vessel forms have not been previously documented in studies of Frankston or later Allen phase (ca. A.D. 1650-1830) vessel assemblages. The unique ceramic vessels from the site were excavated by Buddy C. Jones, and although his main site collecting and excavation work was in the mid-Sabine River basin, he did excavate several sites in the upper Neches River basin in Anderson, Cherokee, and Smith counties. Unfortunately, Jones left no notes or records associated with the Clay Ball site that would allow us to either ascertain the contextual relationship of the various features at the site where they were excavated, nor for that matter even provide a locational description of the site