Doctoral Dissertation: Caddo Salt Production in Northwestern Louisiana

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A central goal of NSF funded archaeology is to understand how complex societies - which include almost all extant in the world today - developed. Archaeologists believe that economic specialization and associated trade in products thus produced played an important role and this project will provide insight into this issue. It will do so in a context also relevant to increasing understanding of US history and the immediately preceding late prehistoric period.Under the direction of Dr. Ian Brown, Paul Eubanks will explore the role that salt played in the economic and political development of Caddo Indian societies in northwestern Louisiana during the period of initial European contact. Using historical documentation and archaeological data, he examines the issues of economic specialization and salt production intensity at the Upper and Little salt licks. Located at the Drake's Salt Works Site Complex near Goldonna, Louisiana, these salt licks were two of the most intensively-utilized salines in the south-central United States during the eighteenth century. The excavations proposed in this project seek to determine if the Caddo salt makers lived at their place of work on a permanent or semi-permanent basis. If this is the case, then this would lend support to the argument that following sustained European contact, the Caddo salt makers, as economic specialists, were able to derive a substantial portion of their livelihoods by participating in the economy of salt.Eubanks's dissertation addresses key anthropological issues concerning the linkages between economic specialization and potential sources of power such as control over the production, trade, and consumption of salt. In addressing these issues, his project will be the first to conduct a systematic study of Caddo salt production in northwestern Louisiana. His dissertation will also report on his excavations of a North American "Briquetage Mound." This mound is an artificial rise on the Little Lick salt flat composed almost entirely of salt production debris (burned earth, pottery fragments, and charcoal). It was identified by Eubanks during the site's first professional archaeological survey in the fall of 2012. Mounds such as these have been documented elsewhere in Africa, Asia, Europe and Mesoamerica, and thus, the investigations at this mound present an excellent opportunity to compare Caddo salt production techniques to those from other societies from around the world. This research has the potential to benefit and inform both academic and non-academic communities alike. Eubanks has already taken the initial steps in clearing the way for the construction of the Drake's Salt Works Museum by conducting archaeological tests in the proposed construction area near the Upper Lick salt flat. The construction of this museum is currently underway, and the data gathered from this project will be used to create an exhibit on Caddo salt production. Eubanks has also conducted several interviews with local newspapers and news broadcasters concerning the role of salt in Caddo Indian societies. The results of this project will also be made available in the form of peer-reviewed journal articles and at national and local archaeological conferences. In addition, free access to the primary data and a final copy of his dissertation will be made available online for public use. Lastly, this research will also assist in training undergraduate and graduate students in archaeological field and laboratory methods.