Beschreibung:
<jats:p>The D'Ortolan site (41NA299) is a late 1790s to 1830s ranch established by Bernard D'Ortolan on Bayou Loco, a tributary to the Angelina River, in Nacogdoches County, Texas. The ranch was known as Rancho San Bemando del Loco. Tom Middlebrook, Texas Archeological Steward, located and identified the rancho in 2003.
During the course of archaeological investigations conducted at the site over the next few years, a small sample of aboriginal Caddo ceramic sherds were found on the rancho in contexts indicating that Caddo ceramic vessels were in use during the rancho occupation. These vessels had to have been obtained by the D' Ortolan ranch through purchase or trade from one of the Caddo groups living in the Angelina River valley after the 1790s. The sherds from the D'Ortolan site, along with those from 2007 excavations by Tom Middlebrook in the Plaza Principal in Nacogdoches, must represent some of the latest aboriginal Caddo ceramic wares currently known in East Texas.</jats:p>