Archaeology at Doaksville

Archaeology at Doaksville. . , Despite the importance of Doaksville prior to the Civil War, there is very little information about what the town looked like at that time. In order to have a better understanding of the town, archaeologists excavated the remains of a mercantile store, the jail, a community well, the hotel, a food tavern, and two dwellings. These buildings were in existence during the town's heyday from the 1840s through the 1860s. There is evidence that the hotel was used until late in the 19th Century. , Excavations of the jail show that its two-foot-thick outer walls were constructed of massive limestone blocks. The interior was divided into three cells, each measuring three feet wide by six feet deep. , Evidence for other buildings consists mainly of the foundations of limestone chimneys that were probably once attached to log buildings. Foundations for these log buildings were probably simple piers made of stacked limestone slabs. , Artifacts found during the excavations show an active community from the 1840s through the 1860s, with little evidence of use of the town after about 1870. The exception is the hotel, which shows occupation until about 1900. Despite the town's location on the western frontier artifacts reveal that residents of Doaksville had access to a wide range of goods manufactured in the northeastern United States and Europe. The ruins of a mercantile, that burned about 1850, contained the charred remains of merchandise that included the latest styles of English ceramics. Marks on some vessels show that they were imported by New Orleans distributors prior to their shipment to the Choctaw Nation. , The excavations revealed that traditional Choctaw pottery, found in quantity on most rural farmsteads, was not used in urban Doaksville. This suggests a difference in lifestyle between urban and rural Choctaw cultures that also is supported by oral history accounts recorded in the 1930s. , Captions , Reconstructed bowls recovered near the jail. These bowls were among many that were apparently broken in shipment and discarded. All of the bowls were unused. , English pottery shard, marked "Henderson and Gaines, Importers, New Orleans."