The State Plan

4 POST-ARCHAIC PERIOD1 DAVID MORGAN Yazoo Basin Locally known as the "Delta," the Yazoo Basin represents a vast expanse of westcentral and northwest portion of the state. This lenticular feature is bordered to the east by the steeply rising Loess Hills and to the west by the Mississippi River proper. At its widest point, it is 60 miles in width. Longitudinally the Yazoo Basin extends from the point at which the river and bluffs diverge at Memphis, Tennessee (just north of the Mississippi-Tennessee border) southward some 200 miles to Vicksburg, Mississippi, at which point the Yazoo and Mississippi Rivers converge and the Mississippi again abuts the eastern bluffs. Ten counties and portions of nine others covering approximately 7,000 square miles are encompassed by this physiographic feature. Topographically the Yazoo Basin is a relatively flat feature with minimal vertical relief provided by the ridges, swales, natural levees, and backswamps which attest to the meanderings of the Mississippi River and its associated watercourses through the area (see Fisk 1944, Saucier 1968, 1974, 1981, Phillips, Ford, and Griffin 1951, Williams and Brain 1983, and Kelly 1973). In pre-modern times the Yazoo Basin was densely forested with oak, gum, and cypress. However, the desirability of the rich alluvially deposited soils of the region for agricultural activities has precipitated the removal of the vast majority of associated with the lowland forest environment have been destroyed or greatly compromised. Archaeological Background The Yazoo Basin was intensively and extensively occupied during the majority of the prehistoric era. The abundant floral and faunal communities rendered it particularly desirable to early foraging groups. Similarly the fertile soils which are presently home to the most extensive farming activities in the state were likewise attractive to later prehistoric horticultural and agricultural populations. 1Cautionary Note: Numbers presented in the text and tables should be viewed with appropriate caution. Site counts, component counts, etc., are approximations at best. Numerical values are included only for the purpose of illustrating general trends. In that this project has been ongoing for over 5 years, they are also somewhat out of date. An accurate reporting will be produced from the recently computerized data base which is currently being reviewed and updated. Hopefully, a more workable inventory will be accessible in the near future. To be included within the Comprehensive State Planning document for the State of Mississippi and submitted to the National Park Service. Not for Citation. 81 82 While the Yazoo Basin was certainly the most heavily occupied area of the state during prehistoric times, it is also the area which has been the most closely scrutinized archaeologically. Early investigation were primarily focused upon the numerous mound sites where burials frequently produced whole ceramic vessels and other museum quality artifacts (see Moore 1908, 1911, 1916, Brown 1926 and Ford 1936). A large amount of information was amassed as a result of The Lower Mississippi Valley Survey, a combined effort of the Peabody Museum (Harvard University), Louisiana State University, the University of Michigan, and American Museum of Natural History of the 1940's and 1950's (see Phillips, Ford, and Griffin 1951). Two decades later specific investigations within the southern portion of the Yazoo Basin were detailed by Philip Phillips in his monumental work: Archaeological Survey in the Lower Yazoo Basin Mississippi: 1949-1955. This volume, published in 1970, continues to serve as the cornerstone for cultural chronology, phase definition, and ceramic typology for the entire Lower Mississippi Valley as well as several adjoining areas. The following sections will discuss the post-Archaic prehistoric cultural sequence for the Yazoo Basin. A heavy reliance will be placed upon Phillips' (1970), Williams' and Brain (1983), and Brain's (1988) observations in the endeavor. All of the major archaeological contributions for this area and many less voluminous ones have also been incorporated into this summation. Early Woodland (Gulf Formational Stage) Traditionally, the first ceramic bearing sites in the Yazoo Basin have been attributed to an Early Woodland Period as is evidenced by the archaeological literature prior to the mid 1970's. This practice was discontinued, however, following the publication of a paper by Walthall and Jenkins in 1976 in which the Gulf Formational concept was formalized. Their argument, that the early ceramic manifestations below the Fall Line Hills along the Gulf Coastal Plain are distinctive and of separate genesis that those of the Woodland tradition to the north, has since become a mainstay in Southeastern archaeology. In this scenario (see also Jenkins et al 1986), ceramics first appeared along the Atlantic seaboard of South Carolina, Georgia, and north Florida during the Early Gulf Formational (ca. 2500 B.C.) By the Middle Gulf Formational (ca. 1200 B.C.) variations of these early ceramics began to appear in the western portion of the Coastal Plain including the Yazoo Basin. Interregional trade is characteristic of this period and it is at this time that the grate Poverty Point site rises to a position of dominance in this far-flung network of exchange and interaction. Phillips' (1970) Jaketown phase is the Yazoo Basin representative. Subsequent to the demise of Poverty Point and its affiliates, during the Late Gulf Formational (ca. 600 83 B.C.) several less grandiose cultural manifestations take root. In the Yazoo Basin this period is synonymous with the Tchefuncte culture. Poverty Point (Middle Gulf Formational Stage) The Middle Gulf Formational stage as expressed in the Poverty Point culture represents the initial post-archaic development within the lower Mississippi River Valley. Its success was predicated upon a previously operating and highly successful hunting and gathering strategy in the region. An elaboration of this system, indicated by the construction of monumental earthworks, pan-regional trade in (or direct acquisition of) exotic materials, and the production of non-utilitarian items, was achieved through the directed utilization of those surpluses generated by this preceding Late Archaic regime. According to Williams and Brain (1983:389) "Redistribution is the key to our concept of the Jaketown- Poverty Point phases." and as such it can also be considered the key to Poverty Point culture as a whole. Nowhere are the achievements of this culture as exalted as at the Poverty Point site (16-WC-5) itself. In fact the magnitude of this (Louisiana) site in terms of number and size of earthworks, overall site size, and quantity and variety of exotic materials present place it in a unique and apparently dominating position among those occupations attributed to this culture. The amount of space taken up in the literature in dealing with this site (cf. Ford and Webb 1956, Ford, Phillips, and Haag, 1955; Gibson 1973, 1980, and 1984, Webb 1948 and 1977, and Phillips 1970 among others) as compared to other Poverty Point sites is indicative of the impressiveness of the Poverty Point site itself. The artifactual assemblage identified at this site (varying portions of which are also present at other sites attributed to this culture) includes a blade-core lithic technology producing microlithic stone tools, baked clay balls of various forms (including cylindrical grooved, biconical plain, biconical grooved, cross grooved, melon-shaped, and melon shaped with end grooves), clay human figurines, plain and zoomorphic stone beads (many made of red jasper), magnetite and hematite plummets and steatite bowls. Exotic raw materials include galena, novaculite, quartz, quartzite, and copper derived from widely dispersed source areas such as Arkansas, southeast Missouri, the upper Mississippi and Ohio River Basins, the Tennessee River, and the Great Lakes region. Within the lithic assemblage are stemmed, corner-notched, and side- notched projectile points (many produced from extra-regional charts). Distinctive projectile point types include Motley Corner Notched, vars. Motley and Delhi; Epps Side Notched, var. Epps, Pontchartrain Stemmed var. Pontchartrain, and Gary Stemmed var. Gary. While the question of the contribution of ceramic vessels to the cultural assemblage of the Poverty Point culture remains unresolved, their presence has been documented (Gibson 1984:37, 45). Jenkins et al 84 (1986:548) place the appearance of fiber tempered ceramics in the western portion of the Gulf Coastal Plain at ca. 1200 B.C. and refer to sites of this general age Middle Gulf Formational stage. Along with the Poverty Point site, Jaketown (22-Hu-505) and Teoc Creek (22-Cr-504) are specifically noted. The temporal positioning of the Poverty Point culture is based upon an unusually large (yet still inadequate) number of radiocarbon and thermoluminescence dates (see Gibson 1973, Weber and Webb 1970 and Huxtable et al. 1972). Although some uncertainty persists concerning specific beginning and ending points, this culture is generally considered to span the period from ca. 1500-600 B.C. (Gibson 1974:11, Johnson 1980:260, and Lehmann 1982:11). Walthall and Jenkins (1976) place the beginnings of the Gulf Formational stage at the Poverty Point site and elsewhere at 1200 B.C. Based upon evidence from the Poverty Point area of northeast Louisiana (the area of the proposed Poverty Point Interaction Basin), Gibson (1973) has outlined a developmental

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