1 PALEOINDIAN/EARLY ARCHAIC PERIOD1 Samuel O. McGahey2 Introduction Over the past few years, a serious effort has been made to draw together all available early lithic data from Mississippi in order to form the basis for "historical contexts" for the state preservation plan. The archaeological contexts are defined by geographical and chronological dimensions. The chronological dimensions are those that are generally accepted by the archaeological community. Since, in the view of the writer, Paleoindian and Early Archaic are a continuum and the end of this continuum is recognized abruptly with the onset of the Middle Archaic, it has been decided to treat them as a unit. This unit is somewhat arbitrarily divided into five subperiods for the study of broad general trends in artifact if not people distribution. The geographical dimensions are the ten physiographic regions generally recognized by the natural scientists who study plant and animal communities. They are: the Yazoo Basin, the Loess Hills, the North Central Hills, the Flatwoods, the Pontotoc Ridge, the Black Prairies, the Tombigbee Hills, the Jackson Prairie, the Longleaf Pine Belt, and the Coastal Pine Meadows (fig. 1). While the ideal is to discuss the contexts as a physiographic region within a given archaeological period, it has not been possible to attain this goal because of a lack of data in certain areas and the ten physiographic regions have been consolidated into four for the present. Nevertheless enough data has been accumulated that certain regional differences are obvious, and this is the primary reason for this paper. The data is presented below in the form of histograms representing the five subperiods (fig. 2). The periods are defined based on projectile point morphology/typology as follows: Period one - fluted points, including Clovis, Cumberland, and Redstone; Period two - unfluted, but supposedly pre-Dalton forms including Quad, Beaver Lake, Coldwater, Hinds, and Arkabutla; Period three - Dalton including Lanceolate and 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 In that this project has been ongoing for over 5 years, they are also somewhat out of date.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. 2A form of this paper has been published under the title “Paleoindian and Early Archaic Data from Mississippi” pp. 354-384, in the 1996 book The Paleoindian and Early Archaic Southeast, edited by D.G. Anderson and K.S. Sassaman, University of Alabama Press. 1 2 Hardaway-like and San Patrice-like forms, some of which are side- notched; Period four - side notched forms such as Big Sandy I, Cache River and Greenbrier; Period five includes corner notched and certain corner removed forms, which like the points of preceding periods, are basally ground. Period five includes Jude, Decatur, Pine Tree, Lost Lake, Hardin, Plevna, Stilwell, and unnamed variants and similar forms (figs. 3 through 6 illustrate typical diagnostic specimens from the four regions). The counts in individual columns of the histograms represent numbers of recorded projectile points. There are other diagnostics within the state that represent all or parts of the Paleoindian - Early Archaic period. For various reasons they are not included in this scheme. Scottsbluff and Bifurcate tradition points, for instance, are so poorly represented as to be insignificant for statistical purposes and represent traditions that are basically foreign to the state. Unifaces are generally indicative of an early lithic time level but cannot with any degree of certainty be divided into this chronological scheme. The "Dalton Adze" may very well not be restricted to the Dalton period in Mississippi and notched unifaces such as the Waller knife and Edgefield scraper have not been tied down specifically enough to be included as chronological indicators within the scheme of the subperiods presented here (see Lauro 1982 and Geiger and Brown 1983). Several examples are illustrated in fig. 7 for those interested in regional comparison, however. The counts represent data accumulated over a period of ca. 25 years as private collections were encountered during fieldwork in various parts of the state, or as they were brought in by curious owners. As many Paleo - Early Archaic specimens were recorded in as much detail as was possible. As this part of the collections was usually a very minor part, it was possible to record all specimens in most cases, the usual techniques being careful outline drawings usually with a flake scar pattern and notes as to materials, heat treating, grinding, other pertinent physical characteristics, and the provenience as precisely as could be determined. Other specimens were added to the counts by systematically reviewing the literature for the region. Discussion The four regions are discussed below. Assessments are made of what is known for each in terms of chronology and settlement and subsistence patterns. In the concluding sections, "Issues of Relevance for Further Research" recommendations are made concerning priorities for additional work. Yazoo Basin Much of the modern era archaeology has been conducted under the assumption that there were no early cultural remains to be found in the 3 Yazoo Basin, or the rest of the lower Mississippi alluvial valley (Phillips, Ford and Griffin 1951:295-296). It was assumed that river action had either eroded away such material or that it was covered with many feet of overburden. Brain (1970:104-106) presented the evidence that corrected this assumption. His artifactual evidence is predominantly of the Late Paleo-Indian Period. The geological evidence as presented by Saucier (1971) delineates those portions of the region likely to produce Paleo- Indian and Early Archaic remains. The Yazoo Basin has two braided stream surfaces that are Pleistocene remnants (fig. 8). It is within those areas that the discovery of essentially undisturbed Paleo-Indian - Early Archaic deposits is to be anticipated. The artifacts of that period found outside the braided stream areas are few and are probably there because of prehistoric collecting by individuals who crossed the braided stream areas and returned with the artifacts to one of the more recent meander belts of the region. The forces of nature in the form of river meander belt formation have neatly divided these study units in two with an eastern remnant hugging the valley escarpment between the approximate latitudes of Sledge and a point about ten miles south of Greenwood and a western remnant that actually consists of four adjacent remnants separated by more recent deposits. The western remnant includes parts of Washington, Bolivar, and Sunflower counties, while the eastern remnant extends into parts of Panola, Quitman, Leflore, Carroll, Grenada, and Tallahatchie counties. Paleo-Indian components are confirmed at nine sites on the western remnant surface and at nine on the eastern surface. Since no concerted efforts have been made to find sites of this age in the Yazoo Basin and especially on the eastern remnant surface, it is assumed many more actually exist. Paleo-Indian is defined in various ways, depending on the point of view of the particular scholar. Jeffrey Brain's (1971) scheme that divides the period into four eras and includes most if not all of what had previously been termed Early Archaic is a logical approach when the evidence at hand, namely the lithic technology, is considered. There is a definite continuum of development in flaked stone technology through the Early Archaic with typological separation of bifaces being a near impossibility in many cases. Most of the unifaces in use in the Paleo- Indian period could also be lost in Early Archaic (notched biface complexes). Just as there is continuity between Paleo-Indian and Early Archaic, there is a definite break in the continuum between Early Archaic and Middle Archaic with quality flaked stone technology taking a definite turn for the worse at the beginning of the Middle Archaic. While we agree with Brain on the essential unity of the early lithic remains of the area, the purposes of this project are better served over all for the division between Paleo-Indian and Early Archaic to be made with Dalton, which is considered here to be terminal Paleo-Indian. Other than Brain's 4 1970 article, the only effort directed to understanding this period is the braided stream surface survey of Connaway (1988:43-69). Currently, the recorded data for both braided stream surfaces consists of 18 sites and 89 diagnostic artifacts for the Paleo-Indian period and 159 diagnostics and 19 sites for the Early Archaic period. A few other items such as steeply chipped unifaces and smooth sided adzes could belong with either period. Unfortunately most of the material cannot be precisely provenienced. While precise proveniences are a problem, most of the material can be attributed to one or the other braided surfaces. The fact that such a separation can be made provides an interesting opportunity for comparison. There appear to be major differences in the distribution of diagnostic artifacts between the two surfaces. (Although with the small number of sites involved, this could be the result of sample error.) From a list of diagnostic points numbering sixteen types of the Paleo-Indian and Early Archaic periods, only seven occur on both surfaces (fig. 9) and closer comparison is even more interesting. To set the stage for comparison, it should be stated that we subscribe to the theory that there was basically one projectile point type at any one time in the earlier end of the time spectrum in the southeast.