Archaic and Poverty Point Zoomorphic Locust Beads

Zoomorphic beads of carved and polished hard stone, most often red jasper, have been found in Late Archaic, Poverty Point or unknown context across the southern states from western Louisiana and Arkansas to western Alabama. These beads have features that resemble locusts, specifically the grasshopper and the cyclical cicada. The most regularly accentuated feature is a midbody disc or projecting plate that is thought to represent the auditory organs or vibrating membranes of these insects and which participate in production of a relatively tremendous volume of sound. It is proposed that the locust bead concept, involving an element of magic, spread across the southern states in multicultural context at a time level near 1000 B.C.