The Extent and Content of Poverty Point Culture

1968 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 297-321 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clarence H. Webb
Keyword(s):  
Gulf Coast ◽  
Mississippi Valley ◽  
Late Archaic ◽  
Mound Construction ◽  
Type Site ◽  
Cultural Content ◽  
Poverty Point ◽  
Cultural Developments

AbstractLate Archaic developments along the Gulf Coast and up the Mississippi Valley, after 2000 B.C., contributed a substantial base for the Poverty Point culture. New coastal and inland discoveries bring the total number of Poverty Point sites to 34, with many additional possibilities.A study of 70,000 artifacts from the type-site is reported; the known cultural content is increased by numerous new traits. The thesis is advanced that Formative elements of Mesoamerican origin, including ceremonial organization, massive mound construction, village planning, ceramics, figurines, advanced lapidary industry, and probable agriculture, enriched the basic Archaic culture and contributed to subsequent cultural developments in the valley.

The Archaic of the Lower Mississippi Valley

1961 ◽  
Vol 26 (3Part1) ◽  
pp. 317-323 ◽  
Author(s):  
William G. Haag
Keyword(s):  
Mississippi River ◽  
Gulf Coast ◽  
General Pattern ◽  
Ohio River ◽  
Mississippi Valley ◽  
Eastern United States ◽  
Alluvial Valley ◽  
Lower Mississippi Valley ◽  
General Acceptance ◽  
Poverty Point

AbstractNo archaeological remains which the majority of specialists will accept as Archaic have been found in the Mississippi Valley from the mouth of Ohio River to the Gulf of Mexico. Despite this, the literature reflects a general acceptance of the belief that the Archaic stage is well represented in the Lower Valley. The presence of concentrated Archaic populations in northern Alabama and western Tennessee and Kentucky has given comparative support to these expectations and has provided part of the source for some of the hypothetical statements in the literature of what the Lower Valley Archaic ought to be like. Although the failure of writers to agree on a definition of Archaic which will satisfy the evidence in all of the areas of Eastern United States has contributed to the problem of identifying Archaic materials in the Lower Valley, the lack of these remains can best be explained by the geology of the region. The cutting and filling of the Alluvial Valley during the Pleistocene changes in sea level have removed or buried all of the surfaces that might have been occupied by Archaic peoples. The surface of the Alluvial Valley is everywhere less than 5000 years old. Possible Late Archaic sites are located on old stable beach ridges or near enough to the Pleistocene terraces not to have been included in the general pattern of Recent coastal subsidence. It is concluded that Archaic or earlier materials are absent in the Lower Alluvial Valley of the Mississippi River. Neither Tchefuncte nor Copell are accepted as Archaic; Poverty Point is viewed as transitional from an Upper Archaic tradition to some phase of the Formative stage. Poverty Point materials may not be expected to be found in quantity along the Gulf Coast of the Mississippi Delta region.

SITUATING THE CLAIBORNE SOAPSTONE VESSEL CACHE IN THE HISTORY OF POVERTY POINT

2017 ◽  
Vol 82 (4) ◽  
pp. 781-797 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth E. Sassaman ◽  
Samuel O. Brookes
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Change ◽  
Gulf Coast ◽  
The State ◽  
Southern Appalachians ◽  
Mississippi Valley ◽  
Lower Mississippi Valley ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
History Of ◽  
And Function ◽  
Poverty Point

A cache of 12 soapstone vessels from the Claiborne site in Mississippi was recently repatriated to the state after being excavated in 1968 and removed to Ohio. As a locus of Poverty Point affiliation, Claiborne was positioned along a Gulf Coast route for the influx of soapstone into the lower Mississippi valley from quarries in the southern Appalachians, hundreds of kilometers to the east. Although residents of Claiborne were likely to have been active traders during the heyday of Poverty Point exchange, ca. 3600–3400 cal BP, new AMS assays on carbon deposits from seven of the soapstone vessels show that the cache was emplaced ~200 years later, during or shortly before the abandonment of Poverty Point. Reported here are the results of AMS assays, observations on vessel form and function, and preliminary inferences about the significance of the cache in the context of environmental and cultural change after 3200 cal BP.

scholarly journals The Pine Saddle site (3PL1080) in the Ouachita Mountains, Polk County, Arkansas

2005 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy K. Perttula ◽  
Bo Nelson
Keyword(s):  
Mississippi Valley ◽  
Late Archaic ◽  
The South ◽  
Ouachita Mountains ◽  
Tool Manufacture ◽  
Lower Mississippi Valley ◽  
Indian Populations ◽  
East And West ◽  
Local Materials ◽  
Poverty Point

Novaculite was procured and knapped by aboriginal Indian populations living in southwestern Arkansas for thousands of years, and there are numerous prehistoric novaculite quarries in the Ouachita Mountains. In Late Archaic times. this desirable material was widely traded and exchanged with other groups to the south, east, and west, particularly with the peoples living at the Poverty Point site and environs in the lower Mississippi valley in northern Louisiana. Later groups such as the Caddo also made considerable use of this material, since it was in their traditional homelands, and many habitation sites and mound centers in the region contain quantities of novaculite lithic debris and tools. Other local materials were also chosen for lithic tool manufacture, such as Big Fork chert, a distinctive black chert. Abundant amounts of novaculite and Big Fork chert are also found apparently in nondomestic Caddo contexts on lithic workshops and camp sites in the Ouachita Mountains, and one such site is discussed in this article.

Microblades at Poverty Point Sites

1953 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 245-248 ◽  
Author(s):  
William G. Haag ◽  
Clarence H. Webb
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
The Past ◽  
Type Site ◽  
Cultural Content ◽  
Poverty Point

Until the past few years the Poverty Point horizon was known solely through its manifestation at the type site, Poverty Point Plantation, on Bayou Macon, West Carroll Parish, Louisiana. Webb (1944), in connection with the description of a cache of stone vessel fragments found near the large Poverty Point mound, pointed out the apparent cultural content of the site, which had previously been mentioned in archaeological literature by Moore (1913), Fowke (1928) and Ford (1936). In 1948, in a description of nonpottery cultures in the state, a further attempt was made (Webb, 1948) to clarify the Poverty Point cultural period as expressed at this site.

Fire and Ice: New Evidence for the Production and Preservation of Late Archaic Fiber-Tempered Pottery in the Middle-Latitude Lowlands

1984 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth C. Reid
Keyword(s):  
Middle Latitude ◽  
Eastern North America ◽  
Late Archaic ◽  
Temperate Latitude ◽  
Far North ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Latitude Distribution ◽  
Type Site ◽  
New Evidence

Fiber-tempered potsherds recovered from three sites of the Nebo Hill phase in western Missouri and eastern Kansas date to between 4550 and 3550 radiocarbon years (2600–1600 B.C.) and represent the earliest dated vessels in the midwest. The occurence of fiber-tempered pottery at this time period and this far north and west of the traditionally-defined southeastern hearth for such wares requires a major reappraisal of the assumed distribution and antiquity of Late Archaic ceramics in eastern North America. This report describes the ceramic sherds from the Nebo Hill type site in terms of their method of manufacture and probable use, and identifies factors influencing their survival and preservation in the middle-latitude lowlands. It is proposed that the temperate latitude distribution pattern of shallowly-buried, fiber-tempered potsherds is shaped primarily by the variables of time, ambient moisture and temperature, and ware porosity, and is not necessarily isomorphic with the prehistoric distribution of fiber-tempered vessels.

Logs and Stones: Early St. Louis Buildings

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carl J. Ekberg ◽  
Sharon K. Person
Keyword(s):  
Gulf Coast ◽  
The United States ◽  
Mississippi Valley ◽  
French Canada ◽  
History Museum ◽  
Founding Fathers ◽  
Illinois Country ◽  
Country Houses ◽  
Materials Used ◽  
Comprehensive Study

This chapter examines the role played by woodcutters, carpenters, cabinetmakers, and stonemasons in St. Louis during its earliest years, 1766–1770. Charles E. Peterson, one of the founding fathers of preservation architecture in the United States, wrote three seminal pieces about colonial architecture in the middle Mississippi Valley. Since Peterson, however, there has been no comprehensive study on Illinois Country architecture. Drawing largely on extant manuscripts in the archives of the Missouri History Museum, this chapter compares St. Louis's early buildings with those in other Illinois Country communities (Kaskaskia and Ste. Genevieve), those on the Gulf Coast, and those in French Canada. It also looks at a number of prominent woodworkers in early St. Louis, including Jacques Denis and Pierre Lupien dit Baron. Finally, it considers some of the features of Illinois Country houses and the materials used in their construction, primarily timber.

Maritime Ritual Economies of Cosmic Synchronicity: Summer Solstice Events at a Civic-Ceremonial Center on the Northern Gulf Coast of Florida

2019 ◽  
Vol 85 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth E. Sassaman ◽  
Meggan E. Blessing ◽  
Joshua M. Goodwin ◽  
Jessica A. Jenkins ◽  
Ginessa J. Mahar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Gulf Coast ◽  
Chaco Canyon ◽  
Summer Solstice ◽  
Routine Production ◽  
Fish Trap ◽  
History Of ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
Northern Gulf Coast ◽  
Poverty Point

Places such as Poverty Point, Mound City, and Chaco Canyon remind us that the siting of ritual infrastructure in ancient North America was a matter of cosmological precedent. The cosmic gravity of these places gathered persons periodically in numbers that challenged routine production. Ritual economies intensified, but beyond the material demands of hosting people, the siting of these places and the timing of gatherings were cosmic work that preconfigured these outcomes. A first millennium AD civic-ceremonial center on the northern Gulf Coast of Florida illustrates the rationale for holding feasts on the end of a parabolic dune that it shared with an existing mortuary facility. Archaeofauna from large pits at Shell Mound support the inference that feasts were timed to summer solstices. Gatherings were large, judging from the infrastructure in support of feasts and efforts to intensify production through oyster mariculture and the construction of a large tidal fish trap. The 250-year history of summer solstice feasts at Shell Mound reinforces the premise that ritual economies were not simply the amplification of routine production. It also suggests that the ecological potential for intensification was secondary to the cosmic significance of solstice-oriented dunes and their connection to mortuary and world-renewal ceremonialism.

scholarly journals Sources, trends and regional impacts of fine particulate matter in southern Mississippi Valley: significance of emissions from sources in the Gulf of Mexico coast

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 827-862 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.-C. Chalbot ◽  
B. McElroy ◽  
I. G. Kavouras
Keyword(s):  
Gulf Of Mexico ◽  
Biomass Burning ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Fine Particles ◽  
Gulf Coast ◽  
Fine Particulate Matter ◽  
Receptor Site ◽  
Road Dust ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
Mississippi Valley

Abstract. The sources of fine particles over a 10 yr period at Little Rock, Arkansas, an urban area in southern Mississippi Valley, were identified by positive matrix factorization. The annual trends of PM2.5 and its sources and their associations with the pathways of air mass backward trajectories were examined. Seven sources were apportioned, namely, primary traffic particles, secondary nitrate and sulphate, biomass burning, diesel particles, aged/contaminated sea salt and mineral/road dust, accounting for more than 90% of measured PM2.5 mass. The declining trend of PM2.5 mass (0.4 μg m−3 yr−1) was related to lower levels of SO42− (0.2 μg m−3 yr−1) due to SO2 reductions from point and mobile sources. The slower decline for NO3− particles (0.1 μg m−3 yr−1) was attributed to the spatial variability of NH3 in Midwest. The annual variation of biomass burning particles was associated with wildland fires in southeast and northwest US that are sensitive to climate changes. The four regions within 500 km from the receptor site, the Gulf Coast and southeast US accounted cumulatively for more than 65% of PM2.5 mass, nitrate, sulphate and biomass burning aerosol. Overall, more than 50% of PM2.5 and its sources originated from sources outside the state. Sources within the Gulf Coast and western Gulf of Mexico include 65% of the busiest ports in the US, intense marine traffic within 400 km of the coast burning rich in S diesel, and a large number of offshore oil and natural gas platforms and many refineries along the coast. This approach allowed for quantitatively assessing the impacts of transport from regions representing diverse mixtures of sources and weather conditions for different types of particles. The findings of this effort demonstrated the influences of emission controls on SO2 and NOx on PM2.5 mass, the potential effect of events (i.e. fires) sensitive to climate change phenomena on air pollution and the potential of offshore activities and shipping emissions to influence air quality in urban areas located more than 1000 km away from the sources.

Additional notes on the Poverty Point Site in Northern Louisiana

1954 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 282-285 ◽  
Author(s):  
James A. Ford
Keyword(s):  
Mississippi River ◽  
Mississippi Valley ◽  
American Antiquity ◽  
Lower Mississippi Valley ◽  
Cultural Complex ◽  
Extensive Surface ◽  
Made In ◽  
Poverty Point

The two large mounds at the Poverty Point and Motley sites in West Carrol Parish, Louisiana, were first adequately described by C. B. Moore (1913, Fig. 29), and for a long while these structures and the cultural remains scattered about them remained one of the principal puzzles in the archaeology of the lower Mississippi Valley. Clarence Webb has made extensive surface collections from this locality for a number of years and his three articles inAmerican Antiquity, the last written with Haag, form the bulk of the information which we have on the culture (Webb, 1944, 1948; Haag and Webb, 1953). The purpose of the present brief note is to report some newly discovered facets of the Poverty Point cultural complex.The writer was able to work a few weeks at the site in the spring of 1952 and again in 1953. However, the most remarkable discovery was not made in the field but in the Cartographic Laboratory of the Mississippi River Commission in Vicksburg.

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