An evaluation of the distribution of imported lithics within the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta during the Poverty Point period

Abstract

ABSTRACT One cultural hallmark of the Poverty Point culture in the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta is the importation of lithic materials for fashioning everyday tools from sources in Arkansas, the Ohio and Tennessee River valleys, and southeastern Missouri. Previous research characterizing the distribution of imported cherts has documented a high intensity of imported chert usage at a cluster of sites near Poverty Point and at several other sites, suggesting that these sites served as centers from which imported lithics were disseminated to sites throughout the Delta. Since these studies focused on a limited number of sites in subsections of the Delta, it is difficult to gauge the importance of imported lithics basin wide. Assigning source regions to ∼57,000 chert artifacts from 81 collections from 46 Poverty Point sites, this study quantified the distribution of imported cherts throughout the Delta. The objective was to evaluate the areal extent of high-intensity usage of imported cherts, shedding light on both the density of imported cherts throughout the basin and the role of sites posited as dissemination hubs. The presence/absence of imported hematite, magnetite, quartz crystal, black chert, Tallahatta sandstone, and steatite were also noted. The analysis indicated that while the occurrence of imported cherts was widespread, sites featuring high densities of imported cherts were limited. The Poverty Point site and only a few sites located just east of Poverty Point exhibited high densities of northern gray flints. Arkansas novaculite usage was high within Arkansas but declined with distance from the Ouachita Mountain source region along the Ouachita and Arkansas River corridors. Missouri white cherts were less intensively exploited, but evidence suggests a decline with distance from the Mississippi River. While imported lithics were important at Jaketown and certain other sites in northwestern Mississippi, neighboring sites indicated low densities. Although the occurrence of imported cherts at sites throughout the Delta testifies to their widespread availability, densities typically were low except for a limited number of sites that may have served as economically or spiritually important aggregation centers.