Tony's Mississippi Archaeology Blog

2009 Mississippi Archaeology Expo in Jackson, MS

2009-10-07T18:14:00.010-05:00

Mississippi Archaeology Expo

The second annual Mississippi Archaeology Expo will be held Saturday, October 17, at Millsaps College Bowl in Jackson. The fun will begin at 10 a.m. and will go on until 4 p.m.. The Expo is free to the public and everyone is invited. There will be fun for the whole family. Last year's event was a big hit!

Over 20 archaeologist from around Mississippi will be there to demonstrate and help us understand our state's archaeological heritage. You are invited to bring your Indian artificats for identification by an expert. You can learn how to register your sites with the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.

Members of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians will be there to demonstrate basket weaving, drum making, beadwork and the game of stick ball. Come and see flint knapping and primative tool making demonstrations by experts in the field.

There will be artifact displays from Native American sites around Mississippi. The University of Mississippi archaeologist Bryan Haley from the PBS TV archaeology series "Time Team America" will be there to answer your questions. For more information about the event visit this Mississippi Archaeological Association page. The Expo will be held on Saturday rain or shine.

The Carson Mound Complex in Mississippi - MAA Summer Dig 2009

2009-07-15T14:59:00.027-05:00

MAA 2009 Summer Dig at the Carson Mound Complex near Clarksdale, Mississippi

I had the good fortune recently to participate in one of the Mississippi Archaeological Association's (MAA) summer digs. This one was at the Carson Mound Complex near Clarksdale, Mississippi. I left early Saturday morning and headed north towards the Mississippi Delta and the "Home of the Blues".

The picture above is one of the mounds in the complex. This site originally consisted of over 80 mounds which were built by Native Americans between 1000 and 1500 A.D. This makes this one of the largest ceremonial centers that existed in the Mississippi Valley. Archaeologist have classified this time in Native American history as the Mississippian Period. It was characterized by mound building, agriculture and a complex social structure. During the last 100 years farming has destroyed most of the mounds. Carson Mounds was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. Most of the remaining mounds on the site are now owned by the Archaeological Conservancy.

When I arrived at the site I was met by archaeologist John Connaway and Dr. Jay Johnson. John is an archaeologist with the Mississippi Department of Archives and History and Dr. Johnson is the director of the Center for Archaeological Research at the University of Mississippi. I had met both on previous digs in the state.

In the picture above Dr. Johnson is on the right, John Connaway is in the center and bio-archaeologist Jenna James is seated. Jenna is a graduate student at the University of Mississippi. Bryan Haley was also at the dig. He is a research associate and coordinator of remote sensing application at Ole Miss. Bryan is also a member of the new PBS series "Time Team America".

The top left photograph above shows John talking with Christian Roesler and Katie King, from Memphis, about this important archaeological site. The colored flags were placed by John in the center of old post forms and other structures. Wooden posts were used in building houses and other structures by the Native Americans who lived at the site. In the bottom left photo John is excavating a trash pit that contained a variety of artifacts and deer bones. The picture at the right shows Dr. Johnson and Christian screening material from this pit.

Above left are examples of the shell tempered pottery found at this site. The shard in the lower center picture has line decorations. The picture on the right shows two pieces of the types of stone used to make tools by the early inhabitants.

I spent most of the day at the site in an excavation pit with Jenna, Bryan and Katie and enjoyed every minute of it. The results of these archaeological excavations will be published sometime in the future. I would like to thank archaeologist John Connaway and Dr. Jay Johnson for allowing me to participate in this very important archaeological dig.

Mississippi Archaeology Expo in Jackson

2008-09-27T17:40:00.010-05:00

Native American Pottery from Mississippi

Mississippi Archaeology Expo

The first ever Mississippi Archaeology Expo will be held at Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississsippi, on Saturday October 18, 2008. It will be held from 10 AM to 4 PM rain or shine. This will be a hands-on family fair that is a part of Archaeology Month in Mississippi. There will be many professional archaeologist there who will give demonstrations and answer your questions. They can also identify any artifacts you bring.

Special guests will be members of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians who will dance and give basket weaving and beadworking demonstrations.

Come and have a great day of fun at the Mississippi Archaeology Expo. It is free to the public and will be located at the Millsaps College Bowl. Just look for the signs.

Archaeologist at a dig site in Mississippi

The Parchman Site Dig - Summer 2003 in the Mississippi Delta - Revisited

2007-09-08T12:40:00.000-05:00

The Parchman Mound Site Summer Dig in 2003 - Revisited

In the summer of 2003 the Mississippi Archaeological Association (MAA) took part in an archaeological dig at the Parchman Mound Site in the Mississippi Delta. It is a Mississippian Period multiple mound site with a large 10 meter tall oval earthen mound at it's center. This archaeological period lasted from about 1000 years ago until around 500 years ago. It is characterized by agriculture, ceremonial mound complexes and large chiefdoms.

I did a blog post in November 2005 about this important archaeological site. I have since located some of the artifacts I collected while there. They were surface collected in the cotton field in the background of the first picture. These artifacts include pottery, stone tools and mud daub.

Native American pottery during this period is usually shell tempered. Shell, from freshwater shellfish, was used as a tempering agent in the clay so it would hold together and be a useful device for storage after firing. Directly below are good examples of shell tempered pottery. The shell is the small white parts in the pottery. Most pottery I found at the site is not decorated. Two examples of line decorations are below rignt.

Their square houses were constructed using mud daub. This was a mixture of clay and plant fiber packed within and around a framework of wood or cane. The roofs were made of straw. Below are examples of mud daub that were preserved at the site.

The stone artifacts, or lithics, consist of tools made from gravel that is located near the site. The gravel found in Mississippi was transported there during one of the last ice ages by glaciers for the north. Below are examples of stone tools I found while collecting in the cotton field that was once a large village.

This prehistoric Native American site is owned by the Archaeological Conservancy. The University of Mississippi Center for Archaeological Research has conducted their archaeology summer field school there for several years. The University of Mississippi link has an excellent description and pictures of each of these summer digs.

Tallahatta Quartzite Quarry Site in East Central Mississippi

2007-08-03T14:30:00.006-05:00

Native American Tallahatta Quartzite Quarry Site

I recently visited an important archaeological site in east central Mississippi with some of my professional archaeologist buddies. I had first gone to this rare stone quarry site around 15 years ago and this was my first time to come back since then. Tallahatta quartzite has been quarried there for over 10,000 years. In this area of east central Mississippi most of the Native American stone artifacts are made from this material.

This archaeological site is important because it is both rare and extensive. Tallahatta quartzite is only found in the tallahatta formation in east central Mississippi and southwest Alabama. This site covers a large area because there is not only the outcrop but also the locations around it where the stone was worked. Most of the artifacts found near the outcrop are not finished tools but preforms and small flakes that were used to make other tools.

The TQ outcrop here is a horizontal tabular layer within a sedimentary claystone formation that is along and above a small creek. Worked pieces of this stone can be found on the ground for some distance from the outcrop itself. In creek profiles these stone artifacts extend down to a depth of several feet. TQ generally has a white sugar-like appearance but can come in many colors such as grey, black or red. It was the only stone is the general vicinity that could be used to make stone tools because it exhibits a conical fracture which is necessary for knapping. TQ was used in trade throughout the Southeastern US.

For more information about tallahatta quartzite check out Tallahatta Sandstone . This page is published by the University of South Alabama and they call the material Tallahatta Sandstone.

Knapping Tallahatta Quartzite is a link to a YouTube video of TQ being worked into a projectile point.