2016 MAA Dig

at Camp Shelby 

Members of the Mississippi Archaeological Association (MAA) were invited to a dig at Camp Shelby, Mississippi, on April 23rd and 24th. Rita McCarty, cultural resources manager archaeologist with the Mississippi Army National Guard, was in charge of the dig. The people attending were MAA members, a church group, a school group, other guests and up to 7 professional archaeologist. Everyone seemed to have a good time! The weather was perfect and there were no serious injuries. Thanks to Rita and all those who attended. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. If you would like to join the MAA and participate in future digs their page is http://www.msarchaeology.org. 

Indian Mound Tour in the lower Mississippi Delta

I recently went on a mound tour of the southern Mississippi Delta presented by my good friend Sam Brookes. Sam is a well know and respected Mississippi archaeologist. Many of those on the tour were MAA local chapter members. We visited several Native American mound sites near the Delta National Forest. Many were mound groups with more than one mound at the site. Everyone had a great day and it was an informative trip. I also got to eat some fried alligator and catfish at a country restaurant with a view of the Grace mounds.

Our group at Lake George Mound

Sam shows a replica of the Issaquena disc found at the Grace Mounds

Carter Site Mound A near Rolling Fork

Grace Site Mound A near Grace Mississippi

Lake George Site Mound A is around 55 feet high.

 It was temple mound and dates between 150 BC - AD 1500

Lake George Site Mound B with house

Haynes Bluff Site Mound A on Hwy 3

Pocahontas Site Mound A on Hwy 49 between Jackson and Yazoo City. 

This site also has a museum.

Mont Helena Mound Site with house near Hwy 61

Jackson Area Chapter of the MAA

I would like to invite you to the April meeting of the Jackson Area Chapter of the Mississippi Archaeological Association (MAA). Mr. Sam Brookes is the guest speaker and will give a talk about Mississippi archaeology. I hope you can make plans to attend.

The meeting will be held at the Madison, Mississippi, Public Library conference room at 5 PM on Monday April 7th (Rebecca Baine Rigby Library on the front). There will be light refreshments served.  The library address is 994 Madison Avenue which is just off Highway 51 in Madison. If you take the Madison exit off of Interstate 55 go toward Madison and turn right when you get to HWY 51, then at the second light take a left on Madison Avenue. The library is a short distance on the left.

The business portion of the meeting will begin around 5:30 and last until 6:30 PM. It will include brief introductions and updates, a discussion of the goals of the chapter and upcoming activities such as mound tours, local digs and MAA summer digs. There will also be a time for area collectors, who brought artifacts, to display them and have them identified and possibly dated. 

If you have any questions please call or email.

Tony Payne

MAA Jackson Area Chapter President

phone: 601-672-7955

Online Local Archaeology Resources:

http://www.msarchaeology.org                                                                                  MAA Website

http://mdah.state.ms.us/new/                                                                                    MS. Dept of Archives and History

http://mdah.state.ms.us/new/learn/publications/archaeological-report-archive/        MDAH Archaeological Reports Archive

http://trails.mdah.ms.gov/mounds.htm                                                                       MDAH MS.Archaeological Trails

http://mapams.org/member_directory/                                                                       Membership directory of the MS. Assoc. of Professional Archaeologist

http://www.amec.msstate.edu                                                                                    MSU Department of Anthropology

http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/publications/bulletins/01workshop/nonarch.htm                  NPS Archaeology for the Non-Archaeologist 

http://www.cr.nps.gov/NR/travel/mounds/textonly.htm#byn                                        NPS Indian Mounds of Mississippi

http://www.archaeoexplorer.com/media/                                                                     Mark of the Mississippians (videos)

2009 Mississippi Archaeology Expo in Jackson, MS

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

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

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

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.