The Morgan Site: An Important Coles Creek Mound Complex on the Chenier Plain of Southwest Louisiana

Abstract

The chenier plain of southwest Louisiana supported a relatively dense population in the Coles Creek period. The Morgan site, located on the Pecan Island chenier, was a major center for the local inhabitants in Middle and Late Coles Creek times (c. AD 800–1000). Recent excavations at this site by the Lower Mississippi Survey resulted in the delimitation of the site, revealing areas of intensive occupation. A rich midden was tested to work out temporal changes in the local ceramics of the Coles Creek period. The excavation techniques employed enabled us to distinguish micro-evolutionary changes within the Baytown Plain rim mode assemblage recovered at Morgan. Determining such changes within the ceramics of the Coles Creek period has contributed to the relative dating of the Morgan mounds. The excavation methods presented here provide a means for ascertaining which Coles Creek components in the region were occupied contemporaneously. This information is fundamental to further studies on settlement and subsistence in the chenier plain.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Aten

L. E.

and Bollich

C. N.

1969 A Preliminary Report on the Development of a Ceramic Chronology for the Sabine Lake Area of Texas and Louisiana, Bulletin of the Texas Archeological Society, 40, pp. 241–258.

Beavers

R. C.

1978 An Archaeological Reconnaissance and Assessment of the Sabine River North Shore of Sabine Lake to the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway: Cameron, Calcasieu Parishes, Louisiana and Orange Counties, Texas, University of New Orleans Archaeological and Cultural Research Program Research Report No. 1.

Belmont

J. S.

1967 The Culture Sequence at the Greenhouse Site, Louisiana, Southeastern Archaeological Conference Bulletin No. 6, pp. 27–35.

Brown

I. W.

1979a Certain Coastal Settlement Pattern Changes in the Petite Anse Region of Southwest Louisiana, Paper Presented at the Southeastern Archaeological Conference, Atlanta.

Brown

I. W.

1979b A Late Mississippian Component in Southwest Louisiana: Ceramics from the Salt Mine Valley Site, Paper Presented at the Southeastern Archaeological Conference, Atlanta.

Brown

I. W.

1980a Archaeological Investigations on Avery Island, Louisiana, 1977–78, Southeastern Archaeological Conference Bulletin No. 22, pp. 110–118.

Brown

I. W.

1980b Salt and the Eastern North American Indian, an Archaeological Study, Lower Mississippi Survey Bulletin No. 6.

Brown

I. W.

Fuller

R. S.

, and Lambert-Brown

1979 Site Survey in the Petite Anse Region, Southwest Coast, Louisiana, Lower Mississippi Survey, Petite Anse Project Research Notes No. 11, Peabody Museum, Harvard University.

Burden

E. K.

Wiseman

D. E.

Weinstein

R. A.

, and Gagliano

S. M.

1978 Cultural Resources Survey of the Lacassine National Wildlife Refuge, Cameron Parish, Louisiana, Coastal Enrivonments, Inc., Baton Rouge.

10.

Byrd

K. M.

1974 Tchefuncte Subsistence Patterns: Morton Shell Mound, Iberia Parish, Louisiana, Unpublished M.A. Thesis, Department of Geography and Anthropology, Louisiana State University.

11.

Byrd

K. M.

1976a The Brackish Water Clam (Rangia cuneata): A Prehistoric “Staff of Life” or a Minor Food Resource, Louisiana Archaeology No. 3, pp. 23–31.

12.

Byrd

K. M.

1976b Tchefuncte Subsistence: Information Obtained from the Excavation of the Morton Shell Mound, Iberia Parish, Louisiana, Southeastern Archaeological Conference Bulletin No. 19, pp. 70–75.

13.

Byrd

K. M.

and Neuman

R. W.

1978 Archaeological Data Relative to Prehistoric Subsistence in the Lower Mississippi River Alluvial Valley, Geoscience and Man, XIX, pp. 9–12.

14.

Byrne

J. V.

LeRoy

D. O.

, and Riley

C. M.

1959 The Chenier Plain and Its Stratigraphy, Southwestern Louisiana, Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies, Transactions, IX, pp. 237–259.

15.

Collins

H. B.

1927 Archeological Work in Louisiana and Mississippi. In Explorations and Field-Work of the Smithsonian Institution in 1926, Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, 78: 7, pp. 200–207.

16.

Collins

H. B.

1941 Relationships of an Early Indian Cranial Series from Louisiana, Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences, 31, pp. 145–155.

17.

Duhe

B. J.

1976 Preliminary Evidence of a Seasonal Fishing Activity at Bayou Jasmine, Louisiana Archaeology No. 3, pp. 33–74.

18.

Duhe

B. J.

1979 A Critical Analysis of the Paddle Stamp Tradition in Coastal Louisiana, Paper Presented at the 5th Annual Meeting of the Louisiana Archaeological Society, Lake Charles.

19.

Fisk

H. N.

1948 General Geology of Southwest Louisiana. In: Geological Investigation of the Lower Mermentau River Basin and Adjacent Areas in Coastal Louisiana, Report to the Mississippi River Commission, Vicksburg.

20.

Ford

J. A.

1936 Analysis of Indian Village Site Collections from Louisiana and Mississippi, Department of Conservation, Louisiana Geological Survey, Anthropological Study No. 2.

21.

Ford

J. A.

1951 Greenhouse: A Troyville-Coles Creek Period Site in Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana, Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History, 44: 1.

22.

Ford

J. A.

and Quimby

G. I.

Jr. 1945 The Tchefuncte Culture, an Early Occupation of the Lower Mississippi Valley, Memoirs of the Society of American Archaeology No. 2.

23.

Futch

R. S.

1979 Prehistoric Human Ecology at the Morton Shell Mound (16Ib3), Iberia Parish, Louisiana, Unpublished M.A. Thesis, Department of Geography and Anthropology, Louisiana State University.

24.

Gagliano

S. M.

1963 A Survey of Preceramic Occupations in Portions of South Louisiana and South Mississippi, Florida Anthropologist, XVI:4, pp. 105–132.

25.

Gagliano

S. M.

1964a Post-Pleistocene Occupations of Southeastern Louisiana Terrace Lands, Southeastern Archaeological Conference Bulletin No. 1, pp. 18–26.

26.

Gagliano

S. M.

1964b A Preliminary Report on the Archaeology of Avery Island, Southeastern Archaeological Conference Bulletin No. 1, pp. 12–13.

27.

Gagliano

S. M.

1967a Late Archaic-Early Formative Relationships in South Louisiana, Southeastern Archaeological Conference Bulletin No. 6, pp. 9–22.

28.

Gagliano

S. M.

1967b Occupation Sequence at Avery Island, Louisiana State University, Coastal Studies Series Number 22.

29.

Gagliano

S. M.

1970 Progress Report, Archeological and Geological Studies at Avery Island, 1968–1970, Coastal Environments, Inc., Baton Rouge.

30.

Gagliano

S. M.

1977 Cultural Resources Evaluation of the Northern Gulf of Mexico Continental Shelf, 1, National Park Service, Washington, D.C.

31.

Gagliano

S. M.

and Saucier

R. T.

1963 Poverty Point Sites in Southeastern Louisiana, American Antiquity, 28: 3, pp. 320–327.

32.

Gagliano

S. M.

Weinstein

R. A.

, and Burden

E. K.

1975 Archeological Investigations along the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway: Coastal Louisiana Area, Coastal Environments, Inc., Baton Rouge.

33.

Gibson

J. L.

1976a An Archaeological Survey of the Mermentau River and Bayous Nezpique and Des Cannes, Southwestern Louisiana, The University of Southwestern Louisiana Center for Archaeological Studies Report No. 1.

34.

Gibson

J. L.

1976b Archeological Survey of Bayou Teche, Vermilion River, and Freshwater Bayou, South Central Louisiana, The University of Southwestern Louisiana Center for Archeological Studies Report No. 2.

35.

Gibson

J. L.

1978a An Archaeological Reconnaissance of the Lower Sabine River Valley, Toledo Bend Dam to Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, Louisiana and Texas, The University of Southwestern Louisiana Center for Archaeological Studies Report No. 4.

36.

Gibson

J. L.

1978b Archaeological Survey of the Lower Atchafalaya Region, South Central Louisiana, The University of Southwestern Louisiana Center for Archaeological Studies Report No. 5.

37.

Gould

H. R.

and McFarlan

1959 Geologic History of the Chenier Plain, Southwestern Louisiana, Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies, Transactions, IX, pp. 261–270.

38.

Gould

H. R.

and Morgan

J. P.

1962 Coastal Louisiana Swamps and Marshlands. In: Geology of the Gulf Coast and Central Texas, Rainwater

E. H.

and Zingula

R. P.

(eds.), Houston Geological Society, Houston, pp. 287–341.

39.

Howe

V. H.

Russell

R. J.

, and McGuirt

J. H.

1935 Submergence of Indian Mounds, Department of Conservation, Louisiana Geological Survey, Geological Bulletin No. 6, Reports on the Geology of Cameron and Vermilion Parishes, pp. 64–68.

40.

Kniffen

F. B.

1936 A Preliminary Report on the Indian Mounds and Middens of Plaquemines and St. Bernard Parishes, Department of Conservation, Louisiana Geological Survey, Geological Bulletin No. 8, Lower Mississippi River Delta, Reports on the Geology of Plaquemines and St. Bernard Parishes, pp. 407–422.

41.

Kniffen

F. B.

1938 The Indian Mounds of Iberville Parish, Department of Conservation, Louisiana Geological Survey, Geological Bulletin No. 13, Reports on the Geology of Iberville and Ascension Parishes, pp. 189–267.

42.

McIntire

W. G.

1958 Prehistoric Indian Settlements of the Changing Mississippi River Delta, Louisiana State University, Coastal Studies Series No. 1.

43.

Neuman

R. W.

1976 Archaeological Techniques in the Louisiana Coastal Region, Louisiana Archaeology No. 3, pp. 1–21.

44.

Neuman

R. W.

1977 An Archaeological Assessment of Coastal Louisiana, Mélanges No. 11.

45.

Newton

M. B.

Jr.

1972 Atlas of Louisiana, School of Geoscience, Louisiana State University, Miscellaneous Publication No. 72-1.

46.

Price

W. A.

1955 Environment and Formation of the Chenier Plain, Texas A&M Research Foundation Project 63.

47.

Russell

R. J.

and Howe

H. V.

1935 Cheniers of Southwestern Louisiana, The American Geographical Society of New York Geographical Review, 25: 3, pp. 449–461.

48.

Saucier

R. T.

1963 Recent Geomorphic History of the Ponchartrain Basin, Louisiana State University, Coastal Studies Series No. 9.

49.

Saucier

R. T.

1974 Quarternary Geology of the Lower Mississippi Valley, Arkansas Archeological Survey, Publications on Archeology, Research Series No. 6.

50.

Shenkel

J. R.

1974 Big Oak and Little Oak Islands: Excavations and Interpretations, Louisiana Archaeology No. 1, pp. 37–65.

51.

Shenkel

J. R.

1976 Ceramics of the Tchefuncte Period, Paper Presented in the Symposium on New Developments in the Lower Mississippi Valley Ceramic Chronology, Southeastern Archaeological Conference, Tuscaloosa.

52.

Shenkel

J. R.

1977 Adaptive Settlement of the Ponchartrain Tchefuncte, Paper Presented in the Symposium on Coastal Settlement Systems, Patterns of Man-Land Adaptation, Southeastern Archaeological Conference, Lafayette.

53.

Shenkel

J. R.

1979 Tchefuncte Site Specialization, Paper Presented in the Symposium on Gulf Coastal Occupations and Adaptations, Southeastern Archaeological Conference, Atlanta.

54.

Shenkel

J. R.

and Gibson

I. L.

1974 Big Oak Island: An Historical Perspective of Changing Site Function, Louisiana Studies, 13: 2, pp. 173–186.

55.

Simmons

1978 Additional Notes on the Archaeology of Little Pecan Island, In Codex Wauchope: A Tribute Roll, Giardino

Edmonson

, and Creamer

(eds.), Human Mosaic, 12, pp. 13–17.

56.

Springer

J. W.

1972 Environmental Change and Prehistoric Settlement on the Coast of Louisiana, Southeastern Archaeological Conference Bulletin No. 15, pp. 1–10.

57.

Springer

J. W.

1973 The Prehistory and Cultural Geography of Coastal Louisiana, Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Yale University.

58.

Springer

J. W.

1974 The Bruly St. Martin Site and Its Implications for Coastal Settlement in Louisiana, Louisiana Archaeology No. 1, pp. 75–82.

59.

Springer

J. W.

1976 A Ceramic Sequence from Southern Louisiana and Its Implications for Type Frequency Seriation, Louisiana Archaeology No. 3, pp. 123–191.

60.

Springer

J. W.

1979 Excavations at the Pierre Clement Site, Cameron Parish, Louisiana, Louisiana Archaeology No. 4, pp. 53–90.

61.

Springer

J. W.

1980 An Analysis of Prehistoric Food Remains from the Bruly St. Martin Site, Louisiana, with a Comparative Discussion of Mississippi Valley Faunal Studies, Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology, 5: 2, pp. 193–223.

62.

Van Lopik

J. R.

1955 Recent Geology and Geomorphic History of Central Coastal Louisiana, Louisiana State University, Coastal Studies Institute, Technical Report No. 7.

63.

Wauchope

1947 Notes on Little Pecan Island, Louisiana, American Antiquity, XII, pp. 186–188.

64.

Weinstein

R. A.

Burden

E. K.

, and Gagliano

S. M.

1977 Cultural Resource Survey of Interstate 410, St. Charles Parish, Louisiana, Coastal Environments, Inc., Baton Rouge.

65.

Weinstein

R. A.

Burden

E. K.

Brooks

K. L.

, and Gagliano

S. M.

1978 Cultural Resource Survey of the Proposed Relocation Route of U.S. 90 (La 3052) Assumption, St. Mary, and Terrebonne Parishes, Louisiana, Coastal Environments, Inc., Baton Rouge.

66.

Weinstein

R. A.

and Rivet

P. G.

1978 Beau Mire: A Late Tchula Period Site of the Tchefuncte Culture, Ascension Parish, Louisiana, Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism, Louisiana Archaeological Survey and Antiquities Commission, Anthropological Report No. 1.