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.
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