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The View from Jaketown: Considering Variation in the Poverty Point Culture of the Lower Mississippi Valley

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 May 2022

Grace M. V. Ward Open the ORCID record for Grace M. V. Ward [Opens in a new window] ,
Seth B. Grooms ,
Andrew G. Schroll  and
Tristram R. Kidder
Grace M. V. Ward*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
Seth B. Grooms
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
Andrew G. Schroll
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA
Tristram R. Kidder
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
*
(g.m.ward@wustl.edu, corresponding author)
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Abstract

Recent research at Jaketown, a Late Archaic earthwork site in the Lower Mississippi Valley, suggests that the culture-historical framework used to interpret Jaketown and contemporary sites in the region obscures differences in practices across sites. As an alternative, we propose a framework focused on variation in material culture, architecture, and foodways between Jaketown and Poverty Point, the regional type site. Our analysis indicates that people used Poverty Point Objects and imported lithics at Jaketown by 4525–4100 cal BP—earlier than elsewhere in the region. By 3450–3350 cal BP, people intensively occupied Jaketown, harvesting a consistent suite of wild plants. Between 3445 and 3270 cal BP, prior to the apex of earthwork construction at Poverty Point, the community at Jaketown built at least two earthworks and multiple post structures before catastrophic flooding sometime after 3300 cal BP buried the Late Archaic landscape under alluvium. These new data lead us to conclude that the archaeological record of the Late Archaic Lower Mississippi Valley does not reflect a uniform regional culture. Rather, relationships between Jaketown and Poverty Point indicate a multipolar history in which communities selectively participated in larger social phenomena—such as exchange networks and architectural traditions—while maintaining diverse, localized practices.

Investigaciones recientes en Jaketown, un sitio de obras de tierra del Arcaico Tardío en el Valle Inferior del Mississippi sugiere que la perspectiva histórico-cultural utilizado para interpretar Jaketown y los sitios contemporáneos en la región oscurece las diferencias en las prácticas entre estos sitios. Como alternativa, proponemos una perspectiva centrada en la variación de la cultura material, la arquitectura y los hábitos alimenticios entre Jaketown y Poverty Point, el sitio tipo regional. Nuestro análisis indica que la gente usó Objetos de Poverty Point e importó líticos en Jaketown entre 4525-4100 cal aP, antes que en otras partes de la región. Hacia el 3450-3350 cal aP, la gente ocupó intensamente Jaketown, cosechando un grupo constante de plantas silvestres. Entre 3445-3270 cal aP, antes de la cúspide de la construcción del movimiento de tierras en Poverty Point, la comunidad de Jaketown construyó al menos dos obras de tierra y múltiples estructuras de postes antes de las inundaciones catastróficas que ocurrieron después del 3300 cal aP y que enterraron el paisaje del Arcaico Tardío debajo de el aluvión. Estos nuevos datos nos llevan a concluir que el registro arqueológico del Valle Inferior del Misisipi en el Arcaico Tardío no refleja una cultura regional uniforme. Nosotros sugerimos que las relaciones entre Jaketown y Poverty Point indican una historia multipolar donde las comunidades participaron selectivamente en fenómenos sociales amplios, como redes de intercambio y tradiciones arquitectónicas, mientras mantenían prácticas diversas y localizadas.

Keywords

Poverty Point cultureLower Mississippi Valleyhunter-gatherersearthworkspaleoethnobotanyintersite variabilityculture historycultura de Poverty Pointvalle inferior del Mississippicazadores-recolectoresobras de tierrapaleoetnobotanicavariability entre sitioshistoria cultural
Type
Article
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 87 , Issue 4 , October 2022 , pp. 758 - 775
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Society for American Archaeology

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