A Tale of Two Sites: the Connections Between Poverty Point and Tick Island

Summary

Poverty Point and Tick Island were two of the most important sites in the southeast during the Late Archaic period. Previously we have demonstrated a probable connection between the sites, which are separated by over 700 miles, through the identification of Lower Mississippi Valley loessal PPOs at Tick Island, and St Johns pottery, likely from the area of Tick Island, found at Poverty Point. In this paper we identify an additional set of artifacts that are found at both sites but are not know to be present at any other Late Archaic sites between them, except for the Poverty Point culture site-Claiborne. The most plausible explanation for their co-occurrence at the Poverty Point and Tick Island is through some type of interaction. The items include perforated baculum bones, PPO style plummets, stylized human faces made from clay, clay tubular pipes, toy or miniature pots, decorated bone pins, and a distinctive decorative pattern on PPOs that is unique to both sites. We attempt to explain the purpose and nature of this connection using anthropological theory on symbolic gift exchange and the political and symbolic importance that tribal societies attach to acquiring esoteric knowledge of distant lands.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage