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PREVIOUS ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS
The Mississippi Gulf Coastal Plain has for the most part been neglected by professional archaeologists. However, the work that has been accomplished in this area has focussed heavily on the southwestern portion of the State in which the Port Bienville Industrial Park is situated. In a recent report by New World Research (1979), a very thorough discussion of pertinent archaeological investigations was presented. While this information will not be repeated in detail in the present report, the salient points are summarized below.
The earliest reconnaissance of the general project area was made by Chambers ( 1 933) in the early part of this century, although there is some indication that Clarence B. Moore, the noted antiquarian traveller-naturalist, may have visited the region. Serious systematic investigations, however, were not undertaken until the 1 950s. In the latter part of that decade, a series of site surveys included portions of the Mississippi Gulf Coastal Plain (Gagliano 1 963). Most significant among the survey findings was the location of the Cedarland site, occupied during the Late Archaic period. During the 1 960s, a second site was discovered nearby. This site, Claiborne, was found to represent an occupation dating to the Poverty Point period, which is characterized by earthwork construction, stone vessel production, exquisite lapidary work, and an extensive microlith industry. Although the use of pottery vessels was not part of the Poverty Point cultural inventory, at least until the end of the period, there was a prolific manufacture of clay cooking balls referred to as Poverty Point objects. The culture flourished around 1200 B.C. and extended from the Claiborne site in the south, west into southeastern Louisiana, and north to southeastern Arkansas. The center for the culture appears to be the type-site of Poverty Point, which is located in northeastern Louisiana on Bayou Macon.
The Cedarland and Claiborne sites are contiguous, located on thf- lor-race formation overlooking the Pearl River estuary. They were once separated only by a small stream cut, which, in recent times, has been dredged. Since the discovery of the Claiborne site, both have been the subject of several small-scale investigations which have generated considerable speculation on the relationship of the two sites. They are presently regarded as two of the most significant sites in understanding the nature of the Poverty Point culture. The Cedarland site is believed to represent a Late Archaic occupation which immediately preceeded the Poverty Point occupation at the Claiborne site, the latter now being recognized as a regional center of the Poverty Point culture (cf. Gagliano and Webb 1 970; Marshall 1 970; Webb 1977).