Fishing occurs in some areas, and starchy seeds are grown to supplement the hunting and gathering of wild plants and game.
Hunting of smaller species, including deer, becomes the focus
Bone tools from Cedarland site in Hancock County
Climate warms and people move from semi-nomadic to a more sedentary life
Tool making technology develops with side-notched and corner-notched spear heads appearing
Illustration of atlatl throwing
People used new technologies to make decorative items like carvings as well. Ground stone items like beads also appear during this time period, and a variety of effigy beads (stone carvings in animal shapes) have been found throughout Mississippi and, along with Benton blades, may be the first evidence of craft specialization in Mississippi (Crawford 2003).
Early evidence of regional trade begins to appear during the Middle Archaic Period (6000-2000 BCE)
Effigy beads from Denton site in Quitman County
One of the earliest and most extensive exchange systems of the Middle Archaic Period is found along the Tennessee River and includes parts of northeast Mississippi. Caches of very large stone blades made from Fort Payne chert (a stone that occurs in what is now northwest Alabama) that were traded have been found in burials throughout this region (Johnson and Brookes 1989).
Larger groups of people begin building ceremonial and some burial mounds during the later Archaic period
Poverty Point Culture develops
Illustration of town of Poverty Point about 1350 B.C.
Named for an archaeological site in north Louisiana, this culture has all the other features of Late Archaic sites with the addition of clay cooking balls, earthen constructions, and exotic imported stone. These sites occur in the Mississippi Delta across northern Louisiana and Mississippi and along the coast to Florida. Among the largest and earliest of these sites are the Jaketown site in Humphreys County, the Teoc Creek site in Carroll County, and the Claiborne Site in Hancock County.