T.R. Kidder: Geoarchaeology at the Raffman Site

This topographic map of the Raffman site in northeast Louisiana was produced as part of Prof. T.R. Kidder’s ongoing project to study human adaptation in the alluvial valley of the Mississippi River. Excavations at Raffman, which was occupied between 500 BC and 1200 AD, have focused on the occupation and construction history of the site. A considerable amount of effort has also been devoted to understanding the geological and environmental context of the site. Although we continue to work at Raffman, our research has expanded to include the geoarchaeological study of a larger area of the Lower Mississippi Valley. This research now includes some of the earliest mound sites in North America, some of which lie buried beneath meters of alluvial deposits. Geoarchaeological and geomorphic work at Raffman and nearby sites reveals that massive Mississippi River floods, possibly caused by large-scale later Holocene climate changes, have altered the local landscape and environment a number of times. We are now studying the impact that these floods had on precontact people and are applying these findings to the occupation history of the Mississippi River Basin. Work will continue in the Raffman area for several more years and we will soon expand our project to other locations in the alluvial valley of the Mississippi River to gather comparative data.

For further information, see:

Kidder, Tristram R.

1996 Perspectives on the Geoarchaeology in the Lower Mississippi Valley.  In The Geology of the Lower Mississippi Valley: The Half Century Since Fisk, 1944, edited by R. Saucier, W. Autin, and L. Smith.  Engineering Geology: An International Journal 45: 305-323.

2002 The Lower Mississippi Valley. In The Woodland Southeast, edited by D. Anderson and R.C. Mainfort, Jr., pp. 65-91. University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa.

2002 Mapping Poverty Point. American Antiquity 67: 89-101.

2004 Prehistory of the Lower Mississippi Valley After 800 B.C. In Southeast, edited by W. Sturtevant. Handbook of North American Indians, Vol. 14. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C.

Kidder, Tristram R., Anthony Ortmann, and Thurman Allen

2004 Testing Mounds B and E at Poverty Point. Southeastern Archaeology.

2004 The Development of Plaza Architecture in the Eastern United States as seen from the Raffman Site in Northeast Louisiana. American Antiquity.