CORRELATION OF CULTURAL REMAINS 

 WITH THE PHYSICAL SETTING 



William G. Mclntire 



Coastal Studies Institute 



Louisiana State University 



Contract N7onr-35608 

 Task NR 388-002 



The deltaic area in south Louisiana is a very complex region from the standpoint of se- 

 quential development of the various trafficable units within the area. Threaded throughout the 

 area is a network of natural levees; and in limited areas, salt domes, active and stranded 

 beaches are present. These are the dominant characteristics in an area otherwise devoid of 

 natural relief and are the only overland routes or passes available in the near-sea-level 

 marsh. These trafficable units, in various degrees of decay, are directly related to the devel- 

 opment of coastal Louisiana that has taken place over many thousands of years. 



The master stream built its deltas for thousands of years before man entered the scene. 

 It is estimated that the process of delta building has been going on for twenty to thirty thousands 

 of years whereas man is believed to have lived in coastal Louisiana only during the last two 

 thousand years. Since that time, however, many changes have taken place in the deltaic plain. 

 As one of the district investigators on this project, I approached the problem of working out 

 relative ages of trafficable streams by correlating the cultural remains of man with the physical 

 remains of the river. 



The area covered in the study extends from the Texas border in the west to the Missis- 

 sippi border in the east. Approximately 15,000 square miles of near-sea-level lakes, marshes, 

 swamps, bayous, and tidal channels were covered. The region is very rich in natural flora and 

 fauna. Profuse vegetation and abundant sea and animal life offered many inducements to early 

 man to settle in coastal Louisiana. He made his home on the most secure ground and took ad- 

 vantage of the many natural food resources aboimding in the area. MoUusks were probably the 

 most important of all marine life in the regions where they were abundant and numerous, and 

 extensive shell heaps testify to their role in the economy of the early inhabitants. 



WAX 

 LAKE 



Figure 1. Shell midden. 



The history of man in the deltaic plain 

 follows the phases of the changing stream. As 

 Ihe river changed its course, it built in one 

 area and buried its past in another. A new 

 system of levees was built and since the old 

 had lost their fresh water and continual sedi- 

 ment supply, they began to decay. Eventually, 

 the requirements for human habitation were 

 no longer available on these natural eminences 

 and man was forced to move. 



During a particular and limited time 

 span, man usually performs his daily tasks 

 in a certain manner. His various utensils 

 are designed and made in ways that reflect 

 his styles, those of his neighbors, and also 

 those used by his predecessors. In coastal 

 Louisiana, pottery fragments, or potsherds, 

 are the only universal cultural remains that 



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