The simplified lifestyle that developed at the end of the Poverty Point
Period continued throughout the next cultural period. During the time of
the Tchefuncte (pronounced Che-funk′tuh) Culture, from 500 B.C. until
A.D. 200, people lived in small scattered settlements. Long distance
trade was much less important, yet people in Louisiana were in contact
with people in western Mississippi, coastal Alabama, eastern Texas,
Arkansas, and southeastern Missouri.
In Louisiana, most Tchefuncte people seem to have lived in coastal areas
and in lowlands near slow-moving streams. In these areas, they camped on
natural levees, terraces, salt domes, cheniers and ridges that provided
dry ground in this wet environment. Here they built their houses,
probably temporary circular shelters having a frame of light poles
covered with thatch or grass mixed with mud.
[Illustration: Tchefuncte Site]
The Tchefuncte Site, on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain, was so
named because it was situated inside Tchefuncte State Park (renamed
Fountainebleau State Park). The site had two shell middens, one that
measured 100 feet by 250 feet and another 100 feet by 150 feet. Both
were excavated, and archaeologists found 50,000 pieces of pottery, as
well as artifacts made from bone, shell and stone. Forty-three human
burials were recovered, none of which had objects buried with them.
[Illustration: Building a circular shelter]
They continued to depend on wild game and collected plant foods. In the
coastal areas, they ate tens of thousands of brackish water clams and
oysters, leaving behind piles of shells called shell middens. Because of
the number of shells, it once was thought that clams provided the major
protein source for Tchefuncte people. However, clam meat is actually low
in protein and also in other nutrients and calories. Clams were probably
eaten because they were always available, but they were not very
important in nourishing the people. Surprisingly, Tchefuncte people
apparently never ate crabs or crawfish, which also were plentiful.
Tchefuncte Indians obtained most of their protein from deer, raccoons,
alligators, and fish, but many other animals, especially small animals
and migratory birds were also eaten. The Indians used atlatls to kill
large game like deer and bear. For smaller mammals and birds, they
preferred traps, nets and bolas. They probably had several techniques
for fishing including netting, spearing, and fishing with hook and line.
Like the Meso-Indians before them, they gathered plant foods, including
grapes, plums, persimmons, acorns, and hickory nuts. They also grew
squash and gourds in small gardens.
Tchefuncte people were the first Indians in Louisiana to make large
amounts of pottery. They rolled coils of clay into shape and then
smoothed them to form a container. Many shapes of pots were made, but
characteristically they had “footed” bases. The Indians often decorated
the vessels by pressing fingernails, twigs or tools into the surface or
by rocking a small tool across the wet clay. After decorating the pots,
they fired them by slow baking.
Later Indians almost always kneaded the clay thoroughly and mixed it
with a small amount of another substance, called temper. These two steps
strengthened the clay and helped prevent it from shrinking unevenly and
cracking. Tchefuncte potters often omitted these steps, perhaps because
they were unaware of their importance, or perhaps because clay was
available and they could easily make another vessel if one cracked.
The introduction of pottery was an important improvement in food
storage. When these pots were kept covered, they provided a relatively
dry and animal-proof container that was portable. This made it easier to
store food in times of plenty for use in leaner times. The Tchefuncte
pots also meant that stewing and other new cooking techniques could be
experimented with and developed for the first time.
[Illustration: Tchefuncte: a-d, Vessel Rim Sherds; e-f, Vessel
Footed Bases; g, Clay Pipe; h, Stone Point; i, Stone Axe; j, Bone
Fishhook; k, Antler Point (½ actual size)]
Most of the other utensils and tools that Tchefuncte Indians used were
very similar to those that Poverty Point Indians made. These included
smoking pipes; stone, bone, and antler spear points; ground stone atlatl
weights; mortars; bone fishhooks; clay cooking balls; and other
butchering, hideworking, and woodworking tools.
In contrast to Poverty Point Indians, the Tchefuncte Indians did not
specialize in making stone beads, pendants, or microtools, and they did
not usually import materials to make tools and ornaments. Although some
innovations from the Poverty Point Culture were carried over, most
Tchefuncte tools and most Tchefuncte settlement patterns resemble those
of the Meso-Indians.
The majority of the information about this era comes from coastal
regions of the state. Archaeologists are not sure how Indians in the
rest of Louisiana were living at this same time, but it is likely that
their culture somewhat resembled that of the Tchefuncte Indians.