Environmental constraints of human settlement in an evolving holocene alluvial system, the lower Mississippi valley

Abstract

Abstract The lower Mississippi River has aggraded throughout the Holocene, resulting in stratification of cultural materials. Determination of this landscape evolution adds a temporal dimension to a model of human settlement. Sites most likely to be settled are high, well‐drained surfaces near a stream. In the middle Holocene, conditions began to be suitable for settlement near Big Lake, Arkansas. A stream developed on the flood plain adjacent to a braided stream terrace. Flooding of the terrace formed a natural levee composed of well‐drained, fertile, loam that was better suited for agriculture, if it existed at this time, and a living substrate than terrace sand to the west and backswamp clay to the east. Water and aquatic food sources were nearby. Open swamp conditions, present during middle Holocene, diminished by Late Holocene as bottomland arboreal habitats were becoming reestablished. This ideal environment has been intensely exploited for the past 3000 years, despite the temporary inconvenience of flooding.