A geoarchaeological perspective on the challenges and trajectories of Mississippi Delta communities

Recent geochronology of the Mississippi Delta of coastal Louisiana, USA, provides a high-resolution record of land growth that facilitates the study of ancient settlement patterns in relation to delta evolution. We use stratigraphy and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating to show that two Late Holocene earthen mounds were constructed several hundred years after the land emerged from open water. This multi-century pause allowed natural...