A Poverty Point Object, sometimes called a clay cooking ball, found at Jaketown in Humphreys County, Mississippi. Used for cooking food in earthen ovens, by peoples that inhabitated areas of Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana from 1500 to 1000 B.C.Poverty Point Objects (PPO) were made into various shapes. Food was placed in pits in the earth and then PPO's like this one, which were pre-heated in a fire, were placed around the food. The hole was then covered and the food allowed to cook by the heat of the cooking balls. Stone celt. Celts were created by grinding and polishing a stone. Sharp on one end and rounded on the other, celts were attached to wooden handles.Stone celt. Celts could be used for hunting, game preparation and village chores.Discoidal, sometimes called a chunkey stone. Chunkey was a game played by rolling a stone across a playing field, and throwing a spear at the still-moving stone. Bets were made on which player could land the spear closest to the stone.Discoidal. Sometimes convex on each side and highly polished, these game pieces belonged to the village and were kept for generations.Hammer stone. We believe this to be a hammer stone, a tool used to fashion arrow and spear points out of larger rocks.Hammer stones were used to strike large flakes off of rocks in the process of making spear and arrow points. This process is called flint knapping. Antler was used to finish up the point and create a fine, sharp edge.Grinding stone. We believe this to be a grinding stone. Grinding stones were usually made out of coarse materials like sandstone. They were used to grind and pound plant materials for cooking.Grinding stone. Usually showing a small indention on one side caused by the grinding of plant materials. Typically made from sandstone. Pottery sherds. Broken pieces of pottery picked up near the Sunflower River in Sunflower County, Mississippi. Some pottery was made with ground shell, others with plant material. Some was plain, while others were etched with fine designs, or even fashioned into vessels with intricate detail.Pottery shurds and bird points found near Cassidy Bayou in Quitman County, Mississippi. The point at bottom right is about the size of a dime.Flakes, points and tools. Flakes are unwanted pieces of rock chipped off in the flint knapping process. Some rock broke unexpectedly before a point could be completed. Sometimes these pieces were used as other tools.A stone point. Commonly called "arrowheads" this point at nearly 2 inches long, is much too large and heavy to be fitted onto an arrow. This point probably was used on a small spear. The tip (top) has broken off. Scraper. We believe this to be a scraper, a tool used for scraping hides and other things. Sometimes a broken spear head could be refashioned into another useful tool with only a slight amount of effort.Serrations on one side of this stone tool, or scraper. Arrow and spear points were not the only tools made out of stone. Knives, hoes, scrapers, gravers, awls, adzes, and drills were also made from stone.
Artifacts found around the Yazoo River Delta.  Click on each thumbnail for more information.