As Meso-Indian family groups traveled, they met other hunting groups, and sometimes camped together. These were important times for social and ceremonial activities. They probably smoked pipes together and shared information about good hunting, fishing, and plant collecting areas. They exchanged gifts of tools, food, stone, and shell. Sometimes these large groups camped together for a season or more, near rivers or near the coast where dependable food resources could support many families.
Banana Bayou Site
The Banana Bayou Site, located on the Avery Island salt dome in Iberia Parish, consists of a low, man-made earthen mound, 80 feet in diameter. Charcoal from the mound gives the radiocarbon date of 2490 ± 260 years B.C. Nut shells and fish, deer and turtle bones have been found in the mound as well as two stone points that are characteristic of the Meso-Indian Period. These findings lead archaeologists to conclude that the site is one of the earliest mounds in the United States.
Dogs may have been kept as pets, and may have helped in hunting. Meso-Indians developed many new hunting and fishing techniques. They used fishhooks, traps, and nets for catching fish and other small animals, and they used a new weapon called the atlatl (pronounced at′lat′l) to help kill their most important prey, deer.
An atlatl was made from a flattish, two-foot long piece of wood and was used as a spear-thrower. It had a hook, made of bone or antler, attached on one end and a hand grip carved on the other end. A stone, clay, or shell weight was sometimes attached toward the hooked end to increase the force of the throw, or perhaps only for decoration. A spear was rested on the atlatl with the end of the spear shaft inserted into the atlatl hook. The hunter held the atlatl grip and the middle of the spear in the same hand, then he hurled the spear from the atlatl (see cover illustration). The atlatl acted as an extension of his arm, giving extra power and accuracy to the throw.
The Meso-Indian spears used with the atlatl differed from those used by Paleo-Indians. They were shorter, and the stone points were different. Meso-Indian spear points were chipped from local stone, and they were slightly larger and not as artistically made as late Paleo-Indian points. Beyond these general trends, however, many Meso-Indian points found in Louisiana have little in common with each other. The sides of some are curved, others are straight, and some are serrated. Some are wider at the base, some are narrower, and others have notches in the base. The variations in shape seem almost unlimited.
(¾ actual size)
In contrast to the changes in styles of points, Meso-Indians continued making their stone butchering and hideworking tools in much the same way as the Paleo-Indians. Meso-Indians also fabricated non-stone tools and ornaments. They made bone needles, awls, fishhooks, beads, and hairpins; and antler atlatl hooks, handles, and spear points. Less common objects were tortoise shell rattles and shell ornaments.