The Issaquena phase is conceived as an archaeological unit in the sense defined by Willey and Phillips (1958: 22). The name derives from that of the county in the State of Mississippi in which this complex has so far appeared in greatest concentration. The type component is that found in the lower levels of the Manny site (22-N-6). Other components of the phase are known from excavations at the Thornton (22-M-1), Leist (22-N-1), Mabin (21-N-4), and Jaketown (20-O-1) sites, all in the southern third of the Lower Yazoo Basin. The fundamental criteria upon which this phase is postulated are a number of ceramic types that appear as an integrated complex. There are several other cultural features associated with the phase, but these are not as well known as the ceramics.

The Yazoo Basin, or “Delta” as it is called locally, has been defined geographically and its general environmental conditions described by Phillips and others (1951: 16-17). All the sites considered here as affiliated with the Issaquena phase (Table 2) lie on the Mississippi floodplain.