The first publication dealing with materials which have since come to be included in the Tchefuncte horizon was an article by J. R. Czajkowski, published in the Louisiana Conservation Review for July 1, 1934. This was a brief summary of the first six months' exploration by a Civil Works Administration project of extensive shell deposits near Little Woods, Louisiana, along the shores of Lake Pontchartrain, east of New Orleans. All of these middens had been used as sources of shell for paving roads; consequently the center of each had been gutted previous to Czajkowski's work. Through arrangements made by Dr. Fred B. Kniffen, the materials and notes were to be turned over to Louisiana State University. Only a very small part of the collection, however, was received by the University; the remainder could not be located. The few notes obtainable were from the brief field diary of one of the foremen.

What is available of Czajkowski's collection has been used in this paper. It represents only a part of the enormous amount found, and because of the lack of notes and identifying marks it necessarily must be treated as a collection from all the middens which Czajkowski dug (see map, Fig. 2, Sites Or-1, Or-2, Or-3, Or-4 and Or-5). This is a particularly unfortunate situation, for these areas were so thoroughly disturbed that later investigations have succeeded in collecting very little information.