The only excavations of Tchefuncte sites which produced materials suitable for laboratory analyses of the temporal behavior of the pottery types characteristic of the period were those undertaken at the Tchefuncte middens and Big Oak Island. In Tchefuncte midden A, five hundred five-foot squares were dug to the bottom of the midden by six-inch levels. For purposes of analysis, adjoining squares of uniform total depth were grouped together in order to provide large units suitable for stratigraphic studies. These units were selected in the parts of the midden where the strata were most nearly horizontal. Areas on the periphery, or in which burials occurred, were not used for stratigraphic analysis. The various units, their size, and depth are as follows:

By means of these analysis units, not only are the trends of popularity of the pottery types of the Tchefuncte period made apparent, but also the relative temporal position of the Tchefuncte complex is conclusively shown.