Clarence Hungerford Webb

Clarence H. Webb (August 25, 1902 – January 18, 1991) was an American medical doctor and archaeologist who conducted extensive research on prehistoric sites in the southeastern United States. A pediatrician by profession, he became interested in archaeology on a camping trip with his sons, where he found some small, triangular points. His archaeological research and publications included the study of Caddoan culture, and at several major sites such as Poverty Point and Belcher Mound in Louisiana.

Early life Webb was born August 25, 1902 near near Shreveport, Louisiana. His parents were Frederick and Annie Lou Hungerford Webb Growing up in a rural area, he spent his early life working on family farms in Bayou Pierre in DeSoto and Caddo Parishes. In 1919, he graduated valedictorian from Shreveport High.

In 1923, he received his undergraduate degree from Tulane University and a medical degree in 1925. He participated in sports and was a member of Beta Theta Pi, the Nu Sigma Nu medical honor fraternity, Alpha Omega Alpha, and Stars and Bars. He received a master's degree in pediatrics from the University of Chicago.

By 1940, he was a charter member of the Society for American Archaeology and joined the Texas Archaeological Society, where he attended annual meetings and participated in paper presentations. Webb organized the first Caddo Conference in 1942, which continues to meet for the study of Caddo culture. His contributions to the understanding of Poverty Point through the early 1980s allowed him to play a major role in the federal and state recognition of the site.

Poverty Point Poverty Point is a Late Archaic period archaeological site located in the lower Mississippi Valley in West Carroll Parish occupied from ca. 1600 to 1000 B.C. It consists of several earthworks and mounds and was created toward the end of the Archaic Period by the Native American Poverty Point culture. Webb conducted extensive work at the site, beginning in the late 1930s and continuing throughout the remainder of his life, writing many papers and generating extensive surface collections of the Late Archaic and Tchefuncte assemblages. Webb's work shed light on the site, which had received minimal study before this due to an absence of major ceramic period occupations. He found zoomorphic locust beads at the site that were made from carved and polished stone, usually red jasper. The beads resembled grasshoppers and cicadas. He proposed that the beads involved an element of magic that spread across the southern states in multicultural contexts. The center of Caddoan occupation during contact times and throughout their prehistoric development was along Red River, with extensions to other river valleys in the four state area of northern Louisiana, southwestern Arkansas, eastern Texas, and eastern Oklahoma. They maintained trade and cultural contacts with the lower Mississippi Valley tribes of eastern and southern Louisiana for many centuries.

Other excavations Other than Poverty Point and Belcher Mounds, Webb initiated or completed excavations at the Gahagan site, the Mounds Plantation site, and the Bellevue Mound between 1935 and 1945. He also conducted excavations and several smaller Caddoan sites along the Red River and its tributaries. Webb conducted excavations at the John Pearce site with Joel Shiner and Wayne Roberts, which further defined the lithic assemblages found at this San Patrice culture site. It is still to be determined whether or not these points represent separate Clovis and San Patrice components. Webb further defined the San Patrice assemblages as a socio-cultural unit that was similar to Plains Paleoindian, but transitional to Early Archaic.

Awards Webb received numerous awards during his archaeological and medical careers: 1960: honorary LL. D. degree from Centenary College of Shreveport. 1962: President of American Academy of Pediatrics. 1965: Grulee Award from the American Academy of Pediatrics. 1977: first James R. Ford Award for “outstanding contributions in Louisiana archaeology.” 1985: first Crabtree Award from the Society of American Archaeology. (This award represents the highest distinction to persons without formal archaeological training who made major contributions to the field). 1987: for his numerous accomplishments, the Daughters of the American Revolution chose him as one of the “Outstanding Men in America.” Stone Points and Tools of Northwestern Louisiana. Special Publications of the Louisiana Archaeological Society, no. 1, 2nd edition (January 2000).