Ghost Site Mounds

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Ghost Site Mounds
16 TE 18
Ghost Site Mounds16 TE 18 is located in Louisiana
Ghost Site Mounds16 TE 18
Ghost Site Mounds
16 TE 18
Location within Louisiana today
Location
Coordinates 32°5′34.5″N 91°27′1.7″W / 32.092917°N 91.450472°W / 32.092917; -91.450472
Country  USA
Region Tensas Parish, Louisiana
Nearest town Newellton, Louisiana
History
Culture Coles Creek culture, Plaquemine culture
First occupied 700 CE
Abandoned 1541
Excavation and maintenance
Responsible body private

Ghost Site Mounds (16 TE 18)[1] is an archaeological site in Tensas Parish, Louisiana with an Early to Middle Coles Creek culture component (700–1200 CE) and a Late Coles Creek to Plaquemine culture component (1200 to 1541 CE).[2]

Description[edit]

The site has three surviving mounds and could have had as many as five. Mound A, the largest mound, is a 11 feet (3.4 m) in height and 118 feet (36 m) by 92 feet (28 m) platform mound. The mound has been used historically as a cemetery. Since 1990 considerable erosion has damaged the mound, after portions of it were removed to build a dam across a nearby bayou. The other two remaining mounds are small dome-shaped mounds less than 2 feet (0.61 m) tall and about 60 feet (18 m) by 90 feet (27 m) at their bases. Mound B was also partially removed for the dam project, but Mound C is still intact. Two other small rises still exist (Mound D and Mound E), but it is unclear if they were mounds or natural features.[2]

Excavations[edit]

Limited archaeological testing has been done at the site. Bone, shell, ceramics, and charcoal were found underneath Mounds A and B, and based on decorative elements on the pottery they are dated 700–1200 during the Early to Middle Coles Creek period. Other examples were found in Mounds B and C that have been dated to 1200 to 1541 during the Plaquemine period.[2]

Location[edit]

The site is located on La 4 0.4 miles (0.64 km) east from its junction with La 128. It is on a bayou that flows into the Tensas River.[2]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Weinsten, Richard A., ed. (1991). "An update on the Ghost Site" (PDF). Louisiana Archaeological Society Newsletter (Louisiana Archaeological Society) 18 (1): 9. 
  2. ^ a b c d "Indian Mounds of Northeast Louisiana:Ghost Site Mounds". Retrieved 2011-10-20. 

External links[edit]