Ghost site
16 TE 18
Ghost site is located in Louisiana
Ghost site
Location within Louisiana today
LocationNewellton, Louisiana, Tensas Parish, Louisiana, United States
RegionTensas Parish, Louisiana
Coordinates32°5′34.5″N 91°27′1.7″W / 32.092917°N 91.450472°W / 32.092917; -91.450472
History
Founded700 CE
Abandoned1541
CulturesColes Creek culture, Plaquemine culture
Site notes
Responsible body: private

The Ghost site (16 TE 18),[1] or Ghost site mounds 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

The site has three surviving mounds and could have had as many as five. Mound A, the largest mound, is an 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

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

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

See also

References

  1. ↑ Weinsten, Richard A., ed. (1991). "An Update on the Ghost Site" (PDF). Louisiana Archaeological Society Newsletter. Louisiana Archaeological Society. 18 (1): 9. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-04-15.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Indian Mounds of Northeast Louisiana: Ghost Site Mounds". www.crt.state.la.us. Archived from the original on 2012-12-24. Retrieved 2011-10-20.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.