Ghost Site Mounds

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]

Ghost Site Mounds
16 TE 18
Location within Louisiana today
LocationNewellton, Louisiana, Tensas Parish, Louisiana,  USA
RegionTensas Parish, Louisiana
Coordinates32°5′34.5″N 91°27′1.7″W
History
Founded700 CE
Abandoned1541
CulturesColes Creek culture, Plaquemine culture
Site notes
Responsible body: private

Description

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

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 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]

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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. "Indian Mounds of Northeast Louisiana:Ghost Site Mounds". Archived from the original on 2012-12-24. Retrieved 2011-10-20.
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