Founded 700 CE Region Tensas Parish, Louisiana | Abandoned 1541 | |
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Location Newellton, Louisiana, Tensas Parish, Louisiana, USA Cultures Coles Creek culture, Plaquemine culture | ||
Ghost Site Mounds (16 TE 18) 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).
Contents
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.
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.
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.