Mott Archaeological Preserve

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Mott Mounds
16 FR 11
Mott Mounds Coles Creek culture HRoe 2011.jpg
Layout of the mounds at the Mott Site
USA Louisiana location map.svg
Archaeological site icon (red).svg
Location within Louisiana today
Location Lamar, Louisiana,  Franklin Parish, Louisiana, Flag of the United States.svg  USA
Region Franklin Parish, Louisiana
Coordinates 32°18′33.19″N91°30′20.30″W / 32.3092194°N 91.5056389°W / 32.3092194; -91.5056389
History
Cultures Marksville, Troyville, Coles Creek, Plaquemine
Site notes
Excavation dates1900, 1913, 2005
Archaeologists George Beyer, Clarence Bloomfield Moore, Stephen Williams, Timothy Schilling, Tristram R. Kidder
Responsible body: private

The Mott Archaeological Preserve or Mott Mounds Site (16 FR 11) is an archaeological site in Franklin Parish, Louisiana on the west bank of Bayou Macon. It originally had eleven mounds with components from the Marksville, Troyville, Coles Creek, and Plaquemine periods. It was at one time one of the largest mound centers in the Southeast and has one of the largest mounds in Louisiana with a base which cover more than two acres. It was purchased by the Archaeological Conservancy in 2002. [1] [2] and is now used for research and educational purposes. [2]

Contents

Description

The site formerly had as many as fourteen mounds, depending on the criteria used to describe a mound. Except for one small outlier to the south all are surrounding an exceptionally large central plaza that is aligned on an east-west axis. The large plaza measures close to 280 metres (920 ft) east to west and 175 metres (574 ft) north to south. These measurements are about three quarters the size of the Grand Plaza at Cahokia, which is the largest Mississippian culture plaza known. Other large sites from the region during the same time period (such as the Raffman, Winterville, or Holly Bluff) could easily fit their entire sites into the confines of Motts plaza. On the western edge of the plaza is Mound A, the largest at the site and one of the largest in the state and possibly the largest in the Tensas Basin region during the time period it was constructed. It is a platform mound about 90 metres (300 ft) by 100 metres (330 ft) at its base, 45 metres (148 ft) by 60 metres (200 ft) at its summit and over 8 metres (26 ft) in height. This produces a footprint that covers an area of over two acres. The eastern and southern borders of the plaza are bounded by two other large platform mounds, Mounds F and I respectively. The northern edge of the plaza has four small dome shaped mounds, aligned along a meander scar of Bayou Macon. 700 metres (2,300 ft) south of the mound group is a large village site thought to be contemporaneous with the mounds. [3]

Excavations

A number of archaeologists have undertaken excavations and investigations at the site. The earliest were George Beyer in 1900 and Clarence Bloomfield Moore in 1913. In the mid 1960s researchers from the Lower Mississippi Survey of Harvard University led by Stephen Williams sampled the site and fixed it into the local chronology. They found markers from the Marksville, Coles Creek, and Plaquemine cultures, but with the most intensive habitation being during the Coles Creek period. Site surveys were also conducted in 1976 and in 1992, all of which confirmed this chronological placement. The site was purchased in two acquisitions in 2002 by the Archaeological Conservancy to preserve and protect the site which had been threatened by looting, land leveling, and timber harvesting. [1] [2] It is now known as the Mott Archaeological Preserve and is over 200 acres, making it one of the Conservancy’s largest acquisitions in the Southeastern United States to date. [2] In 2005 Mott Project was begun by Timothy Schilling of Washington University in St. Louis and Tristram R. Kidder of Tulane University. [3]

See also

Related Research Articles

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The Holly Bluff site, sometimes known as the Lake George Site, and locally as "The Mound Place," is an archaeological site that is a type site for the Lake George phase of the prehistoric Plaquemine culture period of the area. The site is on the southern margin of the Mississippian cultural advance down the Mississippi River and on the northern edge of that of the Cole's Creek and Plaquemine cultures of the South." The site was first excavated by Clarence Bloomfield Moore in 1908 and tested by Philip Phillips, Paul Gebhard and Nick Zeigler in 1949.

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The Ghost site, or Ghost site mounds is an archaeological site in Tensas Parish, Louisiana, with an early to middle Coles Creek culture component and a Late Coles Creek to Plaquemine culture component.

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Venable Mound is an archaeological site in Morehouse Parish, Louisiana with a single mound with components from the Troyville, Coles Creek and Plaquemine period.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raffman site</span> Archaeological site in Louisiana, U.S.

The Raffman site is an archaeological site located in Madison Parish, Louisiana and constructed between 700 and 1200 CE. It has components from the Tchefuncte culture and the Coles Creek culture, whose main period of occupation was during the Balmoral phase of the Tensas Basin and Natchez Bluffs chronology and which was virtually deserted by the end of the Preston phase.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bayou Grande Cheniere Mounds</span>

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The Sims site (16SC2), also known as Sims Place site, is an archaeological site located in Saint Charles Parish, Louisiana, near the town of Paradis. The location is a multi-component mound and village complex with platform mounds and extensive midden deposits. The site habitations are divided into three periods. It was first inhabited about 800 CE by peoples of the Coastal Coles Creek culture. By 1100 CE the culture of the site had transitioned into the Mississippianized Plaquemine culture that lasted until 1450 CE. A little later was a Late Mississippian/protohistoric period that lasted from 1500 until about 1700 or 1800.

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The Glass site is a Plaquemine culture archaeological site located approximately 9.5 kilometres (5.9 mi) south of Vicksburg in Warren County, Mississippi. Originally the site had four platform mounds surrounding a large open plaza, but land leveling for modern farming techniques and looting by pothunters mean only portions of three have survived into the 21st century. It was a major ceremonial center that was contemporaneous with other large Plaquemine sites including Emerald, Holly Bluff, and Winterville and whose main occupation period occurred during the protohistoric period from 1500 to 1650 CE. Parts of the site were excavated by Clarence Bloomfield Moore in 1910 and 1911, and by Lauren Elizabeth Downs in 2007-2009. The mounds are listed on the Mississippi Mound Trail.

References

  1. 1 2 "Southeast Regional Office : Some of Our Southeast Preserves". The Archaeological Conservancy. Archived from the original on 2011-09-11. Retrieved 2011-10-26.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "LAS Announcements". LAArchaeology.org. Archived from the original on 2008-07-25. Retrieved 2011-10-29.
  3. 1 2 Schilling, Timothy (Winter 2006–2007), "Archaeology at the Mott Mounds" (PDF), Newsletter of the Louisiana Archaeological Society, vol. 34 (3 ed.), Louisiana Archaeological Society, pp. 8–12, archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-04-05, retrieved 2011-10-29
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