- Mott Archaeological Preserve
-
Mott Mounds
16 FR 11
Layout of the mounds at the Mott Site
Mott Archaeological PreserveLocation within Louisiana todayCoordinates: 32°18′33.192″N 91°30′20.3034″W / 32.30922°N 91.505639833°W Location Country: 
USARegion: Franklin Parish, Louisiana Nearest town: Bonita, Louisiana History Culture: Marksville, Troyville, Coles Creek, Plaquemine Excavation and maintenance Responsible body: private Dates excavated: 1900, 1913, 2005 Notable archaeologists: George Beyer, Clarence Bloomfield Moore, Stephen Williams, Timothy Schilling, Tristram R. Kidder Architecture 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
References
- ^ a b "Southeast Regional Office : Some of Our Southeast Preserves". The Archaeological Conservancy. http://www.americanarchaeology.com/southeastern1.html. Retrieved 2011-10-26.
- ^ a b c d "LAS Announcements". LAArchaeology.org. http://www.laarchaeology.org/announce.htm. Retrieved 2011-10-29.
- ^ a b Schilling, Timothy (Winter 2006-2007), "Archaeology at the Mott Mounds", Newsletter of the Louisiana Archaeological Society, 34 (3 ed.), Louisiana Archaeological Society, pp. 8-12, http://www.laarchaeology.org/files/newsletter343.pdf
External links
Hopewellian peoplesWoodland period · List of Hopewell sites · Mound builder (people) · List of archaeological periods (North America) Ohio Hopewell Beam Farm · Benham Mound · Cary Village Site · Cedar-Bank Works · Dunns Pond Mound · Ellis Mounds · Ety Enclosure · Ety Habitation Site · Fort Ancient · Fortified Hill Works · Great Hopewell Road · High Banks Works · Hopeton Earthworks · Hopewell Culture National Historical Park · Indian Mound Cemetery · Keiter Mound · Marietta Earthworks · Moorehead Circle · Mound of Pipes · Nettle Lake Mound Group · Newark Earthworks · Oak Mounds · Perin Village Site · Portsmouth Earthworks · Seip Earthworks and Dill Mounds District · Shawnee Lookout · Tremper Mound and Works · Williamson Mound Archeological District
Crab Orchard culture Goodall Focus Goodall Site · Norton Mound GroupHavana Hopewell culture Kansas City Hopewell Marksville culture Miller culture Point Peninsula Complex Swift Creek culture Etowah Indian Mounds · Leake Mounds · Kolomoki Mounds Historic Park · Miner's Creek site, · Nacoochee Mound · Swift Creek mound site · Yearwood siteOther Hopewellian peoples Armstrong culture · Copena culture · Fourche Maline culture · Laurel Complex · Saugeen Complex · Old Stone Fort (Tennessee)Exotic trade items Related topics · Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley · Black drink · burial mound · Calumet (pipe) · Effigy mound · Hopewell pottery · Horned Serpent · Eastern Agricultural Complex · Underwater panther 
Coles Creek and Plum Bayou culturesLate Woodland period · List of archaeological periods (North America) Coles Creek sites Aden Site · Balmoral Mounds · Churupa Plantation Mound · Coles Creek Site · Crippen Point site · Cypress Grove Mound · DePrato Mounds · Greenhouse Site · Filhiol Mound Site · Fisher Site · Flowery Mound · Frogmore Mound Site · Ghost Site Mounds · Greenhouse Site · Insley Mounds · Kings Crossing Site · Lamarque Landing Mound · Marsden Mounds · Mazique Archeological Site · Mott Mounds · Mound Plantation · Peck Mounds · Raffman Site · Scott Place Mounds · Shackleford Church Mounds · Sundown Mounds · Transylvania Mounds · Troyville Earthworks · Venable Mound · Wade Landing Mound ·
Coastal Coles Creek sites Atchafalaya Basin Mounds (16SMY10) · Bayou Black Mound (16TR78) · Bayou Cypremont (16SMY7) · Bayou Grande Cheniere Mounds · Bayou L’Ours Site · Bayou Portage Mounds · Bayou Sorrel Mounds (16IV4) · Clovelly Site (16LF64) · Cypress Point Site (16VM112) · Eagle Point Site (16IB123) · Gibson Mounds (16TR5) · Greenwood Cemetery Site (16SMY10) · Kleinpeter Mounds · Little Cheniere Site (16CM22) · Little Pecan Island Site (16CM43) · Jerry Haas Site (16SJ51) · Machias Lake (16SB2) · Morgan Mounds (16VM9) · Pecan Mounds (16SM37) · Pennison Mounds (16AS16) · Portage Mounds (16SM5) · Richeau Field Site (16TR82) · Schwing Place Mound (16IV13) · Southwest of Cut Off Lagoon (16SB50) · St. Gabriel Mounds (16IV128) · Temple Mounds Site (16LF4) ·Plum Bayou sites Chandler Landing Site · Coy Site (3LN20) · Dogtown Site · Hayes Site (35CS196) · Maberry Site · Roland Site (3AR30) · Toltec Mounds ·Related topics · Eastern Agricultural Complex · Fourche Maline culture · Mississippian culture · Natchez · Plaquemine culture · Platform mound · Taensa · Troyville culture · 
Pre-Columbian North AmericaArchaeological cultures North American pre-Columbian chronology – Adena – Alachua – Ancient Pueblo (Anasazi) – Baytown – Belle Glade – Buttermilk Creek Complex – Caborn-Welborn – Calf Creek – Caloosahatchee – Clovis – Coles Creek – Deptford – Folsom – Fort Ancient – Fort Walton – Fremont – Glades – Glacial Kame – Hopewell (List of Hopewell sites) – Hohokam – Leon-Jefferson – Mississippian (List of Mississippian sites) – Mogollon – Monongahela – Old Cordilleran – Oneota – Paleo-Arctic – Paleo-Indians – Patayan – Plano – Plaquemine – Poverty Point – Prehistoric Southwest – Red Ocher – Santa Rosa-Swift Creek – St. Johns – Steed-Kisker – Tchefuncte – Tocobaga – Troyville
Archaeological sites Angel Mounds – Bandelier National Monument – The Bluff Point Stoneworks – Cahokia – Chaco Canyon – Casa Grande – Coso Rock Art District – Eaker – Effigy Mounds National Monument – Etowah Indian Mounds – Eva – Folsom Site – Fort Ancient – Fort Center – Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument – Holly Bluff Site – Hopewell Culture National Historical Park – Kincaid Mounds – Kolomoki – Manitou Cliff Dwellings – Marksville – Meadowcroft Rockshelter – Mesa Verde – Moorehead Circle – Moundville – Mummy Cave – Nodena Site – Ocmulgee National Monument – Old Stone Fort – Parkin Park – Pinson Mounds – Portsmouth Earthworks – Poverty Point – Pueblo Bonito – Rock Eagle – Rock Hawk – Salmon Ruins – Serpent Mound – Spiro Mounds – SunWatch – Taos Pueblo – Toltec Mounds – Town Creek Indian Mound – Winterville
Miscellaneous Ballgame – Black drink – Buhl woman – Calumet – Chunkey – Clovis point – Container Revolution – Eastern Agricultural Complex – Eden point – Effigy mound – Falcon dancer – Folsom point – Green Corn Ceremony – Horned Serpent – Kennewick man – Kiva – Metallurgy – Mi'kmaq hieroglyphic writing – Medicine wheel – Mound builders – N.A.G.P.R.A. – Norse colonization of the Americas – Piasa – Pueblo dwellings – Southeastern Ceremonial Complex – Three Sisters agriculture – Thunderbird – Underwater panther
Related: Genetic history · Indigenous Portal of North America · Pre-Columbian era Categories:- Marksville culture
- Troyville culture
- Coles Creek culture
- Plaquemine Mississippian culture
- Archaeological sites in Louisiana
- Geography of Franklin Parish, Louisiana
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
