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Marksville Prehistoric Indian Site, also known as the Marksville site, ( 16 AV 1) is a Marksville culture
Marksville is the
Marksville State Historic Site - Louisiana Office of State Parks
- Official Page * {{authority control Marksville culture Native American museums in Louisiana Archaeological museums in Louisiana Museums in Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana Mounds in Louisiana National Historic Landmarks in Louisiana Louisiana State Historic Sites Archaeological type sites Protected areas of Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Louisiana National Register of Historic Places in Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana
archaeological site
An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology an ...
located southeast of Marksville in Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana. The site features numerous earthworks built by the prehistoric indigenous peoples of southeastern North America.
Description
Marksville is the type site
In archaeology, a type site is the site used to define a particular archaeological culture or other typological unit, which is often named after it. For example, discoveries at La Tène and Hallstatt led scholars to divide the European Iron ...
for the Marksville culture (a local variation of the Hopewell tradition
The Hopewell tradition, also called the Hopewell culture and Hopewellian exchange, describes a network of precontact Native American cultures that flourished in settlements along rivers in the northeastern and midwestern Eastern Woodlands from ...
) and was the first scientifically excavated site for the culture. Centuries later the Avoyel and Natchez peoples lived in the vicinity of the site until 1700. Burial mound
Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...
s at the site are surrounded by a horseshoe-shaped earthen embankment about long. The site is also one of the largest of the period in the southeastern United States, with large and distinctive ring features not found elsewhere. The site's importance has been known since the 1920s, when it was first formally investigated, and it is regularly the subject of further investigation. Radiometric dating of the sites features have yielded occupancy dates from 0-400 CE.
Landmark and access
The archaeological site was declared aNational Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...
in 1964. and
The site was formerly operated by the State of Louisiana as a Louisiana State Park, however, in August 2020, the ownership and operations of the site transferred to the City of Marksville. As of November 2021, the site is closed to public access.
See also
* Crooks mound *Grand Gulf Mound
The Grand Gulf Mound (22CB522) is an Early Marksville culture archaeological site located near Port Gibson in Claiborne County, Mississippi, on a bluff east of the Mississippi River, north of the mouth of the Big Black River. The site has an e ...
* List of Hopewell sites
This is a list of Hopewell sites. The Hopewell tradition (also incorrectly called the "Hopewell culture") refers to the common aspects of the Native American culture that flourished along rivers in the northeastern and midwestern United States fr ...
* List of National Historic Landmarks in Louisiana
* National Register of Historic Places listings in Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana
__NOTOC__
This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana.
This is intended to be a complete list of the properties and districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Avoyelles Parish, ...
References
External links
Marksville State Historic Site - Louisiana Office of State Parks
- Official Page * {{authority control Marksville culture Native American museums in Louisiana Archaeological museums in Louisiana Museums in Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana Mounds in Louisiana National Historic Landmarks in Louisiana Louisiana State Historic Sites Archaeological type sites Protected areas of Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Louisiana National Register of Historic Places in Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana