The Raffman site ( 16 MA 20 ) is an
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 a ...
located in
Madison Parish, Louisiana
Madison Parish (French: ''Paroisse de Madison'') is a parish located on the northeastern border of the U.S. state of Louisiana, in the delta lowlands along the Mississippi River. As of the 2010 census, the population was 12,093. Its parish s ...
and constructed between 700 and 1200 CE.
It has components from the
Tchefuncte culture
The Tchefuncte site (Smithsonian trinomial, 16ST1) is an archaeological site that is a type site for the prehistoric Tchefuncte culture period. The name is pronounced ''Che-funk'tuh''. It is located in the southeast section of Fontainebleau Stat ...
and the
Coles Creek culture
Coles Creek culture is a Late Woodland archaeological culture in the Lower Mississippi valley in the Southeastern Woodlands. It followed the Troyville culture. The period marks a significant change in the cultural history of the area. Population ...
, whose main period of occupation was during the
Balmoral phase
Balmoral Mounds ( 16 TE 12) is an archaeological site of the Coles Creek culture in Tensas Parish, Louisiana. The site has components located both on the east and west sides of US 65 near Bayou Rousset.
Description
The site consists of 3 platform ...
(1000-1100 CE) of the Tensas Basin and Natchez Bluffs chronology and which was virtually deserted by the end of the
Preston phase
Preston is a place name, surname and given name that may refer to:
Places
England
*Preston, Lancashire, an urban settlement
**The City of Preston, Lancashire, a borough and non-metropolitan district which contains the settlement
**County Boro ...
(1100–1200 CE).
Description
The site is quite large with nine
platform mound
Platform may refer to:
Technology
* Computing platform, a framework on which applications may be run
* Platform game, a genre of video games
* Car platform, a set of components shared by several vehicle models
* Weapons platform, a system or ...
s arranged around a central
plaza
A town square (or square, plaza, public square, city square, urban square, or ''piazza'') is an open public space, commonly found in the heart of a traditional town but not necessarily a true geometric square, used for community gatherings. ...
. The plaza is by , with Mounds A, B, C, D, E, and G closely crowded around it. Mounds H and I are located adjacent to Mound A just to the southeast of the plaza. Located on the southern boundary of the plaza is Mound A, the largest at the site. It is in height and by at its base.
[
]
Chronology
Testing of the site revealed Early Woodland period
In the classification of archaeological cultures of North America, the Woodland period of North American pre-Columbian cultures spanned a period from roughly 1000 BCE to European contact in the eastern part of North America, with some archaeologi ...
deposits from the Tchefuncte period (600 BCE to 200 CE) underlying the Coles Creek period mounds (700 to 1200 CE).Late Woodland
In the classification of archaeological cultures of North America, the Woodland period of North American pre-Columbian cultures spanned a period from roughly 1000 BCE to European contact in the eastern part of North America, with some archaeolog ...
occupations. Sometime after 700 CE the inhabitants of the site began erecting large flat and conical mounds. By 1000 CE during the Coles Creek period a massive construction effort succeeded in restructuring the plaza and further mounds were added to the group. About 1200 CE the site was almost entirely abandoned.
Excavations
Raffman is first mentioned as an archaeological site in 1954 by noted archaeologists Philip Phillips and Robert Neitzel. Except for some mapping and shovel tests in 1981 by Williams, Belmont and Kardish, investigations over the fifty years were sparse.[ Beginning in the late 1990s the site was excavated over multiple seasons by archaeologist Tristam R. Kidder in 1998 and 2000 and then by Lori Roe and Kidder in 2002 and 2004.][
]
See also
* Culture, phase, and chronological table for the Mississippi Valley
References
External links
T.R. Kidder: Geoarchaeology at the Raffman site
{{Pre-Columbian North America
Archaeological sites of the Coles Creek culture
Mounds in Louisiana
Geography of Madison Parish, Louisiana