Deprato Mounds (
16 CO 37), also known as the ''Ferriday Mounds'', is a multi-mound
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
Concordia Parish, Louisiana
Concordia Parish (french: Paroisse de Concordia) borders the Mississippi River in eastern central Louisiana. As of the 2010 census, the population was 20,822. The parish seat is Vidalia. The parish was formed in 1807.
Concordia Parish is part ...
. The site shows occupation from the
Troyville period to the
Middle Coles Creek period (400 to 800 CE). The largest mound at the site has been dated by radiocarbon analysis and decorated pottery to about 600 CE.
The site was added to the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
on October 22, 1998.
Description
The site is a complex of five
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 and 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. ...
area taking up about four acres of land to the east of the
confluence of Black Bayou and
Bayou Cocodrie
In usage in the Southern United States, a bayou () is a body of water typically found in a flat, low-lying area. It may refer to an extremely slow-moving stream, river (often with a poorly defined shoreline), marshy lake, wetland, or creek. They ...
. The mounds now appear smaller than they did in the past because extensive flooding in the centuries since their construction has deposited of sediment over the base of the mounds and the plaza.
[
The largest remaining mound, Mound C, has a base measuring by and is about in height. Mound D was demolished to provide fill for a highway construction project. Mound E was built on as the site of a private house. During excavations, human remains were found in three of the mounds.][ The site has been purchased by ]The Archaeological Conservancy
The Archaeological Conservancy is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that acquires and preserves archaeological sites in the United States. Whereas nearly every other nation protects all archaeological sites within its borders as part of its natio ...
, a nonprofit organization that plans to protect the site from future degradation.
See also
* Frogmore Mound Site
Frogmore Mound Site ( 16 CO 9) is an archaeological site of the Late Coles Creek culture in Concordia Parish, Louisiana. The site is located west of Ferriday on US 84. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 28, 2004.
...
* Troyville Mounds
* Culture, phase, and chronological table for the Mississippi Valley
*
References
Notes
External links
Louisiana Life Magazine:Mounds of Mystery
Deprato Mounds at waymarking.com
{{Concordia Parish, Louisiana
Troyville culture
Archaeological sites of the Coles Creek culture
Mounds in Louisiana
Geography of Concordia Parish, Louisiana