You don't need to go to the wilderness or paddle down a river to find the oldest structures in the Americas.
At the north end of LSU's campus, there are two grassy mounds that rise in a gentle slope to a height of about 6 meters. The mounds were built by Indigenous Americans in Louisiana. A new study has determined the age of the structures.
There are layers of clay, dirt and ash on the grass. The oldest human-made structure found in North or South America is 11,000 years old.
The study's author, a professor of geology at LSU, said there was nothing known about man-made mounds in the Americas. In the June issue of the American Journal of Science, the research was published.
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The researchers were able to determine the age of the mounds by taking the cores from them. The researchers found layers of clay and ash from burned reed and cane plants in the core.
The researchers think that the mounds were built for religious or ceremonial reasons because the flames from reed and cane are too hot to cook food with.
The mounds are different ages. The oldest of the two is Mound B. According to the researchers, Mound B is 11,000 years old, while Mound A is over 7,000 years old. The oldest pyramid in Egypt, the Step Pyramid of Djoser, was built around 4,700 years ago.
Researchers studied the core and surrounding landscape to build a general timetable for the construction of the mounds. There is a large depression in the ground near the LSU's Hill Memorial Library. Ancient humans built up the mound with clay and burned plants and animals on it.
Researchers don't know why Mound B was abandoned. A changing climate could have made a difference. For reasons unknown, temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere suddenly dropped around 35 degrees Fahrenheit (19.4 degrees Celsius) over the course of about 160 years.
"We don't know why they abandoned the mounds, but we do know their environment changed suddenly and dramatically, which may have affected many aspects of their daily life," Ellwood said.
The first image of two.
Researchers from LSU examined a core from one of the mounds. The image was taken at LSU.
A study led by a professor of geology at LSU has revealed new information about the LSU Campus Mounds, including how old they are and a coordinated alignment of both mounds towards a star in the night sky. The image was taken at LSU.
There was no evidence of human activity at the site for the next 1000 years. The mud from a floodplain was used to build Mound A, which is now the LSU Tiger Stadium.
The mounds line up just east of the north, which is where the giant red star Arcturus would have been thousands of years ago. According to Ellwood, the mounds were completed around 6,000 years ago.
The university is trying to save these monuments. Researchers have told students and visitors not to walk or sit on the mounds in the past. The structures were important to the Indigenous Americans who lived there. LSU is planning to protect the mounds by building a path and buffer zone of native plants so visitors can see them without damaging them.
It was originally published on Live Science
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