Balmoral Mounds (
16 TE 12) 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 recorded history, historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline ...
of 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 ...
in
Tensas Parish, Louisiana
Tensas Parish () is a List of parishes in Louisiana, parish located in the northeastern section of the U.S. state, State of Louisiana; its eastern border is the Mississippi River. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population ...
. The site has components located both on the east and west sides of
US 65
U.S. Route 65 (US 65) is a north–south United States highway in the southern and midwestern United States. The southern terminus of the route is at U.S. Route 425 in Clayton, Louisiana. The northern terminus is at Interstate 35 just south of I ...
near Bayou Rousset.
Description
The site consists of 3
platform mound
A platform mound is any earthwork or mound intended to support a structure or activity. It typically refers to a flat-topped mound, whose sides may be pyramidal.
In Eastern North America
The indigenous peoples of North America built substru ...
s that form an equilateral triangle. Mound A, the southwesternmost of the group, measures in height, with the base being by . Mound B, the northernmost mound, is a dome shaped mound measuring in height, with the base being by . The northernmost mound in the triangle, Mound C, is also a dome shaped mound and measures in height, with the base being by . Core samples of Mounds A and C suggest they were built at roughly the same time and in single stages
Location
The site is located on
US 65
U.S. Route 65 (US 65) is a north–south United States highway in the southern and midwestern United States. The southern terminus of the route is at U.S. Route 425 in Clayton, Louisiana. The northern terminus is at Interstate 35 just south of I ...
south of Somerset.
[
]
See also
*Balmoral, Louisiana
Balmoral is an unincorporated community in Tensas Parish, Louisiana
Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississi ...
* Culture, phase, and chronological table for the Mississippi Valley
* Flowery Mound
Flowery Mound is an archaeological site in Tensas Parish, Louisiana with components from the Late Coles Creek and Plaquemine-Mississippian culture which dates from approximately 950–1541.
Description
The site is located on Andrews Bayou. The ...
* Ghost Site Mounds
The Ghost site ( 16 TE 18), or Ghost site mounds is an archaeological site in Tensas Parish, Louisiana, with an early to middle Coles Creek culture component (700–1200 AD) and a Late Coles Creek to Plaquemine culture component (1200 to 1541 AD) ...
* Routh Mounds
Routh Mounds is a Plaquemine culture archaeological site in Tensas Parish, Louisiana. It is the type site for the ''Routh Phase(1200 to 1350 CE)'' of the Tensas Basin Plaquemine Mississippian chronology. It is located approximately northwest of t ...
* Sundown Mounds
Sundown Mounds is a multimound archaeological site in Tensas Parish, Louisiana from the Early Coles Creek culture.
It is the type site
In archaeology, a type site (American English) or type-site (British English) is the site used to define a p ...
References
External links
Balmoral Mound
{{Pre-Columbian North America
Archaeological sites of the Coles Creek culture
Geography of Tensas Parish, Louisiana
Mounds in Louisiana
7th-century establishments in Coles Creek culture
12th-century disestablishments in Coles Creek culture