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The Sims site ( 16SC2), also known as Sims Place site, is an
The large site is located along both banks of a small stream known as Bayou Saut d'Ours and at one time had five to six earthen mounds, but only two mounds and the remains of a third mound are visible today. Mound A is topped by a historic period cemetery. It was one of the largest if not the largest site in the vicinity during the time of its occupation and likely served as a local civic and ceremonial center as well as being a center of trade. The inhabitants traded their local marine resources, including such locally produced items as shells and shell beads, to peoples located further up the Lower
Pieces of the past highlight ancient history of Paradis
{{Pre-Columbian North America Archaeological sites of the Coles Creek culture Plaquemine Mississippian culture Mounds in Louisiana Geography of St. Charles Parish, Louisiana Tourist attractions in St. Charles 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 in Saint Charles Parish, Louisiana, near the town of Paradis. The location is a multi-component mound and village complex with 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 ...
s and extensive midden deposits. The site habitations are divided into three periods. It was first inhabited about 800 CE by peoples of the Coastal Coles Creek culture. By 1100 CE the culture of the site had transitioned into the Mississippianized Plaquemine culture that lasted until 1450 CE. A little later was a Late Mississippian/protohistoric period that lasted from 1500 until about 1700 or 1800.
Site description
The large site is located along both banks of a small stream known as Bayou Saut d'Ours and at one time had five to six earthen mounds, but only two mounds and the remains of a third mound are visible today. Mound A is topped by a historic period cemetery. It was one of the largest if not the largest site in the vicinity during the time of its occupation and likely served as a local civic and ceremonial center as well as being a center of trade. The inhabitants traded their local marine resources, including such locally produced items as shells and shell beads, to peoples located further up the Lower Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it ...
valley.
The local use of Plaquemine culture pottery grog
Grog is a term used for a variety of alcoholic beverages.
The word originally referred to rum diluted with water (and later on long sea voyages, also added the juice of limes or lemons), which British Vice-Admiral Edward Vernon introduce ...
tempering for pottery and the gradual adoption of shell tempered pottery
Mississippian culture pottery is the ceramic tradition of the Mississippian culture (800 to 1600 CE) found as artifacts in archaeological sites in the American Midwest and Southeast. It is often characterized by the adoption and use of riverine ( ...
associated with other areas has allowed archaeologists to track trade interactions with the people of the Sims site and peoples from these other areas. During the second occupation period trade expanded, and the local ceramics show connections to Lower Mississippi Valley peoples and Plaquemine peoples located near modern-day Barataria Bay and to peoples of the Pensacola culture, located on the upper Gulf Coast
The Gulf Coast of the United States, also known as the Gulf South, is the coastline along the Southern United States where they meet the Gulf of Mexico. The coastal states that have a shoreline on the Gulf of Mexico are Texas, Louisiana, Missis ...
near what is modern-day Biloxi, Mississippi
Biloxi ( ; ) is a city in and one of two county seats of Harrison County, Mississippi, United States (the other being the adjacent city of Gulfport). The 2010 United States Census recorded the population as 44,054 and in 2019 the estimated pop ...
. This period, between 1100 and 1450 CE, was during the initial phases of occupation and expansion of the Bottle Creek site, the major center of the Pensacola culture. This period also sees the most significant Plaquemine connections at the site. The next phase sees increasing contact with Mississipianized Plaquemine peoples from as far up the Mississippi River as the Baton Rouge
Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. Located the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, it is the parish seat of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana's most populous parish—the equivalent of countie ...
area, as well as continued interaction with the Mississippian Pensacola peoples.
See also
*List of Mississippian sites
This is a list of Mississippian sites. The Mississippian culture was a mound-building Native American culture that flourished in what is now the Midwestern, inland- Eastern, and Southeastern United States from approximately 800 CE to 1500 ...
* Bayou Grande Cheniere Mounds
* Medora site
References
External links
Pieces of the past highlight ancient history of Paradis
{{Pre-Columbian North America Archaeological sites of the Coles Creek culture Plaquemine Mississippian culture Mounds in Louisiana Geography of St. Charles Parish, Louisiana Tourist attractions in St. Charles Parish, Louisiana