Troyville Earthworks

Woodland period Native American archaeological site in Jonesville, Louisiana, United States

Troyville Earthworks
(16 CT 7)

Artists conception of Troyville Earthworks

Location within Louisiana today

Location| Catahoula Parish, Louisiana, United States
Region| Catahoula Parish, Louisiana
Coordinates| 31°37′36.59″N 91°48′56.12″W﻿ / ﻿31.6268306°N 91.8155889°W﻿ / 31.6268306; -91.8155889
History
Founded| 100 BCE
Abandoned| 1100 CE
Cultures| Baytown culture, Troyville culture-Coles Creek culture
Site notes
Excavation dates| 1931-1932,
Archaeologists| Winslow Walker
Architecture
Architectural styles| platform mounds, plaza
Responsible body: private

Troyville Earthworks (16 CT 7) is a Woodland period Native American archaeological site with components dating from 100 BCE to 700 CE during the Baytown to the Troyville-Coles Creek periods. It once had the tallest mound in Louisiana at 82 feet (25 m) in height. It is located in Catahoula Parish, Louisiana in the town of Jonesville.[1] The site is the type site for the Troyville culture of the lower Ouachita and Tensas River valleys.[2] Before it was destroyed for bridge approach fill in 1931, the main mound at Troyville was one of the tallest in North America.

## Site description

[edit]

Layout of the site

The site is at the confluence of the Tensas, Ouachita, and Little Rivers. It had nine platform mounds and a perimeter embankment that were built before 700 CE. A historian, John W. Monette, in 1844 described the complex as occupying close to 400 acres and noted the existence of twelve small mounds and one large one.[3] The embankment was started during the Middle Baytown period, with periodic repair work taking place during the Late Baytown period.[4] The largest mound, Mound 5 ( also known as the "Great Mound" ), was 82 feet (25 m) in height.[1] It was the tallest precolumbian mound in Louisiana and the second tallest in North America. Its base covered an acre of ground[5] and had three levels, the bottom two rectangular and the third on the top a truncated conical mound.[6] Monette described the lower level of Mound 5 as being 300 feet (91 m) by 150 feet (46 m) at its base and rising to the height of 30 feet (9.1 m). He described the conical mound at the top as 30 feet (9.1 m).[3] Measurements for the smaller mounds at the site were about 12 feet (3.7 m) to 20 feet (6.1 m) in height with bases measuring 150 feet (46 m) by 60 feet (18 m). Four of the mounds were surrounded on the southern and western side of the plaza by the embankment, which measured 10 feet (3.0 m) in height, 10 feet (3.0 m) in width and 100 feet (30 m) across.[5]

By the time of the American Civil War, the mound had been reduced in size to 50 feet (15 m) in height.[1] During the Civil War, the mound was reduced even further when some of its fill was removed to construct Confederate rifle pits. In 1871 the town of Jonesville was founded on the site and more of Mound A's fill was used to fill ditches (borrow pits created by the removal of earth to construct the mounds themselves) and level the land as the town grew. The townspeople frequently camped out on the mounds during flooding.[7]

In 1883 the site was visited by the prominent ethnologist Cyrus Thomas, who described the group as then consisting of six mounds within an embankment, with some of the smaller mounds having been largely destroyed. One had been turned into a modern cemetery, which can still be seen today on the grounds of the local Methodist Church. The Great Mound had also been reduced, by this time it was only 45 feet (14 m) in height, 270 feet (82 m) in length and 180 feet (55 m) in width.[8] In 1931 the mound was drastically reduced in size, the majority of its remaining mass being used as fill for a nearby bridge approach.[1] Today the mound is only 3 feet (0.91 m) in height.

## Excavations

[edit]

Different heights and profiles of Mound 5

The site takes its name from the Troy Plantation, which was part of a Spanish land grant of 1,000 acres made to John Hebrard in 1786.[7] William Dunbar was the first European to make note of the mound site in his report to Thomas Jefferson for the Red River expedition of 1804. It is the first written description of an archaeological site in Louisiana.[4]

In 1931 and 1932 the Smithsonian archaeologist Winslow Walker excavated parts of the site. He found woven cane matting, palmetto fronds, and wooden planks within the mound, materials used by the Native Americans as part of the complex engineering to build the large structure.[1] These materials had been used to construct a "cane dome", which had been layered like an onion by alternating layers of split cane and mound fill to strengthen the structure. The builders also used different colors of dirt, including blue clays and red clays. Walker also discovered a log palisade and steps made of tree trunks up one corner of the mound. He published a 103-page booklet on his work.[7]

In the late 2000s parts of the site were being investigated for purchase by The Archaeological Conservancy, a nonprofit organization that plans to protect the site from future degradation.[9] The Conservancy purchased the site of Mound 4 and the old house located on the property was demolished. The Conservancy plans to landscape and fence the site and use it as a research preserve.[7]

## See also

[edit]

* Monks Mound
* Culture, phase, and chronological table for the Mississippi Valley

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c d e "Indian Mounds of Northeast Louisiana : Troyville Earthworks". Louisiana Dept. Of Culture, Recreation & Tourism. Retrieved 2017-12-22.
2. ^ "Final excavation of Troyville Mounds underway". Catahoula Parish History. 2005-04-18. Retrieved 2011-10-22.
3. ^ a b Winslow M. Walker (1936). The Troyville Mounds Catahoula, LA. Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology.
4. ^ a b Mark A. Rees; Ian W. Brown (2010-12-01). Archaeology of Louisiana. LSU Press. pp. 154–156\. ISBN 978-0-8071-3705-5.
5. ^ a b Mark A. Rees; Ian W. Brown (2010-12-01). Archaeology of Louisiana. LSU Press. pp. 19–22\. ISBN 978-0-8071-3705-5.
6. ^ Jessica Crawford. "A Reminder of Troyville : The Conservancy saves a mound from a 1,400-year-old site in Louisiana". Catahoula Parish History. Retrieved 2011-10-22.
7. ^ a b c d Stanley Nelson (2009-07-02). "Jonesville bridge demolition opens the door for Troyville Indian research". Concordia Sentinel. Retrieved 2011-10-22.
8. ^ Will Clifton. "Louisiana's Ancient Troyville Mounds". Catahoula Parish History. Retrieved 2011-10-22.
9. ^ "Jonesville/Troyville featured nationally in American Archaeology Magazine". Concordia Sentinel. Retrieved 2011-10-21.

## External links

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Troyville Earthworks.

* Troyville Earthworks I: Ancient Mounds Trail - Louisiana Historical Markers on Waymarking.com
* Troyville Earthworks II: Ancient Mounds Trail - Louisiana Historical Markers on Waymarking.com
* Jonesville site (Troyville Great Mound)
* The builders of the Great Mound at Jonesville
* Great Mound was once the tallest in North America

* v
* t
* e

Baytown and Troyville cultures

* Late Woodland period
* List of archaeological periods (North America)

Baytown sites|

* Baytown Site
* Holly Bluff site
* Roland Site
* Winterville Mounds

Troyville sites|

* DePrato Mounds
* Greenhouse site
* Marsden Mounds
* Mott Archaeological Preserve
* Peck Mounds
* Troyville Earthworks
* Venable Mound

Related topics
Coles Creek culture
Eastern Agricultural Complex
Fourche Maline culture
Marksville culture
Platform mound
Plum Bayou culture

* v
* t
* e

Coles Creek and Plum Bayou cultures

* Late Woodland period
* List of archaeological periods (North America)

Coles Creek sites|

* Aden site
* Balmoral Mounds
* Boone's Mounds
* Churupa Plantation Mound
* Coles Creek Site
* Crippen Point site
* Cypress Grove Mound
* DePrato Mounds
* Feltus Mound Site
* Filhiol Mound Site
* Fisher site
* Flowery Mound
* Frogmore Mound Site
* Ghost Site Mounds
* Greenhouse site
* Insley Mounds
* Kings Crossing site
* Lamarque Landing Mound
* Marsden Mounds
* Mazique Archeological Site
* Mott Mounds
* Mound Plantation
* Peck Mounds
* Raffman site
* Scott Place Mounds
* Shackleford Church Mounds
* Spanish Fort
* Sundown Mounds
* Transylvania Mounds
* Troyville Earthworks
* Venable Mound
* Wade Landing Mound

Coastal
Coles Creek sites|

* Atchafalaya Basin Mounds
* Bayou Black Mound (16TR78)
* Bayou Cypremont (16SMY7)
* Bayou Grande Cheniere Mounds
* Bayou L’Ours Site
* Bayou Portage Mounds
* Bayou Sorrel Mounds (16IV4)
* Clovelly Site (16LF64)
* Cypress Point Site (16VM112)
* Eagle Point Site (16IB123)
* Gibson Mounds (16TR5)
* Greenwood Cemetery Site (16SMY10)
* Kleinpeter Mounds
* Little Cheniere Site (16CM22)
* Little Pecan Island Site
* Jerry Haas Site (16SJ51)
* Machias Lake (16SB2)
* Morgan Mounds
* Pecan Mounds (16SM37)
* Pennison Mounds (16AS16)
* Portage Mounds (16SM5)
* Richeau Field Site (16TR82)
* Schwing Place Mound (16IV13)
* Sims site
* Southwest of Cut Off Lagoon (16SB50)
* St. Gabriel Mounds (16IV128)
* Temple Mounds Site (16LF4)

Plum Bayou sites|

* Baytown Site
* Chandler Landing Site
* Coy Site
* Dogtown Site
* Hayes site
* Maberry Site
* Plum Bayou Mounds
* Roland Site

Related topics
Eastern Agricultural Complex
Fourche Maline culture
Mississippian culture
Natchez
Plaquemine culture
Platform mound
Taensa
Troyville culture

* v
* t
* e

Pre-Columbian North America

Periods
Lithic
Archaic
Formative
Classic
Post-Classic

Archaeological
cultures|

* Adena
* Alachua
* Ancient Beringian
* Ancestral Pueblo (Anasazi)
* Anishinaabe
* Avonlea
* Baytown
* Belle Glade
* Buttermilk Creek complex
* Caborn-Welborn
* Cades Pond
* Calf Creek
* Caloosahatchee
* Clovis
* Coles Creek
* Comondú
* Deptford
* Folsom
* Fort Ancient
* Fort Walton
* Fremont
* Glacial Kame
* Glades
* Hohokam
* Hopewell
* List of Hopewell sites
* La Jolla
* Las Palmas
* Maritime Archaic
* Mississippian
* List of Mississippian sites
* Mogollon
* Monongahela
* Old Cordilleran
* Oneota
* Paleo-Arctic
* Paleo-Indians
* Patayan
* Plano
* Plaquemine
* Poverty Point
* Red Ocher
* Safety Harbor
* Santa Rosa-Swift Creek
* St. Johns
* Steed-Kisker
* Suwannee Valley
* Tchefuncte
* Troyville
* Weeden Island

Archaeological
sites|

* Angel Mounds
* Anzick site
* Bandelier National Monument
* Bastian
* Benson
* Blue Spring Shelter
* Bluefish Caves
* The Bluff Point Stoneworks
* Brewster
* Cahokia
* Candelaria Cave
* Carlisle Fort
* Casa Grande
* Chaco Canyon
* Coso Rock Art District
* Crystal River
* Cuarenta Casas
* Cueva de la Olla
* Cutler
* Eaker
* El Fin del Mundo
* El Vallecito
* Effigy Mounds
* Etowah Indian Mounds
* Eva
* Folsom
* Fort Ancient
* Fort Center
* Fort Juelson
* Four Mounds
* Gila Cliff Dwellings
* Glenwood
* Grimes Point
* Helen Blazes
* Holly Bluff
* Hopewell Culture National Historical Park
* Horr's Island
* Huápoca
* Key Marco
* Kimball Village
* Kincaid Mounds
* Kolomoki Mounds
* Lake Jackson Mounds
* Lehner Mammoth-Kill Site
* L'Anse aux Meadows
* Lynch Quarry Site
* Marksville
* Marmes Rockshelter
* Meadowcroft Rockshelter
* Mesa Verde
* Moaning Cavern
* Moorehead Circle
* Morrison Mounds
* Moundville
* Mummy Cave
* Nodena site
* Ocmulgee Mounds
* Old Stone Fort
* Orwell site
* Paquime
* Painted Bluff
* Parkin Park
* Pinson Mounds
* Plum Bayou Mounds
* Portsmouth Earthworks
* Poverty Point
* Pueblo Bonito
* Rassawek
* Recapture Canyon
* River Styx
* Roberts Island
* Rock Eagle
* Rock Hawk
* Rosenstock Village
* Russell Cave
* Salmon Ruins
* Serpent Mound
* Sierra de San Francisco
* Shell ring sites
* Spiro Mounds
* Stallings Island
* SunWatch
* Taos Pueblo
* Town Creek Indian Mound
* Turkey River Mounds
* Upward Sun River
* Velda Mound
* West Oak Forest Earthlodge
* Wickiup Hill
* Windover
* Winterville
* Wupatki

Human
remains|

* Anzick-1
* Arlington Springs Man
* Buhl Woman
* Kennewick Man
* La Brea Woman
* Leanderthal Lady
* Melbourne Man
* Minnesota Woman
* Peñon woman
* Spirit Cave mummy
* Vero man

Miscellaneous|

* Aridoamerica
* Ballgame
* Black drink
* Ceremonial pipe
* Chanunpa
* Chunkey
* Clovis point
* Container Revolution
* Eastern Agricultural Complex
* Eden point
* Effigy mound
* Falcon dancer
* Folsom point
* Green Corn Ceremony
* Horned Serpent
* Kiva
* Medicine wheel
* Metallurgy
* Mi'kmaq hieroglyphic writing
* Mound Builders
* N.A.G.P.R.A.
* Norse colonization of North America
* Oasisamerica
* Piasa
* Projectile point
* Southeastern Ceremonial Complex
* Stickball
* Three Sisters agriculture
* Thunderbird
* Transoceanic contact
* Underwater panther
* Water glyphs

Related
Genetic history
Pre-Columbian era
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