Marksville Prehistoric Indian Site

Marksville Prehistoric Indian Site
16 AV 1
History
Artists conception of the site layout.
Location in Louisiana today
Location	Marksville, Louisiana, Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana, USA
Region	Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana
Coordinates	31°7′29″N 92°2′52″W / 31.12472°N 92.04778°W / 31.12472; -92.04778
Cultures	Marksville culture, Avoyel and Natchez peoples
Site notes
Responsible body: State

Marksville Prehistoric Indian Site
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark

Architect	Unknown
NRHP reference No.	66000372
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	October 15, 1966^[1]
Designated NHL	July 19, 1964^[2]

Marksville Prehistoric Indian Site (16 AV 1), also known as the Marksville State Historic Site, is a Marksville culture archaeological site located 1 mile (1.6 km) southeast of Marksville in Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana. The site features numerous earthworks built by the prehistoric indigenous peoples of southeastern North America.

Description

Marksville is the type site for the Marksville culture (a local variation of the Hopewell tradition) and was the first scientifically excavated site for the culture. Centuries later the Avoyel and Natchez peoples lived in the vicinity of the site until 1700.^[3] Burial mounds at the site are surrounded by a horseshoe-shaped earthen embankment about 3,000 feet (910 m) long. The site is also one of the largest of the period in the southeastern United States, with large and distinctive ring features not found elsewhere. The site's importance has been known since the 1920s, when it was first formally investigated, and it is regularly the subject of further investigation. Radiometric dating of the sites features have yielded occupancy dates from 0-400 CE.^[4]

Landmark and access

The archaeological site was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1964.^[2]^[5] The site is now also a State Commemorative Area.

The 42-acre (170,000 m²) site is maintained by the state of Louisiana and features a museum with artifacts found at the site and exhibits about the prehistoric people that lived in the Marksville culture area.^[6] There are also trails to the mounds and picnic facilities.

As of July 2018, the park is not open to the public and can only be accessed with a two-week advance notice to the Louisiana State Parks' district office.

References

^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
^ ^a ^b "Marksville Prehistoric Indian Site". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Retrieved 2008-01-04.
^ Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism. "Marksville Indian Museum Historical Marker".
^ McGimsey, Chip (Summer 2003). "The Rings of Marksville". Southeastern Archaeology (Volume 22, No. 1): 47–62. JSTOR 40713264. {{cite journal}}: |issue= has extra text (help)
^ Griffin, John W. (February 28, 1964). "National Survey of Historic Sites and Buildings: Marksville" (pdf). National Park Service. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help) and Accompanying photos, exterior and interior, from 19. (32 KB)
^ "Louisiana Prehistory-Marksville, Troyville-Coles Creek, and Caddo". Archived from the original on 2008-12-15. Retrieved 2010-02-04. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Marksville State Historic Site.

Marksville State Historic Site - Louisiana Office of State Parks - Official Page
Jones, Dennis (1991). Weinsten, Richard A. (ed.). "The Avoyelles Prairie Terrace : Concentrated Archaeology" (PDF). Louisiana Archaeological Society Newsletter. 18 (1). Louisiana Archaeological Society: 10–15. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-04-15. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)

v t e Hopewellian peoples
Woodland period List of Hopewell sites Mound Builders List of archaeological periods (North America)
Ohio Hopewell	Beam Farm Benham Mound Cary Village Site Cedar-Bank Works Dunns Pond Mound Ellis Mounds Ety Enclosure Ety Habitation Site Everett Knoll Complex Fort Ancient Fortified Hill Works Great Hopewell Road High Banks Works Hopeton Earthworks Hopewell Culture National Historical Park Indian Mound Cemetery Keiter Mound Marietta Earthworks Moorehead Circle Mound of Pipes Nettle Lake Mound Group Newark Earthworks Oak Mounds Orators Perin Village Site Pollock Works Portsmouth Earthworks Rocky Fork Enclosures Rocky Fork Mounds Seip Earthworks and Dill Mounds District Shawnee Lookout Shriver Circle Earthworks Stubbs Earthworks Tremper Mound and Works Williamson Mound Archeological District
Crab Orchard culture	Carrier Mills Archaeological District Cleiman Mound Hubele site Mann site O'byams Fort site Wilson site Yankeetown site
Goodall focus	Goodall site Norton Mound group
Havana Hopewell culture	Albany Mounds State Historic Site Dickson Mounds Duncan Farm Golden Eagle-Toppmeyer Site Kamp Mound Site Mound House site Naples Archeological District Naples Mound 8 Ogden-Fettie Site Rockwell Mound Sinnissippi Mounds Toolesboro Mound Group
Kansas City Hopewell	Cloverdale archaeological site Renner Village Archeological Site Trowbridge Archeological Site
Marksville culture	Crooks Mound Grand Gulf Mound Marksville Prehistoric Indian Site Mott Archaeological Preserve
Miller culture	Bynum Mound and Village Site Ingomar Mound Miller Site Pharr Mounds Pinson Mounds
Point Peninsula complex	Lewiston Mound Serpent Mounds Park LeVescounte Mounds
Swift Creek culture Santa Rosa-Swift Creek culture	Crystal River Archaeological State Park Etowah Indian Mounds Leake Mounds Kolomoki Mounds Miner's Creek site Pierce Site Swift Creek mound site Third Gulf Breeze Yearwood site Yent Mound
Other Hopewellian peoples	Armstrong culture Copena culture Fourche Maline culture Laurel complex Saugeen complex Old Stone Fort (Tennessee)
Exotic trade items	Copper Galena Mica Fresh water pearls Obsidian Pipestone Sea shells
Related topics Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley Black drink burial mound Ceremonial pipe Effigy mound Hopewell pottery Horned Serpent Eastern Agricultural Complex Underwater panther

v t e Pre-Columbian North America
Periods Lithic Archaic Formative Classic Post-Classic
Archaeological cultures	Adena Alachua Ancient Beringian Ancestral Pueblo (Anasazi) 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 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 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 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

v t e U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Topics	Architectural style categories Contributing property Historic district History of the National Register of Historic Places Keeper of the Register National Park Service Property types
Lists by state	List of U.S. National Historic Landmarks by state: Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming
Lists by insular areas	American Samoa Guam Minor Outlying Islands Northern Mariana Islands Puerto Rico Virgin Islands
Lists by associated state	Federated States of Micronesia Marshall Islands Palau
Other areas	District of Columbia American Legation, Morocco
Related	National Historic Preservation Act Historic Preservation Fund List of jails and prisons on the National Register of Historic Places University and college buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places portal Category

Protected areas of Louisiana

Federal

National Historical Parks	Cane River Creole Jean Lafitte NHP and Preserve New Orleans Jazz
National Monuments	Poverty Point
National Marine Sanctuary	Flower Garden Banks
National Forests	Kisatchie
National wild and scenic rivers	Saline Bayou
National Wildlife Refuge System	Atchafalaya Bayou Cocodrie Bayou Sauvage Bayou Teche Big Branch Marsh Black Bayou Lake Bogue Chitto Breton Cameron Prairie Cat Island Catahoula D'Arbonne Delta East Cove Grand Cote Handy Brake Lacassine Lake Ophelia Mandalay Red River Sabine Shell Keys Tensas River Upper Ouachita

State

State Parks	Bayou Segnette Bogue Chitto Chemin-A-Haut Chicot Cypremort Point Fairview-Riverside Fontainebleau Grand Isle Hodges Gardens Jimmie Davis Lake Bistineau Lake Bruin Lake Claiborne Lake D-Arbonne Lake Fausse Pointe North Toledo Bend Palmetto Island Poverty Point Reservoir St. Bernard Sam Houston Jones South Toledo Bend Tickfaw
State Historic Sites	Audubon Centenary Fort Jesup Fort Pike Fort St. Jean Baptiste Forts Randolph & Buhlow Locust Grove Longfellow-Evangeline Los Adaes Mansfield Plaquemine Lock Port Hudson Poverty Point Rebel State Rosedown Plantation Winter Quarters
State Preservation Area	Louisiana State Arboretum
State Forests	Alexander Indian Creek
State Wildlife Refuges	Elmer's Island Marsh Island Rockefeller St. Tammany State Terrebonne Barrier Islands White Lake Wetlands
Wildlife management areas	Acadiana Conservation Corridor Atchafalaya Delta Attakapas Barataria Preserve Bayou Macon Bayou Pierre Ben Lilly Conservation Area Ben's Creek Big Colewa Bayou Big Lake Biloxi Bodcau Boeuf Bonnet Carré Spillway Buckhorn Camp Beauregard Catahoula Lake Clear Creek Dewey Wills Elbow Slough Elm Hall Floy Ward McElroy Fort Polk Grassy Lake Hutchinson Creek Indian Bayou Jackson Bienville J. C. "Sonny" Gilbert Wildlife Management Area Joyce Lake Boeuf Lake Ramsey Savannah Little River Loggy Bayou Manchac Marsh Bayou Maurepas Swamp Old River Control Ouachita Pass A Loutre Pearl River Peason Ridge Pointe-aux-Chenes Pomme de Terre Richard K. Yancey Russell Sage Sabine Sabine Island Salvador/Timken Sandy Hollow Sherburne (See: Atchafalaya Delta) Soda Lake Spring Bayou Tangipahoa Parish School Board Thistlethwaite Three Rivers Tunica Hills Union Walnut Hill West Bay

Other

Private	Bird City Paul J. Rainey Wildlife Sanctuary
City	Bluebonnet Swamp Nature Center

Description

Landmark and access

See also

References

External links