(ORDO NEWS) — The construction of two Indian mounds in the state of Louisiana lasted for more than a thousand years. An article about this was published in the American Journal of Science.
On the territory of North America, about 800 mounds erected by people are known. The first European settlers did not believe that they were built by the Indians, and considered them the fruit of some other advanced civilization. Modern scientists reject this version, but the issue of dating the construction is still very important.
Brooks Ellwood of Louisiana State University and colleagues collected cores from two burial mounds on campus that stand six meters high.
In them, they found the ashes of plants, as well as burnt bones, animal bones, which made it possible to carry out radiocarbon analysis.
Radiocarbon dating of layers of material gave an unexpected result. Apparently, mounds have been built for thousands of years. The first began to be built about 11 thousand years ago, but they worked extremely slowly.
According to scientists, the mound was built over several thousand years, layer by layer, up to about half of its current height, until it was abandoned 8,200 years ago. Material for construction was taken nearby, and a pit is still visible at this place. After that, people left these places due to global cooling.
About 7500 years ago, the construction of the second mound began, using silt from the river for this. The mound was also raised to half its current height, after which they began to complete the first one.
After its completion, the builders again returned to the second, the construction of both was completed about six thousand years ago.
According to scientists, the mounds were erected for ceremonial purposes and oriented by the stars: their crests follow the path along which the star Arcturus rose in the night sky six thousand years ago, the fourth brightest star in today’s sky.
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