Mississippi's Mounds Built By The Indigenous People Are Incredibly Important Landforms - Scientists

Mississippi’s Mounds Built By The Indigenous People Are Incredibly Important Landforms – Scientists Say

AncientPages.com | July 25, 2023 |

Jan Bartek - AncientPages.com - Earthen and shell mounds built hundreds of years ago by Indigenous people in the Mississippi River Delta contribute to biodiversity and the area's resiliency to erosion today, research by a Florida State University archaeologist has found.

As Indigenous communities in what is now Louisiana mined resources from the environment, they created earthen and shell mounds on the marsh grass coasts, which also served as strategic vantage points for surveying the plains.



Aerial view of Cahokia Mounds Native American burial grounds near Collinsville, Illinois, USA.
Credit: Adobe Stock - Kent

Today, the river delta's ecosystem and cultural history are endangered by coastal erosion, industry and other land-use practices.

The research, led by Jayur Madhusudan Mehta, an assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology, can help inform coastal restoration practices by orienting restoration efforts toward the entire ecosystem, including archaeological sites. The study is published in the journal Humanities and Social Sciences Communications.

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https://www.ancientpages.com/2023/07/25/mississippi-mounds-important-landforms/