re: LSU Indian Mounds oldest in North America

Yes my son texted the family group text with this article. He said he used to slide down something older than the Roman Empire. LOL.

There are LSU site surveys that show the mounds prior to the construction of HP Long or any excavation for the swimming pool if required.

The pool is on the downslope of the hill and might not have even been excavated. There might be reinforced concrete walls for the pool and some of the adjacent building areas. The deck at the west end of the pool is about 12'-15' above grade that leads to the PMAC and the gymnastics building. Excavation would have been unnecessary.

One site survey that I have reviewed is titled Preliminary Plan of Louisiana State University by Olmsted Brothers-Landscape Architects, Brookline, Mass.-October 1921.

Another survey/plan is by Theo C. Link-Architect, Dated 1922.1924, Woogan & Bernard-Architects. Note that Link died in 1923.

Both drawings have two circular objects with line indications with “Indian Mound” on each mound location. Neither drawing indicates the HP Long building or pool which means they predate the planning for that building or the construction.

There is also a very old Theo Link drawing without a date. It has an area designated as “Indian Reservation” defined with an ellipse that encompasses the area of the two mounds that are marked with an “M” on each. The old railroad tracks that ended by the powerhouse and depot buildings are also indicated.

It is always possible that excavated materials were added to the mounds later during the HP Long work.

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-Were the mounds covered with overgrowth and unrecognizable or in the alternative just thought of as being two hills situated next to each other?

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They may have been covered in overgrowth, but I would think in 1922 most people had a general understanding of the fact that "Indian" mounds existed throughout much of the country.

But I think your point is probably well taken otherwise. They wouldn't have been noteworthy enough in a rural area that people would be going out of their way to photograph them.

Look up 'OSL dating'. Essentially you can date the last time sediment was exposed to sunlight.

Most of the dating of LSU Indian mounds so far has been radiocarbon of charcoal and organics found in sediment cores, as well as something called magnetic susceptibility which can help determine when and how sediment was deposited.

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Most of the dating of LSU Indian mounds so far has been radiocarbon of charcoal and organics found in sediment cores, as well as something called magnetic susceptibility which can help determine when and how sediment was deposited.

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they're pretty old, I remember watching them build them when I was there, excess dirt from preparing the slab for the PMAC, iirc

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LSU Department of Geology & Geophysics Professor Emeritus Brooks Ellwood led the study

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Yeah, no motivation here for this claim

I also noticed this was from a Lafayette news station. This has to be enraging ULL fans to the max

Theres been significant radiocarbon dating of the LSU mounds to about 5500 years ago that is widely accepted based on 40 years of research.

Ellwoods stuff is controversial because he's pushing that date back for initial construction more than 5000 years, long before other moundbuilding practices are documented (Poverty Point was built about 4000 years ago, for reference).

Hes got his work cut out for him.

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Theres been significant radiocarbon dating of the LSU mounds to about 5500 years ago that is widely accepted based on 40 years of research.

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The guy in the article didn't really refute the overall completion date that you cite; he just said that the mounds had been built in phases.