Foster Mounds
Foster Site 16CT8 · Little River Mounds
Coles Creek 700–1200 CE to Plaquemine 1200–1500 CE·Coles Creek–Plaquemine (Troyville to Mississippian transition Louisiana)·🇺🇸 Louisiana, Catahoula Parish, United States
About
About Foster Mounds
Five-mound complex on Little River near Harrisonburg: largest flat-topped Mound A 8 m high with causeway to plaza, four smaller mounds enclosing 1.5 ha plaza. Stratified Coles Creek to Plaquemine ceramics; WPA excavations 1933 documented platform construction stages. Part of Catahoula Mound Trail linking Troyville-Coles Creek sequence.
Why it mattersExemplifies Coles Creek platform mound town on Little River showing continuity from Troyville to Plaquemine-Mississippian.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Whether Foster plaza hosted Plaquemine elite residence before Mississippian arrival
- 02How Little River levee dynamics preserved mound stratigraphy
Theories
- 01Coles Creek mound center controlling confluence before Troyville abandonment
- 02Plaquemine chiefdom outpost buffering Caddo frontier
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.400–1200 CE (Coles Creek to Plaquemine)
- Period
- Coles Creek 700–1200 CE to Plaquemine 1200–1500 CE
- Culture
- Coles Creek–Plaquemine (Troyville to Mississippian transition Louisiana)
- Builders
- Coles Creek–Plaquemine
- Purpose
- Five-mound center on Little River natural levee, Coles Creek plaza town with platform mounds
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
c.400–1200 CE (Coles Creek to Plaquemine)
Initial construction
1500 CE
Major occupation / refurbishment
On the ground
Structures & features
31.7700° N · 91.8200° W · 18 m · 2 mapped features
Mound A — principal platform
platform mound8 m flat-topped platform with plaza causeway
31.7710° N · 91.8190° WPlaza and Mounds B–C
plazaPlaza with secondary conical mounds enclosing eastern plaza
31.7690° N · 91.8210° W