Watson Brake in Louisiana: from about 3,500 BCE people raised 11 earth mounds joined by ridges, built over centuries, the tallest about 7.5 m — on a hunting, fishing and gathering economy. Finland's Castelli enclosure, six perimeter openings, part of the 'Giants' Churches' tradition 🏛️
Watson Brake: 11 earth mounds built from about 3,500 BCE by hunter-gatherers
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Key facts
- Beginning around 3,500 BCE, people at Watson Brake in Louisiana built 11 earth mounds connected by ridges.
- Construction continued in stages over centuries, and the tallest mound reached about seven and a half meters.
- Food remains from the site show an economy of hunting, fishing, and gathering.
- At Castelli in coastal Finland, people built a large stone enclosure with six openings in its perimeter, part of the tradition known as the Giants' Churches.
- The video states that the term hunter-gatherer describes only how food was obtained, and cannot indicate whether such societies were nomadic or settled or able to organize large construction projects.
Sources
doi.org
Linked in video description
Watson Brakeen.wikipedia.org
Watson Brake consists of an oval formation of eleven earthwork mounds from three to 25 feet (7.6 m) in height, connected by ridges to form an oval nearly 900 ...
Watson Brake Louisiana's Ancient Moundsheartoflouisiana.com
Watson Brake in northern Louisiana is the site of one of the oldest complexes of ancient mounds in America dating from 5000 years ago.
A Complex of Mysterious Mounds Was Hiding in Plain Sight For 5400 Yearspopularmechanics.com
Since the 1997 analysis, the Watson Brake mounds have been dethroned as the oldest known mound complex in the Americas—in 2022, experts ...
Expedition Magazine | Monumental Grandeur of the Mississippi Valleypenn.museum
One of the earliest, confidently dated mound sites is Watson Brake in northeast Louisiana (ca. 3500 BCE). It consists of 11 mounds connected by a causeway and ...
(PDF) Watson Brake, a Middle Archaic Mound Complex in Northeast ...researchgate.net
All 11 mounds and their connecting ridges were occupied between building bursts. Soils formed on some of these temporary surfaces, while ...
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