Ancient Louisiana mounds engineered carefully

[The Caspian Hare]

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/05/180522114822.htm

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Grand Caillou is situated on a natural levee of the Lafourche sub-delta, one of several major lobes of the Mississippi River Delta near New Orleans. Fed by sediments deposited by the river, Lafourche expanded in size over a period of several hundred years, a process that ended at about 800 A.D., the researchers found. The mound builders set up their village around 1200 A.D., long after the site was stable and covered over with vegetation, the team found.

Core samples and excavations revealed that the mound was built in distinct layers, with clay on the bottom, looser sediments piled in the middle and a clay cap on top. This finding confirms earlier archaeological reports that ancient mounds were engineered in layers to withstand the elements.

"The way they were constructed contributes to their durability," Mehta said.

The Grand Caillou mound was built on top of a river deposit that was naturally higher than surrounding land.

"It's only a few feet higher than nearby areas," Mehta said. "But in a landscape where there's no topography, one or two feet can make a world of difference."

 

 

[+Not A Rockstar]

It might depend. Up here at Poverty Point the mound seems to have been done over a matter of months. Maybe there was less flooding up here. Down there at Grand Callou it surely is wetter for longer over a year potentially if weather patterns were similar.

The more I looked the more mounds I found here in Louisiana!

[Piney]

4 minutes ago, Not A Rockstar said:

It might depend. Up here at Poverty Point the mound seems to have been done over a matter of months. Maybe there was less flooding up here. Down there at Grand Callou it surely is wetter for longer over a year potentially if weather patterns were similar.

 

But Cahokia was a engineering marvel. It was designed so that water perked through it without it slumping. 

[+Not A Rockstar]

I just think this statement

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This finding confirms earlier archaeological reports that ancient mounds were engineered in layers to withstand the elements.

 is a bit limiting. The NA show they had more understanding of engineering than is credited IMO. The Mississippi is a volatile flood plain, and they were very adaptable in how they built to respond to it. These two sites show that and perhaps also the effects of time on what they knew and did. Grand Callou would need a more demanding response from them and if a hurricane did come in they would be toast. Even today, the tribes along the Gulf get hammered due to low land. After Katrina we raised money through a Pagan Emergency Services group I was on the board of and I drove loads in for them after I heard about it at a pow wow in Florida. What we saw when we could get in was devastating.

We hit the tribe down thereabouts and also some forgotten towns along the Mississippi/Louisiana border that were overlooked by FEMA, and that time indirectly led to me opting to move to Louisiana when I left the cop shop. Found home during all that havoc. 

Stupidly low land left to them but, I didn't hear of any NA dying due to that alone. They know how to live where they get sequestered :/ … or the news ignored their deaths like they ignored their suffering afterwards.