BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Houses are going up in a new subdivision in the Tiger Bend Road area in Baton Rouge, but the area has been a community before.
An Indian mound recently discovered and identified on the property, which will be preserved and safeguarded, was likely built to honor a leader of Native Americans who called the place home 600 to 800 years ago.
The mound, located on the perimeter of a 75-acre subdivision called The Sanctuary at Tiger Bend, rises a few feet up in a gentle slope from the surrounding ground, in the midst of peaceful woodlands, with a stately tree growing at its top.
“We found baked earth and some dark lumber that could have been a hearth, and we started finding artifacts — pottery and stone artifacts, tools,” said Malcolm K. Shuman, the Baton Rouge archeologist whose firm, SURA Inc. Shuman’s crew researched the site as a contractor for the developer, in a process that began in 2017.
“It may have been a house or it could have been a temple,” said Shuman. “For a small settlement like this, though, I think it was built around an important person’s home.”
Shuman, 79, an LSU graduate who holds a masters degree in anthropology from the University of New Mexico and a doctorate in the same field from Tulane University, said, “I’m probably the oldest active archeologist in Louisiana, but it’s still always exciting.”
Such a research process has been required for certain developments in the U.S. since Congress passed the National Historic Preservation Act in 1966.
The federal law requires that any development needing a federal permit — in the case of The Sanctuary, from the U.S. Corps of Engineers — or receiving federal dollars “must take into account the effect on cultural resources,” said Louisiana’s state archeologist, Charles “Chip” McGimsey.
Such resources are varied and can include archeological sites, cemeteries and historic buildings, he said.
Agencies involved in the efforts to identify and recognize the Indian mound at Tiger Bend include McGimsey’s office and the state Historic Preservation Office, as well as the Mississippi Choctaw Tribal Historic Preservation program and the U.S. Corps of Engineers.
The developer of the Sanctuary subdivision has placed a historical marker sign in front of the Indian mound that names the site as the Tiger Bend Archaeological Site. The sign says, “This is a sacred place for American Indians. Please respect and protect for the future.”
The Sanctuary, developed by Corbin Ladner Custom Homes and Developments of Prairieville, says a green area will be preserved around the Indian mound that will be for viewing only and off limits to any type of traffic from residents and non-residents.
“Mounds were purposely built, some in a single episode; some at one time and then added to later,” Shuman said. “The radiocarbon tests date this mound to 1300 A.D.”
The Indian mound at Tiger Bend joins similar mounds in Baton Rouge, said state archeologist McGimsey — two on the site of the Country Club of Louisiana and the two better known Indian mounds on the LSU campus.
Decades ago, there were two located north of the state Capitol building on property that was later developed by ExxonMobil in a plant expansion, said McGimpsey.
Less than 1% of Louisiana, which has some of the oldest Indian mounds in North America — some dating back 7,000 years — has been systematically analyzed for cultural resources, he said.
Still, McGimsey said, “We have identified over 800 Indian mounds here; I know there are many more.”
“Tiger Bend is a perfect example,” he said. “If Malcom Shuman had not surveyed it, we wouldn’t have found it.”