  People lived in Louisiana thousands of years before the first Europeans sailed to the New World. Because of archaeology, the history of even these early Indians is now being described and understood. All people leave traces of their activities wherever they cook, build houses, hold religious ceremonies, make tools, or dump their trash. If these traces are undisturbed, archaeologists can use them to determine who left them, when they were left, and what activities were associated with them. These are a few of the things archaeologists have learned about Louisiana: Although many people refer to all stone points as arrowheads, Indians actually made projectile points for over 10,000 years before they ever used one on an arrow. The point pictured here would have been used on a spear and could have killed a prehistoric elephant, called a mastodon. In northeastern Louisiana by 1000 B.C., Indians had built rows of earthen ridges three-quarters of a mile across. As far as we know, they are the earliest earthworks of their size in North America. Some archaeologists think they were constructed as an astronomical observatory because two gaps in the ridges line up with the winter and summer solstice sunsets. Contrary to present day practice, prehistoric Louisianians preferred marsh clams over crawfish and crabs. They ate so many clams that large piles of shells can still be found in the marshes. Over time, the shells have become compressed, and now some piles are almost rock hard. Indians in Louisiana made beautiful and elaborate pottery without ever using a potter’s wheel. This delicate water bottle was made in northwestern Louisiana about A.D. 1400. European missionaries and explorers who traveled in Louisiana in the 1600s and 1700s depended on experienced Indian traders to supply them with food, animal skins, salt, and horses. In exchange, Europeans gave the Indians beads, crucifixes, guns, metal pots, knives, and bells like these. |
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