LSU Campus Mounds

The mounds on the LSU campus were originally built at a prominent landmark along the Mississippi River that would have been recognizable to any traveler 11,000 years ago when construction most likely began. The mounds were periodically built and modified over thousands of years, even while the River shifted its course. Experts don't know why the Native American builders created them, or how they used them. But people believe that they may have been a meeting place and a site for sacred and secular events.

Twenty-first century research has indicated that these mounds are older than previously proven with scientific techniques, suggesting that they may be the oldest extant human-built structures in the Americas. In the century before these findings were reported, students and families regularly frolicked and picnicked on the mounds, sometimes using cardboard, cafeteria trays, and other items to sled down the mounds during snow, football games, or rain.

Now the mounds are protected by fencing and monitoring, and the campus is investing in preservation and conservation activities. LSU is working to educated its students and the public to encourage respect for the mounds for both their historic value and their sacred and cultural importance to modern Native people.