The grass-covered mounds represent 11,000 years of human history.
To find the oldest known human-made structures in the Americas, you don't need to hike into the wilderness or paddle down a raging river — all you need to do is visit Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
"There's nothing known that is man-made and this old still in existence today in the Americas, except the mounds," study first author Brooks Ellwood, emeritus professor of geology and at LSU, said in a university statement . The research was published in the June issue of Yale University's American Journal of Science .History of the moundsFor the study, the researchers took sediment cores from each of the mounds to determine their age.
By studying the cores and the surrounding landscape, the researchers built a general timeline for the mounds' construction. A large depression in the ground near LSU's Hill Memorial Library hinted that Mound B was probably constructed from material in that area starting around 11,000 years ago. Over thousands of years, ancient humans continued to build up the mound with clay and by burning plants and animals on the mound.
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