  Location within Louisiana today | |
| Location | Belcher, Louisiana, Caddo Parish, Louisiana,  USA |
|---|---|
| Region | Caddo Parish, Louisiana |
| Coordinates | 32°45′5.83″N93°49′27.37″W / 32.7516194°N 93.8242694°W /32.7516194; -93.8242694 |
| History | |
| Founded | 1400 CE |
| Cultures | Caddoan Mississippian culture |
| Site notes | |
| Excavation dates | 1959 to 1969 |
| Archaeologists | Clarence H. Webb |
| Architecture | |
| Architectural styles | Platform mounds, |
| Responsible body: private | |
TheBelcher Mound Site (16CD13) is anarchaeological site inCaddo Parish, Louisiana.[1] It is located in theRed River Valley 20 miles north ofShreveport[2] and about one-half mile east of the town ofBelcher, Louisiana.[3] It was excavated byClarence H. Webb from 1959 to 1969.[3] The site gives its name to a local phase of theCaddoan Mississippian culture, the Belcher Phase, whichradiocarbon dates suggest lasted from 1400 to 1600 CE.[2]
The Belcher Site was a ceremonial center with amound, cemetery, and village area inhabited circa 900 - 1700 CE.[4] The mound at Belcher was built in successive levels. Each layer had a structure, which was burned or deserted after a period of use, and the mound subsequently covered with a new layer and building. The earliest were rectangular wall trench structures withwattle and daub walls andgrass thatchedgable roofs. Later, circular structures with interior roof supports and centralhearths were constructed atop the mound. These were constructed with the same materials, but subdivided into compartments for several living and cooking arrangements. The structures atop the mounds are thought to have been ceremonial lodges or the homes of chieftains.[2]
The people of the site buried their dead in pits beneath the floors of their houses. In excavations between 1936 and 1954, the remains of forty six individuals and their funerary objects were removed by Dr. Webb, who donated these remains and objects to the Louisiana State University Museum of Natural Science in 1974. The grave goods included earthenware pottery, a ceramic spindle whorl and hair ornament, a stonecelt and shell artifacts. The remains were determined to be related to ancestors of theCaddo Nation of Oklahoma and returned to them under theNAGPRA Act.[4]
The people of the Belcher site were full-time agriculturalist, who grew a variety of domesticated plants. Food remains found includemaize andbeans. They also collected a variety of wild foodstuffs such ashickory nuts,persimmon seeds, andpecans.Mussel,gar,catfish,buffalo,sheepshead,bowfin, andturtle were taken from the local waterways.Whitetail deer,rabbit,squirrel,fox,mink, andbirds were hunted in the local woodlands.[2]
The Belcher people made tools such ascelts(axes), arrow points, flint scrapers and gravers, and sandstone hones from a variety of rocks. They also made awls, needles and chisels from animal bones, andhoes for farming frommussel shells.[2]
Archaeological investigations in the area have determined that the Belcher Phase began about 1400 and existed until 1600 CE.[2] During its beginning, Belcher culture probably overlapped and coexisted with Bossier culture. Its neighbors were the Texarkana Phase on the Red River northwest ofTexarkana, Texas and the McCurtain Phase even further upstream. Belcher Phase sites are found fromFulton, Arkansas to just below Shreveport.[5]
Sites in the Texarkana and Belcher Phase areas were an assortment of sizes, from large, permanent settlements with mounds and cemeteries, to smaller dispersedhamlets andfarmsteads. The people of these settlements weremaize agriculturalists with complex societies led by high status individuals who lived at the mound centers such as the Belcher Mound, theBattle Mound,Hatchel-Mitchell Site (part of theTexarkana Phase Archeological District),[6] andCabe Mounds. Hamlets or farmsteads, such as theCedar Grove Site[7] and Spirit Lake Site for the Belcher phase and the Sherwin Site andAtlanta State Park Site for the Texarkana Phase have also been investigated.[5]
| Middle Mississippian |
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| South Appalachian Mississippian |
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| Fort Walton culture | |||||||||||
| Pensacola culture | |||||||||||
| Plaquemine Mississippian | |||||||||||
| Caddoan Mississippian | |||||||||||
| Upper Mississippian cultures |
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| Culture |
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