LSU Science Café: Mounting Evidence—Research on LSU Campus Mounds

The LSU Campus Mounds are an iconic part of LSU’s campus. Over the last 45 years, archaeologists have investigated them to understand their age, structure, and purpose. The first study in 1981 indicated the mounds were built some 5,000 years ago but more recent research by Brooks Ellwood’s team suggests initial construction started up to 11,000 years ago. Last year, additional soil cores were collected from each mound to try to resolve the vast discrepancy in previous radiocarbon dates, including by using optically stimulated luminescence. In tonight’s talk, learn about the research that could radically change how the American Indian history of North America is understood.

Chip McGimsey is an archeologist who has served as the Southwest Regional Archaeologist for Louisiana based at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and as Louisiana State Archaeologist and Director of the Division of Archaeology. He has conducted numerous investigations of pre-contact and post-contact sites as well as Civil War sites, shipwrecks, plantations, cemeteries, and the New Orleans French Quarter.

Photo credit: Eddy Perez

LSU Science Café is presented in partnership with Campus Federal Credit Union and WRKF.

The event is open to the public, and advance registration through Eventbrite is recommended.

LSU Science Café is in-person only (i.e., no live feed) but it will be recorded, and posted on our YouTube channel.

Please print your registration ticket or have it readily available on your electronic device upon arrival.

Doors open at 5:00 PM. Event begins at 6:00 PM.