Food

     Archaeologists named the Marksville site after the modern city of Marksville, where the site is located. The site sits nearly 25 feet above an abandoned channel of the Mississippi River, now called Old River. The Mississippi River flowed here several thousand years before Marksville. At this spot, between prairie and floodplain, the people who built the site found lots of resources for food and tools.

     Prairies were good places for people to gather certain plants and to hunt deer and rabbits. In the forests east of the site, nuts like acorns and pecans were available. American Indians also harvested wild grapes, persimmons and berries. Although people in the Midwest at this time grew some crops in gardens, the people at Marksville did not. They ate only wild plants. They also hunted animals like turtle and birds. Nearby rivers allowed for fishing and gathering fresh water clams.