GPS
Coordinates: Latitude: 31.626469 Longitude: -91.576452
Driving Directions:
— From US 65/US 425 in Ferriday, head west on US 84.
Go 1.3 miles to marker on right.
— From La 566, head east on US 84. Go 5.6 miles to marker
on left. |
| Number
of Mounds: 5 |
Number
of Visible Mounds: 5 |
| Summer
Viewing: Excellent |
Winter
Viewing: Excellent |
 DePrato,
a complex of five dome-shaped mounds, encompasses about four acres
just east of where Black Bayou and Bayou Cocodrie meet. The site,
formerly called Ferriday Mounds, is listed on the National Register
of Historic Places. Because the site has flooded repeatedly, about
3 feet of sediment covers the base of the mounds and the plaza
between them, so the mounds appear smaller than their actual height
of 5 to 6 feet. The largest mound (Md. C) is 82 by 66 feet at
the base, and the others average 65 feet square. Radiocarbon testing
and decorated pottery date the mounds to about AD 600 (Troyville/Coles
Creek periods). Excavations found human remains in three of the
mounds. One of the mounds (Md. D) was mostly removed for highway
construction, and a house is built on another (Md. E).
|
