'It's iconic': LSU starts work to protect 6,000-year-old Native American campus landmarks

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Nowadays, students on the LSU campus pay little attention to the dramatic, sloping grassy backdrop on their path to class: the more than 6,000-year-old North American earthen mounds.

The mounds, though famously a site of children playing, students lounging and even LSU fans tailgating around them, have been fenced off from the public since 2022.

As the university embarks on a more than $400,000 project to protect the cultural and historical landmarks, conservationists plan to reintroduce the campus and the Baton Rouge community to some of the oldest manmade structures in the Americas. Researchers think Native Americans held ceremonies at these sacred structures, but precisely who among the tribes built them remains a mystery. A few ancient artifacts have been discovered there over the years by archaeologists.

“The bottom line is we want to reconnect the mounds to people,” said Sibel Bargu Ates, chair of the Committee to Preserve the LSU Campus Mounds.

A grant from the Save America’s Treasures program through the National Park Service, combined with matching funds from LSU, will put the mounds' preservation plan in action. The effort is focused on repairing the erosion on the mounds, revegetating the area for greater soil stability and establishing a new irrigation system.

"There were many, many memories that people built of being on there and playing with their kids,” Bargu Ates said. “(The memories are) all wonderful and valuable, and that connects them to the mounds, but we’re realizing that that can be potentially damaging.”

History of the mounds
Over the first half of the 20th century, LSU acquired the mounds for an expanding campus. In the university’s recounting, Louisiana Gov. Huey P. Long emphasized his interest in preserving the site by circling the mounds on a map and labeling them an “Indian Reservation.”

The mounds gained a spot on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999 and have become a classic sight on the LSU campus.

“I’m excited that LSU is continuing to preserve the mounds because it really is a dream for the campus,” campus landscape architect Dennis Mitchell said. “It’s iconic. There’s nothing like it.”

The exact age of the structures is disputed. Even LSU's signs disagree with each other— one estimates over 6,000 years old, while a sign referencing a different study suggests they could be up to 11,300 years old.

What scholars do know about the mounds, anthropology collections manager at the LSU Museum of Natural Sciences Irene Martí Gil said, is that their creators were native to Louisiana, and they were likely used for trade or ceremonies.
“These were like hot spots or hubs where people got together for a specific purpose,” Martí Gil said.

Reconnecting the community
After the university closed the mounds to protect them from erosion, community members lost a sense of connection to the mounds, Bargu Ates said. As the project continues, she said, the preservation committee wants to remind people of their story and significance.

By the time LSU freshman Nyla Brittyn got to campus, no one was using the mounds for tailgating or picnicking anymore. She said she doesn’t know anything about their history.

“I was curious about them,” Brittyn said.

She said she’s excited to learn more as the project continues — curiosity the university hopes to take advantage of as it redefines what the mounds mean to the campus.

“I think the goal here is not only are we going to physically make changes, but we’re going to look at how do we present this in a better way as well,” Mitchell said.

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