Contact: David West (west@alpha.nsula.edu )
News Bureau
Northwestern State University
Natchitoches, LA 71497
(318) 357-6466

8/11/2000

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NATCHITOCHES - Several years of work by faculty and students at Northwestern State University have led to a Natchitoches Parish archaeological site being listed on the National Register of Historic Places. And the site located near Clarence is owned by a family with longstanding ties to Northwestern.

The Fredericks site was selected for inclusion on the National Register which is maintained by the National Park Service. The site is owned by the family of A.A. Fredericks, who was president of Northwestern from 1934 until 1941 and served as a state senator representing Natchitoches Parish.

"This designation says that this site is important for understanding the history of Louisiana," said regional archaeologist Jeff Girard, an adjunct faculty member at NSU. "The site is dated between 400 and 800 A.D. and is one of the most important places in the state from that time period."

According to Girard, the site contains pottery similar to that uncovered at the Marksville State Commemorative Area. The pottery is like that found further to the east and is unlike pottery normally found in the area.

The site contains an extensive scatter of prehistoric artifacts and pit features including human burials. Five earthen mounds of varying size are at the site. Girard stated that no other period sites with multiple earthworks are known in the region.

Girard said the site was recorded and described initially in the 1930s by Clarence Webb and James Ford. Archaeological field schools from Northwestern did the first recorded excavations in the late 1960s. Another set of excavations was done as part of an Anthropology 4100 class at NSU in 1997.

"Carolyn Dorman was the person who originally brought this site to the attention of professional archaeologists," said Girard. "Much of the material found there had never been analyzed."

Girard said archaeologists studying the site could learn a great deal about life at that time in this area. Indications are that the area could have been a place where people resided most of the year or a place where people congregated for ritual purposes.

"This site dates to a time about which little is known concerning how humans were organized across the landscape," said Girard. "Also, the timing and development of farming economies in Louisiana is only gradually being understood. Sites like this are vital for conducting research on early domestication of plants."

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