During a six-week excavation in the Kisatchie National Forest in Vernon Parish, researchers with UL Lafayette have discovered rare artifacts dating back to the last Ice Age. UL Lafayette Professor of Anthropology Dr. Mark Rees says they unearthed a collection of projectile points and stone instruments…
“Scrapers used for working with hide. A number of stone drills were found that could have been used for drilling through bone or drilling through shell and all of the stone flakes that were cast aside during the manufacturing or the sharpening.”
Rees excavating team uncovered artifacts such as ceramics, stone tools, and evidence that suggests that a bow and arrow was used by nomadic groups of people that occupied this land 13,000 years ago.
“There’s no evidence for the bow and arrow in this area before about 6 to 700 A.D. That’s fairly late about one thousand four hundred years ago the bow and arrow was introduced to south Louisiana.”
Researchers uncovered the first evidence of a permanent structure in the national forest. Rees says the post-molds will help interpret time and societal associations…
“A good indication of the temporal duration and the periods of occupation at the site but also what we call the cultural features that can also be a helpful form of dating.”
Students from UL-Lafayette, LSU, and Tulane University also participated in the excavation.
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