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• 1 2023-07-21T13:20:03-07:00 Campus Mounds 6 plain 2023-10-27T12:48:35-07:00

  Our campus has one of the oldest man-made structures in the Western Hemisphere. The Campus Mounds, both being around 17 feet tall and 125 feet in diameter, have been here for thousands of years, even surpassing the age of the Great Pyramids of Giza.[1]
   
  The history of the mounds has always been mysterious, with many at LSU speculating why it was built by the Native American tribes who once inhabited our campus and the surrounding area. There was a Reveille article in 1955 describing an elaborate legend about the creation of these mounds, a love story between a couple from two warring tribes.[2]
   
  According to the article from October 27th, 1955, the legend about the creation of the mounds was first published on a small weekly newspaper called the “Clinton Jeffersonian” in 1842, supposedly told by a “old, nameless” Native American.
   
  The legend describes a story about two tribes with immense hatred for one another. One day, a young warrior from one tribe was captured by the other tribe while on a hunt. He was going to be executed, but his story about him allowing a captive to fight for his life “baffled and confused” the other tribes’ chief and his entourage. But as he told this story, the daughter of the chief rushed in to save him (who was also revealed to be the actual cause of his capture, as he was distracted by her).
   
  She pleaded with her father to postpone the execution of the warrior until the commencement of the feast of the tribe, which would begin a few days later. Her father acquiesced to her demand.
   
  On the day of his planned execution, the father rushed to kill the warrior, but not fast enough to prevent his daughter from being captured by the other tribe. Since the captive warrior loved the girl, he begged his tribe to release her. In turn, the daughter asked her father to end the quarrel between the two tribes. To commemorate and remember the newfound peace between the two tribes, the two tribes built the Mounds. While it is a beautiful story, it is only a legend, and the Reveille article acknowledges that.
   
  Another Reveille article from September 9, 1959, has another speculation about the creation of the mounds. The article, titled “Campus has a Graveyard”, is another speculation on why the mounds were there in the first place. This time, the author presumes the mounds are a “burial site”.[3]
   
  Others on campus have used the mounds as a place of contemplation and have detailed their admiration for them. In several Gumbos, (1986, 2013, and 1933), there are several pieces of work that acknowledge the importance of the mounds to the university. In the Gumbo of 1933, the staff of that year decided to dedicate the theme of the Gumbo to the creators of the mound, creating elaborate pictures, by speculation, of the mounds’ creators.  To show the importance of the mounds, the staff stated, “The mounds are the oldest vestige of man and man’s work in Louisiana.”[4]
   
  In a more recent Gumbo, the Gumbo of 2013, there was an article, Cultural Preservation by Wilborn Nobles III, that detailed several students of Native American descent and their opinion on why the mounds were important to them. (pg. 45) The vice president of the Native American Student Association at the time, Skye Byrd of the Coushatta tribe, highlighted the long history of the mounds and those mounds being older than the pyramids in Giza.[5] Jaclyn Wagers, of the Oglala Lakota tribe, argues for the need to preserve the mounds since they are one of the “last sacred landmarks in Native American culture.” 
   
  In the Gumbo of 1986, the article called “300 B.C. to 600 A.D.” criticizes the negligence of some who caused reckless damage to the mounds. The author, David Hawkins, writes, “They [Campus Mounds] are an integral part of the LSU Campus… and they are being altered due to instances of childish irresponsability (sic), one of which resulted in a death last fall.”[6] Mr. Hawkins was referencing the tragic death of LSU freshman Elizabeth Smoak on November 16, 1984. Ms. Smoak was killed in a hit-and-run by a drunk driver.[7]
   
  Unfortunately, as mentioned above, the mounds have been subject to several practices that have caused damage to the mounds. In a Reveille article from 1975, titled “Box surfers again cause of Indian Mound problem”, the article discusses pleas from the vice chancellor of student affairs, James Reddoch, for students to stop using cardboard boxes to slide down the mounds and using bicycles and motorcycles to climb the mounds. Reddoch stated, that these activities “caused erosion [of the mounds] and detracted from the beauty.”[8]
   
  Throughout the history of the Campus Mounds, it has been a place admired and loved by many. While we cannot walk upon or touch these sacred mounds, we can still admire these thousands-year-old mounds from afar. Protecting these mounds will preserve these mounds’ importance to our campus and their status as a treasure for not only those at LSU but the descendants of those who built these structures long ago and for future generations.
   

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  [1] “The LSU Campus Mounds: A National Treasure.” LSU Office of University Relations, n.d. LSU Special Collections, University Archives.

  [2] Woods, Amelie. “Landmarks May Have Been Peace Making Site.” The Reveille, October 27, 1955, Volume 60. LSU Special Collections, University Archives.

  [3] “Campus Has Graveyard.” The Daily Reveille, September 9, 1959. https://louisianadigitallibrary.org/islandora/object/lsu-sc-reveille:1435#page/1/mode/2up.

  [4] Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College. “Gumbo Yearbook, Class of 1933.” Gumbo Yearbook, January 1, 1933, pg. 78.

  [5] Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College. “Gumbo Yearbook, Class of 2013.” Gumbo Yearbook, January 1, 2013, pg. 45. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gumbo/132.

  [6] Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College. “Gumbo Yearbook, Class of 1986.” Gumbo Yearbook, January 1, 1986, pg. 27. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gumbo/86.

  [7] Sonnier, Cheramie. “LSU Student Booked in Coed’s Hit-and-Run Death.” Baton Rouge State Times, November 20, 1984. Box 7, Folder 19. LSU Office of the Chancellor Records, University Archives.

  [8] The Daily Reveille. “Box Surfers Again Cause of Indian Mound Problem.” November 4, 1975. LSU Special Collections, University Archives.