A temple and one or more other buildings were usually built on a mound summit. These buildings were either circular or rectangular with walls of wattle and daub. Wattle is a construction technique whereby branches, twigs, cane, or vines are interlaced around upright posts that have been sunk in the ground. These are then plastered with mud or clay daub. The Troyville-Coles Creek people probably used grass thatch or palmetto fronds for the roof.
Greenhouse Site
The Greenhouse Site, in Avoyelles Parish, is the most extensively excavated site that is typical of the Troyville-Coles Creek Period. Seven earthen mounds there surround an open plaza that measures 200 feet by 350 feet. No village or campsite remains were found in the plaza or outside the mound area. This leads archaeologists to conclude that the mound group was used for ceremonial activities only, and that villagers lived elsewhere.
Some people were buried in the mounds, but in contrast to Marksville burials, the bodies were not accompanied by a rich assortment of objects. One or more bodies were buried in pits, or simply laid upon the mound summit and covered with dirt. People were also buried in village areas away from the mounds. Why some were buried in the mounds and some were not, remains a mystery. It may be that people associated with mound construction, with temple activities, or those of significant social status were buried in the mounds. Alternatively, if many people died from illness, famine, or disaster, that might have signaled a time for special ceremonies and mound enlargement. Those victims might have been buried in a mound.
Villages and campsites were often a mile or more from these ceremonial centers. There, daily life was more focused on maintaining a stable food supply than on ceremonial activities. During the Troyville-Coles Creek Period, important changes in hunting techniques and garden crops helped guarantee this food supply.
It was during this period that the bow and arrow came into use in Louisiana. First invented in Europe thousands of years before, bows and arrows were gradually adopted by people in Asia and eventually by people in North America. The introduction of the bow and arrow meant hunters could shoot further, more accurately, and with more firepower than before. The arrow points were generally smaller than those used on spears. These then, were the first true arrowheads made in Louisiana.
(¾ actual size)
Troyville-Coles Creek people also continued using the atlatl, as well as the traditional butchering and hideworking tools that had been made since Meso-Indian times. There was no dramatic change in the types of animals hunted during this time. The Indians killed game such as deer, bear, small mammals, and game birds. They also ate fish and mollusks as had their ancestors.