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Story Archives: Troyville...Once a Thriving Town
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Troyville...Once a Thriving Town
 "Troyville is one of the great towns built by Native Americans in the Lower Mississippi Valley," says renown Louisiana archaeologist Dr. Jon Gibson of Homer, considered an expert on Louisiana Indian cultures, particularly Poverty Point.
The Sentinel asked Gibson this week to provide a description of Troyville, which follows:
"Built between AD 550 and 700, it was the first super-sized town on the Ouachita River. Motivated builders constructed between six and possibly as many as twenty earthen mounds, including a colossal stepped pyramid, which towered over 80 feet high and contained nearly 40,000 cubic yards of dirt. The town was encircled by an earthen wall and possibly housed as many as a thousand or more inhabitants, whose economy was based on fishing, collecting, and hunting.
"The town was probably run by a municipal council led by powerful chief and his family. Religion reigned supreme in their lives, and rituals were commonplace in the central plaza and on the flat-mound tops. It is likely that leaders were believed to be earth-bound gods, descended from Creator Sun. As important as the leadership may have been, society was based on corporate good-will, a sort of 'much obliged until you're better paid' mentality, and that attitude underpinned the massive construction program.
"For unknown reasons, perhaps internal strife or regional power shifts and warfare, Troyville's fortunes waned around AD 700, and the balance of power swung upriver to Rosin Creek and Dry Lake, where a new giant town was consolidating, the town of Pritchard Landing (near Harrisonburg), the largest religious and residential center ever built on the Ouachita River." |
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