<Tr> <Td> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> <P> The history of the territory that is now Louisiana began roughly 10,000 years ago . The first traces of permanent settlement, ushering in the Archaic period, appear about 5,500 years ago (Mound Builders). </P> <P> The area formed part of the Eastern Agricultural Complex . The Marksville culture emerged about 2,000 years ago out of the earlier Tchefuncte culture . It is considered ancestral to the Natchez and Taensa peoples . About 1,000 years ago, the Mississippian culture emerged from the Woodland period . The emergence of the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex coincides with the adoption of maize agriculture and chiefdom - level complex social organization beginning in c. 1200 AD . The Mississippian culture mostly disappeared before the 16th century, with the exception of some Natchez communities that maintained Mississippian cultural practices into the 18th century . </P>

Who were the first known inhabitants in louisiana