Poverty Point

Poverty Point National Monument
IUCN Category V (Protected Landscape/Seascape)
Location:	West Carroll Parish, Louisiana, USA
Nearest city:	Epps, Louisiana
Area:	911 (3.68 km²)
Established:	October 31, 1988
Governing body:	State of Louisiana National Park Service

Poverty Point (French: Pointe de Pauvreté) is a prehistoric archeological site dating between 1650 – 700 B.C.E. in northeastern Louisiana, 15.5 miles (24.9 km) from the current Mississippi River on the edge of Maçon Ridge by the village of Epps. The site is named after the plantation on which was discovered in 1873, when it was believed to be a natural formation. It was not discovered to be man-made until the 1950s, when aerial photographs revealed the complexity and complete pattern of the earthwork.

Description

An aerial view reveals the circular pattern of ancient Indian earthworks at Poverty Point.

The Poverty Point archaeological site covers an area of roughly 400 acres (1.6 km²). In the center of the site, there is a set of six curved earthen ridges with flat corridors of earth separating them. Dividing the ridges into three sections are two ramps that slope inwardly leading to Bayou Maçon. Each ridge is approximately a meter high, although it is believed that they were once rose to five feet. The approximate diameter of the outside ridge is three-quarters of a mile, while the innermost ridge’s diameter is about three-eights of a mile.

In the area surrounding the arches, there are five mounds. One is described as bird-shaped, another conical-shaped, and the remaining three are platform mounds. There is another known mound, located north of the main concentration of mounds, called the Motley Mound. The final mound is located south of center and called Lower Jackson Mound, bringing the number of discovered mounds to seven.

The bird mound is the largest of the mounds at 69 ft (21 m) high. There is a ramp leading to the top of the mound’s elongated middle, giving it the shape of a bird with spread wings; this mound is located at the top of the midsection of the arches. The Motley Mound is of a similar form and rises 51 ft (16 m). The conical mound is circular and reaches a height of 24.5 ft (7.5 m). The three platform mounds are much smaller than the other mounds. Lower Jackson mound is believed to be the oldest of all the earthworks at the site.

History

Poverty Point is considered one of the most important archaeological sites in North America. The people who built the site, in what is now northeastern Louisiana, were a highly civilized group.

Radiocarbon dating puts the construction of the site between fourteen and eighteen centuries before the common era. To put this in perspective to world events of that time:

• Amenhotep IV, his queen, Nefertiti, and the boy pharaoh, Tutankhamen, were ruling Egypt, while the Canaanites were being enslaved.
• The Hittite Empire was expanding throughout Turkey and Syria.
• The Babylonian King, Hammurabi, was in power.
• The Minoan civilization was reaching its peak in the Mediterranean.
• England's Stonehenge was under construction.
• The great Indus Valley planned-city of Mohenjo-daro was succumbing to flooding.
• China's Shang dynasty was flourishing, and
• the Olmec chiefdom was ascending in Mexico.
• The great Mayan pyramids had not yet been built.

At this time, Native Americans on the North American continent were generally small bands of migratory hunter-gatherers. Questions arise then as to the type of society which could construct such huge earthworks. It is speculated that the community who built Poverty Point must have been the among the first of the hunter-gatherer groups to settle in permanent villages and form a complex political and social structure.

At that time, almost all Indians living north of Mexico were small bands of migratory hunter-gatherers. Such societies do not ordinarily build huge earthworks like those at Poverty Point. Large-scale construction is possible when large numbers of people settle down in villages and after political forces grow strong enough to shift some labor from the hunt and harvest to the civic and ceremonial. In most of the world, these conditions—large, permanent villages and political power—are found among agricultural societies.

How did the conditions necessary for large-scale construction appear at Poverty Point while everyone else in America north of Mexico was still following a simpler way of life? Was Poverty Point one of the first communities to rise above its contemporaries to start the long journey toward becoming a truly complex society? If Poverty Point did represent the awakening of complex society in the United States, how and why did it develop?

The Poverty Point inhabitants, like the ancient Mayans, set for themselves an enormous task as they built a complex array of earthen mounds and ridges overlooking the Mississippi River flood plain. This accomplishment is particularly impressive for a pre-agricultural society. The central construction consists of six rows of concentric ridges, which at one time were five feet high. The five aisles and six sections of ridges form a partial octagon. The diameter of the outermost ridges measures three-quarters of a mile. It is thought that these ridges served as foundations for dwellings although little evidence of structures has been found. However, features and midden deposits uncovered during excavations support this theory.

Poverty Point's inhabitants imported certain essential supplies from great distances. Projectile points and other stone tools found at Poverty Point were made from raw materials which originated in the Ouachita and Ozark Mountains and in the Ohio and Tennessee River valleys. Soapstone for vessels came from the Appalachian foothills of northern Alabama and Georgia. Other materials came from distant places in the eastern United States. The extensive trade network attests to the complex and sophisticated society that built the Poverty Point earthworks.

Poverty Point is indeed a rare remnant of an exceptional culture. It has been estimated that it took at least five million hours of labor to build the massive earthworks. Considering that the laborers carried this dirt to the site in baskets of about a 50-pound capacity, it is obvious that this was a great communal engineering feat. Dated between 1650 and 700 B.C.E., this site of more than 400 acres is unique among archaeological sites on this continent. In 1962, Poverty Point was designated a National Historic Landmark by the U.S. Department of the Interior. An interpretive museum, special events, programs and guided tours, highlight activities at the park.

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Some in the archeological community believe that the site at Poverty Point was mostly used as a ceremonial center where people congregated at various times of the year, not as a city. Reasons that could have drawn individuals together during certain times of the year could be social or supernatural forces. Marriages, trade, kin ties and alliances were also all important reasons for gathering.

The act of building and the presence of the mounds themselves created an enhanced “sense of community”. There is evidence of “hearths, postmolds, and other features” found along the ridges, indicating the presence of people. Also found have been incredibly large volumes of clay balls used for the indirect heating of food, called "Poverty Point Objects,". Their presence would indicate a high volume of on-site food production, thereby indicating a year-round population. Artifacts that have been recovered in archeological excavations from Poverty Point typically are imported items. There appears to be a disproportional amount of this imported material at the site, consisting of projectile points and microliths, that has been determined to have originated in the Ouachita and Ozark Mountains and in the Ohio and Tennessee River valleys.

There is also evidence of soapstone from the Appalachians of Alabama and Georgia. There are also copper and galena artifacts that indicate trade with the prehistoric copper producing region of the Great Lakes. Foreign artifacts in such large amounts could indicate that they were gifts used for ritual and social purposes by the gathering people. These gifts were left behind periodically, and over the several generations of people using the site, slowly accumulated into the hundreds of intricate artifacts discovered during archeological excavations. Their presence also indicates that the people at Poverty Point were in contact with a wide range of other groups.

map of the site

The site today

The current site is a public park run by the state of Louisiana.

Tourist information

Currently the site is a park run by the state of Louisiana. It is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. except for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day. The cost of the entrance is $2 a person; seniors over the age of 62 and children 12 and under are free.

Recent history

“Poverty Point is the largest and most complex Late Archaic earthwork occupation and ceremonial site yet found in North America”. This is part of the Statement of Significance during June 13, 1962 for the placement of the site in the National Historic Landmark Program. On October 31, 1988 Poverty Point National Monument was created by Congress, who expected the donation of the land for the National Park Service. The land, however, never exchanged ownership from Louisiana to the national government; despite this fact, the site is counted amongst the 391 units of the National Park System.

Protection

The site is occasionally monitored by the National Historic Landmark program, which is concerned about the erosion of the mounds. Louisiana is working with the Vicksburg Corps of Engineers to develop a plan for erosion control. It was designated a National Historic Landmark on June 13, 1962.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Gibson, Jon L. 2001. The ancient mounds of Poverty Point: place of rings. Native peoples, cultures, and places of the southeastern United States. Gainesville: University Press of Florida. ISBN 9780813018331
• Goad, Sharon I. 1980. Poverty Point: preliminary report of the 1980 excavations. Baton Rouge, La: LSU Field School.
• Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation & Tourism. Poverty Point State Historic Site. Retrieved June 24, 2008.
• Milner, George R. 2004. The moundbuilders: ancient peoples of eastern North America. London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 9780500021187
• National Historic Landmarks Program. Poverty Point/ Retrieved June 24, 2008.
• Timeline of Art History. Poverty Point (2000–1000 B.C.E.). Retrieved June 24, 2008.

External links

All links Retrieved June 24, 2008.

• Poverty Point Earthworks: Evolutionary Milestones of the Americas
• Poverty Point

Template:Registered Historic Places

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