What were the earthworks at Poverty Point used for?
It was created and used for residential and ceremonial purposes by a society of hunter fisher-gatherers between 3700 and 3100 BP. It is a remarkable achievement in earthen construction in North America that was unsurpassed for at least 2,000 years.
What Does Poverty Point look like?
The Poverty Point site contains earthen ridges and mounds, built by indigenous people between 1700 and 1100 BC during the Late Archaic period in North America. Archaeologists have proposed a variety of possible functions for the site including as a settlement, a trading center, and/or a ceremonial religious complex.
How long did it take to build mound a Poverty Point?
The Mounds. Poverty Point’s centerpiece is its collection of earthworks built during a 600-year period, or what today would be considered 25 generations. Its concentric half-circles, measuring 4 to 6 feet high in places, have an outside diameter of three-quarters of a mile apart.
What artifacts were found at Poverty Point?
The most numerous artifacts discovered were baked clay objects, known as Poverty Point Objects or PPOs. Also discovered were projectile points, tubular pipes, pendants, beads and plummets which were used as weights for fishing nets.
What are 3 uses that Poverty Point Indians used Microliths?
However, almost one-third were made of stone from as far away as Illinois or Indiana. At the Poverty Point site alone, approximately 30,000 small stone tools have been found. These tiny tools, called microliths, were used to scrape, cut, saw, engrave, drill, and punch holes.
What shape are the ridges at Poverty Point?
C-shaped
Poverty Point’s C-shaped earthen ridges are truly unique. Nothing else like them existed in the ancient world. There are six ridges in total. Each ridge is divided by four aisles that extend from the plaza.
What is unique about Poverty Point?
Built by American Indians 3,400 years ago, Poverty Point is unlike any other site. Its design, with multiple mounds and C-shaped ridges, is not found anywhere else. No other hunting and gathering society made mounds at this scale anywhere else in the world.
What is the largest mound at Poverty Point?
Mound A
Mound A is the largest mound built at Poverty Point. It stands a whopping 72 feet tall, 710 feet long and 660 feet wide. In fact, the mound is so big that making it would have taken as many as 15.5 million basket loads of earth!
How did Poverty Point get its name?
The site was named after the Poverty Point plantation which occupied the same land at a much later time. The archaeological site at Poverty Point was the largest and most outstanding example of a group of sites. Thus, the name Poverty Point may refer to either the Poverty Point site or the Poverty Point Culture.
Who built Poverty Point?
Built by American Indians 3,400 years ago, Poverty Point is unlike any other site. Its design, with multiple mounds and C-shaped ridges, is not found anywhere else. In its time, it had the largest earthworks in the Western Hemisphere.
What do archaeologists believe about Poverty Point?
For many years, archaeologists believed that earthen monuments like those at Poverty Point could only have been built by people who relied on farming to survive. It was assumed that people who depended on hunting, gathering, and fishing did not have sufficient resources to support such activities as mound construction.
Where is the monumental earthworks of Poverty Point?
The Monumental Earthworks of Poverty Point is a publicly-owned and managed archaeological park in the parish of West Carroll, State of Louisiana, United States of America. The site is located on the eastern edge of an elevated landform, Macon Ridge, in the Lower Mississippi Valley.
Why is Poverty Point a World Heritage Site?
In 1962, the federal government designated it a National Historic Landmark, one of the highest honors for an archaeological site in the U.S. And in 2014, the site achieved perhaps the highest honor of all: UNESCO named Poverty Point a World Heritage Site.
What was found at Poverty Point?
Archaeologists have much to work with, as millions of artifacts were found at the site. Domestic tools, human figurines and tons of stones from up to 800 miles away have led to speculation that Poverty Point was an ancient residential, trade and ceremonial center. More mysteries: Poverty Point was abandoned around 1100 B.C.
What do archaeologists find at Poverty Point?
Archaeologists have much to work with, as millions of artifacts were found at the site. Domestic tools, human figurines and tons of stones from up to 800 miles away have led to speculation that Poverty Point was an ancient residential, trade and ceremonial center.