Bird design from Poverty Point stone art. Baton Rouge, Louisiana STATE OF LOUISIANA Edwin W. Edwards Governor DEPARTMENT OF CULTURE, RECREATION AND TOURISM Noelle LeBlanc Secretary ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY AND ANTIQUITIES COMMISSION Ex-Officio Members Appointed Members Mrs. Mary L. Christovich Mr. Brian J. Duhe Mr. Marc Dupuy, Jr. Dr. Lorraine Heartfield Dr. J. Richard Shenkel Mrs. Lanier Simmons Dr. Clarence H. Webb First Printing April 1983 Second Printing, with corrections September 1985 The sec

Louisiana’s cultural heritage dates back to approximately 10,000 B.C. when man first entered this region. Since that time, many other Indian groups have settled here. All of these groups, as well as the more recent whites and blacks, have left evidence of their presence in the archaeological record. The Anthropological Study series published by the Department of Culture, Recreation & Tourism, Office of Cultural Development provides a readable account of various activities of these cultur

Much of what I know, think, and say about Poverty Point is due to Dr. Clarence Webb. Our close association and collaboration on Poverty Point matters go back to 1969 when we cooperated in a study of the large Carl Alexander collection. The mutual respect and friendship spawned by that association have grown over the years, even though our views on the Poverty Point site and culture have not always coincided. We were to have coauthored this booklet, but circumstances would not permit. I have forg

Until a few years ago, Poverty Point culture was a major archaeological mystery. The mystery centered around the ruins of a large, prehistoric Indian settlement, the Poverty Point site in northeastern Louisiana. Poised on a bluff overlooking Mississippi River swamplands was a group of massive earthworks. It was not the earthworks themselves that were so mysterious, although they were unusual. Eastern North America was after all the acknowledged home of the “Mound Builders,” originally believed t

Poverty Point culture was a widespread pattern of life followed by certain Indian peoples in the Lower Mississippi Valley between 2000 and 700 B.C. This general lifeway stretched roughly from a northerly point near the junction of the Mississippi and Arkansas rivers, (above the present-day town of Greenville, Mississippi) down the Mississippi Valley to the Gulf Coast ( Figure 1 ). It covered parts of Louisiana, Arkansas, and Mississippi, and its influences reached as far as Florida along the eas

A map showing the Lower Mississippi Valley in 1000 B.C., during the zenith of Poverty Point culture, reveals some very interesting things. Population was concentrated in certain areas and these areas were separated from each other, sometimes by scores of miles ( Figure 1 ). While this pattern of geographic isolation may be due in part to river erosion and spotty archaeological investigation, it almost surely reflects preferences for certain kinds of land. There were at least 10 population cluste

When the real size and magnificence of Poverty Point came to be realized in the 1950s, it was believed that such developments were possible only when agriculture or a similarly efficient means of food production were known. In North America this agriculture was assumed to be based on corn, beans and squash because when Europeans arrived in the New World, these were the staple crops. But evidence for agriculture involving these foods has so far not been found in indisputable Poverty Point context

Hunting and collecting were basic to Poverty Point economy everywhere, and rather specialized equipment was designed to aid in these food quests. The bow and arrow was unknown. The javelin was the main hunting device. These throwing spears were tipped with a variety of stone points. Some points, like the ones illustrated in Figure 5 , were exclusive Poverty Point styles, but many were forms which had been made for hundreds, even thousands, of years before. Figure 5. Javelin Points. a-b, Motley;

Poverty Point culture had many unique objects, but perhaps most important were its artifacts of personal adornment and symbolic meaning. In no other preceding or contemporary culture were so many ornaments and status symbols produced. Stone beads, made mostly of red jasper, predominated, but many other unusual objects were manufactured. Pendants were made in a multitude of geometric and zoomorphic shapes. Dominant were birds, bird heads, animal claws, foot effigies, turtles, and open clam shell

Society and government are the most difficult dimensions of prehistoric cultures for archaeologists to reconstruct. This is because they do not leave material remains and must be inferred indirectly. Yet social and political institutions are basic to every culture. They are primary factors that distinguish one group of people from another. Attempts to determine social and political organization have been mainly limited to the Poverty Point site. It is hard, especially in light of accomplishments

The preceding view of Poverty Point culture has been written much like an ethnographer might have described it if he had been able to go back some 3000 years in the past. Unfortunately, time travel and direct observation of extinct cultures are beyond our capabilities, and that is why much of the Poverty Point story must be written with such words as: seems, appears, perhaps, maybe, and other equivocal terms. The Poverty Point story is a patchwork of facts, hypotheses, guesses, and speculations.

Baker, William S., Jr. and Clarence H. Webb 1978 Burials at the Cowpen Slough site (16CT147). Louisiana Archaeological Society, Newsletter 5(2):16-18. Brasher, Ted. J. 1973 An investigation of some central functions of Poverty Point. Unpublished M.A. thesis, Northwestern State University, Natchitoches. Bruseth, James E. 1980 Intrasite structure at the Claiborne site. In Caddoan and Poverty Point archaeology: essays in honor of Clarence Hungerford Webb, edited by Jon L. Gibson. Louisiana Archaeol