Poverty Point culture

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An aerial view of the Poverty Point earthworks built by the ancient Poverty Point culture.

The Poverty Point culture is an archaeological culture that corresponds to an ancient group of American Indians who inhabited the area of the lower Mississippi River in what is today the US state of Louisiana. This culture thrived from c.1700 BC-700 BC and was responsible for the construction of massive earthworks near modern day Epps, Louisiana at Poverty Point.

The earthen structures were built and enlarged for centuries, with the site reaching its final form at about 1000 BC. Excavation work at the site seems to indicate that approximately 2,000 people inhabited the site and 3 million hours of labor would have been required to construct the earth mounds.

Archeological excavation has revealed a wealth of artifacts, including animal effigy figures, fragments of soapstone bowls, and enigmatic clay objects with incised designs. Notably absent are any objects that could be identified as ceramic potsherds.

The Poverty Point people are not well understood archaeologically, but it is fairly clear that they represent one of the earliest large sedentary groups of the Archaic period. Poverty Point is not the oldest earthwork site in the United States, but it is one of the oldest; see Watson Brake.