The Crescent-Shaped Earthwork In Louisiana That Still Baffles Archaeologists To This Day
By Jackie Ann|Published June 27, 2022
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Jackie Ann
Author
Louisiana native and LSU Alum (Geaux Tigers!), Jackie has lived in Louisiana for over three decades and currently lives in New Orleans. She's been writing for OnlyInYourState since 2016 and can often be found with a coffee at her side, dreaming of her next adventure.
Named after the prehistoric indigenous people who lived in the Lower Mississippi River Valley, Poverty Point is a UNESCO World Heritage Site that’s over 3,000 years old. Archaeologists are still trying to piece together the puzzle and solve what might just be the biggest mystery in Louisiana. Let’s take a closer look at this incredible feat of engineering, shall we?
Poverty Point is a collection of earthworks that was built between 1700 and 1100 BC, during the Late Archaic period in North America. For reference, Stonehenge was completed around 2200 BC, and the first recorded Ancient Olympic Games were held in 776 BC.
Poverty Point consists of a series of ridges and mounds.
This is a mock-up drawing of what historians believe Poverty Point would have looked like in its heyday. There are six C-shaped ridges and several mounds that appear to wrap around Bayou Macon.
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Here’s an aerial view of what Poverty Point looks like today.
Each mound and ridge was built by hand, which is an incredible feat of engineering when you think about the lack of tools they had at their disposal. Keep in mind that animals weren't domesticated at this point, so they did not have the luxury of horses or oxen. Mound A stood over 70 feet tall and was the tallest structure around for hundreds of years. It's still the tallest mound in the country!
There are several mysteries surrounding Poverty Point.
The biggest question is, "why?" Why were these earthworks built? The Poverty Point culture left no written word of their day-to-day lives, so historians and archaeologists have had to piece together the puzzle with what they've unearthed: spear points, figurines, fish bones, etc.
It's clear that the bayou played a very important role at Poverty Point.
The bayou has changed a lot over 3,000 years, and it used to be a much larger waterway. Archaeologists have found rocks and supplies that stretch all the way to the Appalachian mountains, suggesting that Poverty Point was perhaps a major trading center as well as a thriving community. One of the biggest mysteries, however, is what they have not found: human bones. Since excavations began around 1950, no human remains have been unearthed, so we know the site wasn't used as a burial ground.
Here's another mystery for you: around 1100 BC, Poverty Point was abandoned.
No one knows why. Eventually, another group moved onto the site around 700 AD and built their own mound, but only stuck around for a brief period. Why did they leave? Did resources dry up? Was flooding a concern? We may never know the answers, but with each excavation, we learn a little more.
You can visit Poverty Point and see the earthworks for yourself. There are boardwalk trails that take you along the ridges and mounds and all across the 345-acre site. Don’t forget to check out the visitor’s center, where you can see some of the relics they’ve uncovered. Go ahead and make a long weekend out of it and rent a cabin at the nearby Poverty Point State Park, one of the most underrated state parks in Louisiana.
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