Poverty Point

Poverty Point became a World Heritage Site in 2014 due to its unique and exceptional significance. Built 3,400 years ago by American Indians, it features massive earthworks, including mounds and C-shaped ridges. Once the largest earthwork site in the Western Hemisphere, it served as a major center for living, working, and ceremonies—possibly North America's first city. Remarkably, this complex site was built by a hunting and gathering society, not one based on farming, and was part of the largest trade network in North America at the time. 

• Time and place  

  Poverty Point was built between 1700 B.C. and 1100 B.C., during a time of major global civilizations like Egypt’s pharaohs, China’s Shang Dynasty, and Britain’s Stonehenge. Unlike most American Indians of the time who lived in small, mobile groups, the people at Poverty Point formed a large, permanent community of hunters and gatherers. They built massive earthworks and traded for materials from distant places. Some came to exchange goods and news or to meet people. Others were attracted by the site's natural resources. Still others came to create the site's mounds and ridges or to take part in ceremonies. The site's construction spanned about 600 years and involved moving nearly 2 million cubic yards of earth—the equivalent of around 38,000 dump truck loads—showing its cultural and historical importance.  

• Trade and Travel 

  People at Poverty Point used traded rock to make tools like stone spear points and     decorative items, such as pendants made from lead ore (galena). Some tools, like microliths, were made from local stone, while soapstone bowls were carved in places like Georgia and Alabama and brought to the site. Since they lacked local rock for cooking, the people created Poverty Point Objects (PPOs) — shaped balls of fired clay used to heat earth ovens. These became the site’s most common artifact. PPOs have been found as far away as Florida and other parts of the Southeast, showing they were widely traded or carried by visitors. Soil analysis links some distant PPOs back to Macon Ridge, the site’s location. 

• Food 

  Poverty Point was built in a location rich in natural resources. Surrounded by wetlands, grasslands, woods, and rivers, the area provided a diverse diet. People gathered fruits like persimmons and grapes, nuts such as pecans and walnuts, and likely used various herbs. Although bones don’t preserve well in the soil, archaeologists have found evidence that people ate deer, fish, turtles, and small animals—fish being the most common. Stone weights called plummets found at the site may have been used in net fishing, allowing small groups to catch large amounts of fish. 

• Mound A 

  Mound A is the largest mound at Poverty Point, measuring 72 feet tall, 710 feet long, and 660 feet wide. Built around 1300 B.C., it was one of the last mounds constructed during the Late Archaic period and may have required up to 15.5 million basket loads of earth. Unlike other mounds built in stages, Mound A was constructed in three distinct parts: the cone-shaped peak, a platform, and a connecting ramp. After building the first two sections, there was a long pause before the ramp was added. When completed, Mound A aligned in a straight north-south line with Mounds B and E. The platform section of this mound is unusual. Some archaeologists think that people built this section in less than 90 days! 

• Mound B 

  Mound B is a small, conical mound at Poverty Point, standing 21 feet tall and 180 feet wide. Built around 1700 B.C., it was one of the first mounds at the site. Unlike later conical mounds used for burials, its exact purpose remains unclear. Interestingly, builders left around 100 baskets and hides full of dirt on the mound halfway through construction. Mound B was built in seven stages, starting with floor preparation, followed by layers of earth, and finished with a final covering that gave it its rounded shape. Evidence like postholes, charcoal, and fire pits suggests people may have lived on or held rituals on the mound during its construction. 

• Mound C 

  Mound C is a small, oval-shaped mound at Poverty Point, about 260 feet long and six feet high above the plaza. Its exact age is unclear—it could be one of the oldest or newest mounds at the site, but it dates to the Poverty Point occupation. Uniquely, Mound C was the only mound built directly on the natural ground and the only one located within the plaza. It was constructed in 16 thin, distinct layers, each with different colors and textures, likely using soil from deep sources like Bayou Maçon or nearby gullies, suggesting it held special significance

• Mound D

  Mound D was built much later than the other mounds at Poverty Point, around A.D. 700 during the Late Woodland period—about 2,000 years after Mound F. It is a flat-topped, almost rectangular mound measuring 6 feet tall and 100 by 130 feet at its base. Uniquely, it was built on one of the site’s ridge segments using surface soil that included older Poverty Point artifacts, showing a connection to the earlier culture. 

• Mound E 

  Mound E is one of the oldest mounds at Poverty Point, built around 3,700 years ago near the same time as Mound B. It is a low, flat-topped, rectangular mound standing 13 feet tall and measuring about 360 by 300 feet. Located due south of Mound B, it later became part of a north-south alignment with Mound A. Initially mistaken for a natural hill due to a lack of artifacts and misleading soil samples, archaeologists confirmed in 1993 that it was man-made and built in five stages. Because no datable material was found, its age was estimated through soil comparison with Mound B. 

• Mound F 

  Mound F is the smallest and last mound built at Poverty Point during the Late Archaic period. Dome-shaped and only about 5 feet tall, it measures 80 by 100 feet and was placed on a natural ridge to appear larger. Its small size and minimal effort suggest that mound building was becoming less important by that time. After people left Poverty Point, they also moved away from that way of life. For nearly 2,000 years, no larger site was built in North America until the rise of Cahokia, created by farming societies

• The Ridges 

  Poverty Point's C-shaped earthen ridges are unique in the ancient world, with six ridges separated by four aisles extending from the central plaza. The tallest ridge is over 6 feet high, while the lowest is under 1 foot. Some ridges were built in stages, others all at once, and maintaining them was likely a continuous task. Despite no clear house remains, the large number of artifacts and earth ovens found on the ridges suggests people lived there year-round—possibly hundreds. Houses were likely built with thin poles and cane, covered in mud (daub), with roofs made from hides, thatch, or palmetto fronds.