  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 clusters in the area. The largest concentration was in the Yazoo Basin of western Mississippi. Another surrounded the Poverty Point site itself in the Upper Tensas Basin-Macon Ridge region of northeastern Louisiana. Lying between these various population clusters were stretches of uninhabited or lightly occupied land. In possibly one or two cases, intervening areas may have supported populations almost as concentrated as Poverty Point territories but, for various reasons, these peoples did not participate regularly or intensively in Poverty Point culture. Our map of 1000 B.C. shows another interesting feature. The scattered Poverty Point population clusters were all linked by waterways. Every one was tied to the Mississippi River. Even though the Mississippi River did not run through every concentration, its major tributaries and distributaries did. These interconnected streams must have been the highways that carried people, trade goods, and ideas. Most of the population lived in permanent villages along these streams. There were small, medium, and large villages, ranging in size from less than an acre to over 100 acres. The smallest settlements probably housed only a few families, while residents at some of the larger ones must have numbered in the hundreds, possibly even more. One site among them was a veritable metropolis for the day; the population at the Poverty Point site itself has been estimated to number several thousands (Ford and Webb 1956; Gibson 1973). In addition to these stable villages, there were temporary campsites, where villagers evidently took advantage of seasonally available foods and other resources. Larger villages were often distinguished from smaller ones by more than population numbers. One or more villages in nearly every Poverty Point territory were set apart by public construction works, usually mounds and sometimes embankments. Mounds were made of dirt and were usually As a general rule, the number and size of these works varied directly with village size and population. Even though several of these mounds have been excavated, their purpose is still unclear. They superficially resemble mounds used as tombs by later cultures, but no burials have turned up in the Poverty Point structures. Beneath a mound of this type at the Poverty Point site was a bed of ashes and a burned human bone, suggesting that, at least in this example, it covered a cremation (Ford and Webb 1956:38). Embankments, or artificial ridges, were occasionally built at these bigger villages. In many cases, embankments seem to have been raised by a combination of construction and incidental accumulation of living refuse. Most of the giant ridges at Poverty Point seem to have grown this way (Ford and Webb 1956; Kuttruff 1975). However, not all of these ridges positively served as foundations for houses. Some served to connect mounds, others perhaps to mark alignments of some kind. There was evidently no standard architectural arrangement involving mounds and ridges, but semicircular patterns occurred most often. The largest example is at the giant Poverty Point town (Figure 3). Linear plans were also used, and some sites show no recognizable designs. These various arrangements have been said to reflect everything from astronomical observatories to possible “fortresses.” Of all the similarities and differences among territorial settlement patterns, several things stand out. Villages in each province ranged from small to large and from simple to complex, and every province had one village that stood apart from all the rest. This main village was probably the regional “capital.” Such an arrangement also seems applicable to the provinces themselves. They, like the villages within their bounds, can be ranked in importance according to the intensity of interaction with the major province. Lest there be any doubt, that supreme province lay along the Macon Ridge-Upper Tensas lowlands in extreme northeastern Louisiana. Its “capital” was the great town of Poverty Point. Because of its dominating influence, this magnificent town will be described in detail. Figure 3. Reconstruction of the Central District of the Poverty Point Site about 1000 B.C. It was first reported by Samuel Lockett in 1873 and was visited many times afterwards. However, it was during excavations, sponsored by the American Museum of Natural History in the early 1950s, that its true nature came to be realized (Ford and Webb 1956). From aerial photographs came the startling realization—Poverty Point was a giant earthwork. It was so large that the bumps and ridges, apparent from a ground-level view, were once thought to be natural. The symmetrical geometry revealed on the photographs, however, led everyone to believe that it had been built from a “blueprint” in a single, all-out construction effort. Its great size, coupled with the millions of artifacts scattered over and in the artificial constructions, gave the impression that it was home for literally thousands and a magnet for multitudes of visitors. Even though new information has begun to change some of these ideas, it has not diminished the massiveness of the engineering feat or appreciation for the collective spirit of those long-ago builders whose vision and toil is represented there. As one can see from the “city map” (Figure 3), the town was divided into several areas. The main area in the middle of town was dominated by a semicircular or partially octagonal enclosure. The enclosure was produced by six artificial, earthen embankments which formed concentric arcs. Extra ridges were outlined in the western sector, and the outer ridge terminated before reaching the south sector. The ridges were between 50 and 150 feet apart and about the same in width. They were 4 to 6 feet tall. Between them were low areas, or swales, apparently where much of the construction dirt had been removed. From one end of the outer arc to the other was 3950 feet, or nearly three-quarters of a mile. Opposite ends of the interior or smallest embankment were 1950 feet apart. All of the ridges terminated at the edge of a bluff, which dropped steeply some 20 feet below to a stream which paralleled the entire eastern side of the earthwork. Formerly, archaeologists suspected that the ridges formed a complete circle or octagon and that the Arkansas River, which once flowed by the site, had eaten away the eastern side. Recent geological information and studies of activity patterns on the site, patterns that include both occupational and architectural tasks, now show that the enclosure was always semicircular. The bluff that marks the eastern edge of the site today and which seems to have cut into the earthwork was formed thousands of years before building ever started. In fact, the bluff edge has probably retreated very little since the time of earthwork construction. The ridges were divided into five sectors by four aisles, or corridors. These openings range from 35 to 160 feet in width. They did not converge The middle of the enclosure, or plaza, was relatively flat and covered an area of about 37 acres. At the eastern edge lay an oval mound (Bluff Mound). Whether it was built during Poverty Point times or during the Civil War, as claimed by some, is not certain. Outside the central area were other earthworks (Figure 4). These included mounds and other embankments, as well as depressions. Physically connected to the outermost arc in the western sector was a huge mound (Mound A). The mound had an unusual shape which reminded some experts of a bird. It stood over 70 feet high and measured 640 feet along the “wing” and 710 feet from “head to tail.” The flattened, or so-called “tail,” section of the monster structure was actually built in a pit some 12 or more feet deep. Another similar but slightly smaller mound (Motley Mound) was built 1.5 miles north of the central embankments. Because it had only a lobe where the “bird’s tail” should have been, it was believed to be unfinished (Ford and Webb 1956:18). Three more structures were positioned along a north-south line that passed through the central “bird” mound. About 0.4 mile north of the big mound was a conical construction (Mound B) covering a possible cremation. Some 600 feet south lay a square, earthen structure with a depression in the center. The function of this mound, like all the others, remains uncertain. There are even doubts about its man-made nature. A curving ridge connected this mound with the aisle separating the western and southwestern sectors. About 1.6 miles further south along the same axis was a second dome, the Lower Jackson Mound, the southernmost structure of the Poverty Point complex. Some other earthworks—a comma-shaped ridge and at least one mound on the Jackson Place immediately south of the central enclosure—were probably once part of the overall complex. Unfortunately they have been destroyed. Some of the dirt for the earthworks had been dug from borrow pits that lay outside the embankments. One large one stretched along the entire periphery of the southwestern sector (Figures 3 & 4). A balk, or “bridge,” crossed the center of this depression. An even larger pit ran north from the bird mound to Mound B. Smaller ones dotted the area around the “tail” of the bird mound and north of Mound B. These would have formed large ponds, and one cannot help but wonder if we might not be looking at an ancient, municipal water system or perhaps fish ponds, where catfish and other species might have been “farmed” or kept until needed. Figure 4. Plan of Earthworks at the Giant Poverty Point Town.
The majority of the population apparently lived on the embankments in the central area, but appreciable numbers of people lived outside. Important “suburbs” were scattered along the bluff between the central district and Motley Mound, to the west of Motley Mound, to the west and south of the bird mound, on the Jackson Place, and south to Lower Jackson. Other peripheral neighborhoods will no doubt eventually be discovered. Nothing much is known about Poverty Point houses and furnishings. Probable house outlines were reported from Jaketown (Ford, Phillips, and Haag 1955: Figure 10) and Poverty Point (Webb 1977:13). Stains in the soil, called postmolds, showed these structures to have been circular and small, around 13 to 15 feet in diameter. One possible burned house at Poverty Point appears to have been a semi-subterranean structure, framed with bent poles and covered with cane thatch and daub (dried mud). Interior furnishings were not recognized. Numerous postmolds have been found at many Poverty Point sites, but so far no other complete patterns have been identified. On the western side of the plaza at the Poverty Point site, an archaeologist excavated some unusually large pits. If these were postmolds, they held posts the size of grown trees! Too big for ordinary or even superordinary residences, these huge posts are said by some to have been markers for important days like equinoxes and solstices, an American Stonehenge. |
|
