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
eastern coast and as far up valley as Tennessee and Missouri.
One should not get the idea that Poverty Point peoples from one end of
this large region to the other were exactly alike. They did not comprise
a single body of kinfolks or a nation. They almost certainly spoke
different languages. It is likely that Poverty Point peoples were
divided into a number of socially, politically, and ethnically separate
groups.
What these people did have in common was participation, to varying
degrees, in a far-reaching system of trade and manufacture or use of
certain artifacts. Recognition of these artifacts is how archaeologists
differentiate between Poverty Point sites and sites of different
cultures. Some of these characteristic artifacts include clay cooking
balls, clay figurines, small stone tools called microflints, plummets,
and finely-crafted stone beads and pendants (Figure 2). Several things
distinguish Poverty Point artifacts. One is the decided preference for
materials imported from other regions. The other is the emphasis on
ground and polished stone artifacts, especially ornaments and other
status insignias.
Radiocarbon and thermoluminescence dates show that Poverty Point culture
developed over a long period of time. By 3000 B.C., many of the typical
artifacts were already in use. A few items had appeared even earlier.
During the next thousand years, new artifacts and new styles were added,
and by 2000-1800 B.C., an early stage of Poverty Point culture had
evolved in some areas. However, the period between 1500 and 700 B.C. was
the most climactic, because that was the span dominated by the giant
Poverty Point site.
[Illustration: Figure 1. How the Lower Mississippi Valley Might Have
Looked in 1000 B.C. Shows Courses of Major Rivers and Locations of
Poverty Point Territories.]
AREAS OF SETTLEMENT
SITES
POVERTY POINT
Jaketown
Cowpen Slough
Claiborne
Ouachita River
Arkansas River
Joe’s Bayou
West Fork Mississippi River
East Fork Mississippi River
Vermilion River
Teche-Red River
Louisiana boundaries and modern Mississippi River shown as dotted
lines
[Illustration: Figure 2. Artifacts Characteristic of Poverty Point
Culture. a-c, Plummets; d-f, Miniature Stone Carvings; g-j, Poverty
Point Objects; k-l, Human Figurines; m-o, Projectile Points.
Photographs courtesy of Brian Cockerham.]