Culture · Late Archaic
Poverty Point
1700–1100 BCE, North America — Southeast
Poverty Point is the Late Archaic earthwork centre in northeast Louisiana built between about 1,700 and 1,100 BCE, with concentric ridges and a large bird-shaped mound. It sat at the hub of an exchange network drawing stone from the Ouachitas, Appalachians and Great Lakes. Collectors hold hematite and magnetite plummets, jasper and red-jasper beads, small clay figurines, clay cooking balls and Gary and Motley points from the surrounding region.
| Dates | 1700–1100 BCE |
|---|---|
| Period | Late Archaic |
| Region | North America — Southeast |
| Areas | Lower Mississippi Valley, Louisiana |
| Typical objects | Plummet, Bead, Figurine, Projectile point |
| Typical materials | Hematite, Jasper, Novaculite, Terracotta |
Identification
Poverty Point objects, the baked-clay cooking balls in biconical, cross-grooved and melon shapes, are the most distinctive finds and are unique to the culture. Ground-stone plummets in hematite, lapidary work in jasper and quartz, microlith tools on Jaketown perforators and the near absence of pottery also mark the assemblage. Exotic materials such as steatite, novaculite, copper and galena are common on site.
Legality
In the United States, prehistoric artifacts may be collected and sold only when they come from private land with the landowner's permission; removal from federal, tribal or most state land is prohibited under ARPA and state statutes. Funerary objects, human remains and sacred items are covered by NAGPRA and are not legitimately traded, and Canadian provinces treat archaeological finds as Crown or provincial property. The Poverty Point site itself is a state historic site and World Heritage property where collecting is a crime; only material from private farmland nearby can be legitimately held.
Reproductions and fakes
Clay cooking balls are occasionally reproduced but rarely faked because of low value. Hematite plummets and jasper beads are faked or upgraded, especially zoomorphic bead forms; watch for modern lapidary tool marks and drill holes that are perfectly cylindrical rather than tapered from both ends.
Elsewhere
- Wikidata: Q4366373
- Wikipedia: Poverty Point culture
Cite this article
Stratum Study. "Poverty Point" (Culture). Stratum Study pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-21. https://stratum.black/study/cultures/poverty-point. Accessed 2026-09-21.
@misc{stratum-poverty-point,
title = {Poverty Point},
author = {{Stratum Study}},
howpublished = {\url{https://stratum.black/study/cultures/poverty-point}},
year = {2026},
note = {Culture article, Stratum Study pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-21; sources: stratum, wikidata, commons. Accessed 2026-09-21.}
} Citations carry the pack version and the article's as-of date so they resolve to the same text later. The facts themselves belong to the sources listed below; cite those for the science.