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The Extent and Content of Poverty Point Culture

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Clarence H. Webb
Clarence H. Webb*
Affiliation:
Shreveport, Louisiana
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Abstract

Late Archaic developments along the Gulf Coast and up the Mississippi Valley, after 2000 B.C., contributed a substantial base for the Poverty Point culture. New coastal and inland discoveries bring the total number of Poverty Point sites to 34, with many additional possibilities.

A study of 70,000 artifacts from the type-site is reported; the known cultural content is increased by numerous new traits. The thesis is advanced that Formative elements of Mesoamerican origin, including ceremonial organization, massive mound construction, village planning, ceramics, figurines, advanced lapidary industry, and probable agriculture, enriched the basic Archaic culture and contributed to subsequent cultural developments in the valley.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 33 , Issue 3 , July 1968 , pp. 297 - 321
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1968

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