Poverty Point in Louisiana stands as one of North America's earliest massive earth and timber constructions. What we see today represents only 5-10% of original volume, and most visitors overlook the massive timber component that has decayed over millennia. The Chacoan culture similarly relied on timber for their great houses in the American Southwest. These vanished wooden elements were crucial to how these sites originally functioned and looked.
Poverty Point and early North American earthworks
United StatesArchitecture
Site mentioned
Key facts
- Poverty Point is an example of the first massive constructions of earth and timber in North America
- Speaker dates Poverty Point to approximately 2600-3000 BC (accepted dating is ~1700-1100 BC)
- Many surviving earthworks represent just 5-10% of original construction volume
- Structures also incorporated significant amounts of timber which has since decayed away
- Chacoan culture similarly used timber in building great houses in the American Southwest
- Most tourists overlook the timber component because it has rotted away over millennia
Sources
Poverty Pointen.wikipedia.org
The Poverty Point site contains earthen ridges and mounds, built by indigenous people between 1700 and 1100 BCE during the Late Archaic period in North America.
Poverty Point, Louisianasmarthistory.org
In the Lower Mississippi Valley in Louisiana, an ancient Indigenous city called Poverty Point flourished between 1650–800 B.C.E. in the Late Archaic Period. [1] ...
POVERTY POINT AND THE NEWARK EARTHWORKSohiohistory.org
Poverty Point is an amazing site! It's amazing for the sheer scale of the earthworks, it dates to between 1700 and 1100 B.C. of Poverty Point.
History & Artifacts of Poverty Point | Explore Louisianapovertypoint.us
The Mounds Poverty Point's centerpiece is its collection of earthworks built during a 600-year period, or what today would be considered 25 generations.
Monumental Earthworks of Poverty Pointwhc.unesco.org
The site consists of an integrated complex of earthen monuments, in the main constructed 3,700-3,100 years ago in the Late Archaic period. The complex includes ...
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