Is the Whole More than the Sum of the Parts? Late Archaic Hunter-Gatherer Complexity and History at Poverty Point, Louisiana

T. R. Kidder, Department of Anthropology, Washington University, St. Louis  (click here for speaker's bio)

Abstract:
Poverty Point (ca. 3600-3000 cal B.P.) is /sui generis/, a unique settlement occupied by people entirely dependent on hunting and gathering for subsistence. One reason Poverty Point is unique is the site's monumental architecture, which was constructed rapidly through the movement of over 750,000 m^3 of dirt to create mounds and ridges, resulting in the creation of an artificial landscape encompassing more than 3 km^2 . Although hunter-gatherer archaeology traditionally emphasizes analysis of subsistence and economy, and focuses on the role these groups played in the evolution of societies through time, such methods are insufficient for comprehending Poverty Point. Poverty Point must be understood in the context of local, regional and supra-regional history, including the development of a sacred economy rooted in a thousand-year-long tradition of mound building and ritual expression.

Work at Poverty Point's Mound A provides a point of departure for understanding how and why Poverty Point developed. The occupants of the site used monumental architecture to reference the past and to give expression to a common identity for people who came to the site with distinct histories (and ethnicities?) and in doing so created the mythic prototype for Southeastern Indians into the present.