"Formed from the Earth at That Place": The Material Side of Community at Poverty Point

Abstract

Fisher-hunter-gatherers built the large earthwork at Poverty Point ca. 3500 cal. B.P. Based on the massive quantities of exotic rock and construction regularities with earlier regional mound complexes, Kenneth Sassaman proposes that builders were a cosmopolitan multiethnic collective with geographically extensive origins. Close examination of Poverty Point's goods fails to support his multiethnic model and suggests that a local communal structure prevailed in Poverty Point's homeland.