Poverty Point Artifacts

Artifacts found at Poverty Point and related sites are remarkably diverse and sophisticated, with most surviving objects made of stone or fired earth because the site’s acidic soils preserve very little bone or wood. Through a trade network, the people of Poverty Point acquired enough stone to create a wide range of utilitarian and decorative items, including Late Archaic spear points, atlatl weights, gorgets, beads, pendants, Poverty Point Objects, and plummets. Spear points were sometimes repurposed as knives, scrapers, and drills, while atlatl weights and wearable gorgets were made in many shapes, sizes, and stone types. Most beads are made of chert, though rarer examples of copper, steatite, and galena have also been found. Red jasper pot-bellied owl pendants are a classic Poverty Point artifact and, though few in number, have been discovered across the South from Louisiana to Florida. Fired-earth cooking balls known as Poverty Point Objects were made in several forms, including melon-grooved, biconical, cylindrical-grooved, and cross-grooved examples. Teardrop-shaped plummets, usually made of heavy iron ore such as hematite or magnetite, may have served as weights for fishing nets or looms.

Pioneer, Louisiana · United States