Mound A

Mound A was built in three stages: the westernmost cone, the broad, flat platform, and the ramp connecting the top of the cone and the platform. Its eastern edge is the platform seen here. One of the biggest aboriginal earthworks in North America and the largest built by hunter-fisher-gatherers, it consists of nearly 312,000 cubic yards of earth, about 390,000 tons of soil that would have been carried in baskets and possibly skin containers of about 50 lbs. each. The Poverty Point inhabitants would have had to carry about 15.5 million loads to construct it. Radiocarbon dates on organic materials from under the mound indicate that it was built sometime after 1400 B.C. It is believed to be the last Poverty Point-aged mound constructed at the site.

Louisiana · United States