At Poverty Point, six nested ridges form a landscape unique in both formation and scale, with the outermost ridge measuring about three-quarters of a mile from north to south. Their great size and subtle topography make them difficult to recognize from the ground, though they are much more obvious from the air, which is how Dr. James Ford identified them in 1953 from an aerial photograph. Archaeologists have concluded that people lived on the ridges. Moundbuilding began with Mound B sometime around 1650 BC, and Mound E was probably built at about the same time. The age of Mound C remains uncertain because inconsistent dates suggest it could have been among the earlier or later mounds. Mound A, one of the largest mounds in North America, was created after 1400 BC, and Late Archaic mound construction likely ended with Mound F sometime after 1250 BC. The plaza, now appearing as a large flat area, is also an earthwork, with traces of large circles of wooden posts buried beneath two to three feet or more of soil that probably raised the plaza level in some places between about 1400 and 1200 BC.
