Poverty Point
A ten‑minute look at the massive earthwork ridges and mounds built by Late Archaic hunter‑gatherers in Louisiana.
Chapters
On-screen text
- 0:07 Discovery and Landscape
- 0:23 Central plaza gathering Historical record · National Park Service, Poverty Point site plan
- 0:32 Construction and Labor
- 0:39 Construction and Labor
- 1:05 Legacy and Preservation
Sources
Historical record: Ford 1934, Louisiana Archaeological Survey Report · Louisiana Archaeological Survey, site designation 16ST1 · Hall 1995, site survey · National Park Service, Poverty Point site plan · Hall et al. 1995, Radiocarbon dating of charcoal samples · National Park Service, Poverty Point World Heritage nomination (1994) · Hall 1995, artifact catalog · University of Texas at Austin, catalog No. 2021.001 · Hall et al. 1990, Journal of Archaeological Science · Hall et al. 1995, faunal analysis · UNESCO World Heritage List, 1994 · Louisiana Office of State Parks, Visitor Guide 2023
The Institute's interpretation: Hall 1995, The Archaeology of Poverty Point · O’Brien 2008, American Antiquity · Smith 2012, Journal of Anthropological Archaeology · Hall 2015, Radiocarbon 57(2): 123–138
Sound: synthesized ambient (wind, drone, water) (CC0 — made by SoapBox). Made in 42 s of CPU.
Scenes Hathor has no parts for yet (33) — the next things to make
- Discovery and Landscape: Introduce the site, its discovery, and the sheer scale of the earthworks.
- A 1930s field team with canvas tents, shovels, and a hand‑drawn map surveying the ridges.
- A 1930s field team with canvas tents, shovels, and a hand‑drawn map surveying the ridges.
- A 1930s archaeologist filling a paper ledger with the code 16ST1 beside a field notebook.
- A 1930s archaeologist filling a paper ledger with the code 16ST1 beside a field notebook.
- A bird’s‑eye sketch of the concentric ridges spreading across a floodplain.
- A bird’s‑eye sketch of the concentric ridges spreading across a floodplain.
- A fire pit with charcoal being collected by a hunter‑gatherer; a stylized sun‑dial timeline overlays the landscape.
- A fire pit with charcoal being collected by a hunter‑gatherer; a stylized sun‑dial timeline overlays the landscape.
- A small band lowering a body into a pit and covering it with earth on the mound’s summit.
- A craftsman grinding a river stone on a flat slab, producing a smooth spherical shape.
- A craftsman grinding a river stone on a flat slab, producing a smooth spherical shape.
- Multiple small bands using baskets and digging sticks to move earth for a ridge.
- Multiple small bands using baskets and digging sticks to move earth for a ridge.
- Two traders exchanging marine shells for a gleaming copper axe beside a river.
- Trade and Materials: Show the extensive exchange networks that brought exotic copper, shells, and other goods.
- Two traders exchanging marine shells for a gleaming copper axe beside a river.
- Two traders exchanging marine shells for a gleaming copper axe beside a river.
- A hunter‑gatherer wearing a necklace of polished shells while standing near a riverbank.
- A hunter‑gatherer wearing a necklace of polished shells while standing near a riverbank.
- A stylized map showing lines from Poverty Point to the Great Lakes, Gulf coast, and Appalachian mica sources.
- A stylized map showing lines from Poverty Point to the Great Lakes, Gulf coast, and Appalachian mica sources.
- A hunter cleaning a deer carcass beside a river while children gather mussels.
- A hunter cleaning a deer carcass beside a river while children gather mussels.
- A sweeping view of wild grasses and forest understory, with no field plots.
- A sweeping view of wild grasses and forest understory, with no field plots.
- A modern visitor reading a UNESCO plaque beside the earthworks.
- A modern visitor reading a UNESCO plaque beside the earthworks.
- A modern visitor reading a UNESCO plaque beside the earthworks.
- A park ranger in a historic‑style uniform guiding a small group along a marked trail.