In the late Archaic stage in Louisiana, traits developed by the Poverty Point people characterized the Poverty Point Period. These people built a village in what is now Epps, LA, on the west bank of Bayou Macon, on a one mile square piece of land. They built it in a series of six earth terraces 100 feet wide, each terrace within another. Situated on the Macon Plateau, 20 feet above the Mississippi Valley, it is estimated that the population was about 5-6 thousand. On the west side of the village they built a mound about 600 feet long and 70 feet high. This connected to another terrace with a long flat platform 20 feet high with a ramp or stairway running from the platform to the top of the mound. A large earthen bird effigy was built on the top. It was originally believed that all this took place around 250 - 1,500 B.C.
They traded for great distances and had flint from Ohio, copper from Lake Superior and iron hematite and magnetite from Arkansas and Missouri.
Poverty Point people didn't have the bow and arrow, but did use spears and darts. Other tools included stone choppers, knives, scrapers, digging tools, micro-flints, bolas, drills, atlatls, clay cooking balls, and stones for grinding seeds, nuts and grain.
Remember that these people were developing complex religious ceremonies, social structures and tools before the Mayan or Roman civilizations had begun! The Poverty Point site is the believed to be the largest settlement during it's time period and the largest, most complex geometrical earthwork in North America.
