Poverty Point Sites in Southeastern Louisiana

Abstract

Two small shell middens, containing numerous Poverty Point objects and associated with a 4000-year-old subdelta of the Mississippi River, have been located in the Pontchartrain Basin. Dated by the radiocarbon method at approximately 1740 B.C., the sites have been established as a separate phase of the Poverty Point horizon. A third site, characterized by abundant imported stone and a well-developed microflint industry, is believed to be contemporaneous with the Poverty Point and Jaketown sites.