About 3,500 years ago, hunter-gatherer communities began shaping enormous earthen mounds along the Mississippi River at Poverty Point, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in northeast Louisiana. Tristram "T.R." Kidder, the Edward S. and Tedi Macias Professor of anthropology, describes the scale of the undertaking this way: "Conservatively, they moved 140,000 dump truck loads of dirt, all without horses or wheels. It was incredibly hard work. The big question is why? What was their motivation?"
Kidder and his team in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis returned to Poverty Point and several nearby locations to collect new radiocarbon dates and reevaluate the archaeological evidence. Their recent work is leading them toward ideas that differ from long-held interpretations of how these early communities functioned.
Kidder detailed these findings in two new articles published in Southeastern Archaeology, co-authored with graduate student Olivia Baumgartel and Seth Grooms, a 2023 WashU PhD now at Appalachian State University.
Evidence of Long-Distance Networks
Poverty Point is widely known for its massive mounds, which remain easily visible today. Smaller artifacts uncovered at the site also tell an extraordinary story. Archaeologists have recovered thousands of clay-fired cooking balls and materials brought from faraway regions, such as quartz crystal from Arkansas, soapstone from the Atlanta area, and copper ornaments originating near the Great Lakes. "These people were trading and traveling over long distances," Kidder said.
For many years, scholars believed that constructing Poverty Point required a strictly organized, hierarchical society working across generations. Because the younger Cahokia Mounds project (in what is now Illinois) was created under a chiefdom, researchers assumed the same structure existed at Poverty Point. Yet, as Kidder points out, the simplest explanation is not always the correct one.
A New Interpretation of Community Life
In their recent publication, Kidder and Grooms propose a different view of Poverty Point. They suggest it was not a permanent settlement run by leaders commanding laborers, but instead a large meeting place where people from across the Southeast and Midwest gathered periodically to trade, celebrate, collaborate, and participate in shared rituals.
These ideas expand on theories Kidder and his graduate students have been developing for years. Based on available evidence, they envision a community united by common purpose. As Baumgartel explained, "We believe these people were egalitarian hunter-gatherers, not subjects to some powerful chiefdom."
Kidder adds that the earthworks do not appear to honor elites. He believes the mounds represent a cooperative effort carried out over several years as people sought to influence a world filled with uncertainty. "When these earthworks were being constructed, the Southeast was prone to severe weather and massive floods," he said. "We believe the inhabitants of Poverty Point built the mounds, performed rituals and left behind valuable objects as a sacrifice and spiritual offering."
A Ritual Landscape Without Permanent Settlement
Kidder and Grooms emphasize that archaeologists have never found burials or evidence of long-term houses at Poverty Point. "We would expect to see those things if this were a permanent village," Kidder said. "The old paradigm that people lived at Poverty Point continuously for centuries has been crumbling, and we needed a new framework."
Although spiritual intentions do not leave physical traces like pottery or tools, Kidder and Grooms have compelling reasons to believe the site held deep religious meaning. "I've spent many years talking with people of Native American ancestry," Kidder said, noting that Grooms is a member of the Lumbee tribe of North Carolina.
These conversations have reinforced the idea that the people who gathered at Poverty Point were guided by sacred motivations that do not align with modern expectations of material gain.
"As archaeologists, we have to leave ourselves open to different kinds of thinking," Kidder said. "The Western view is that they wouldn't travel all of that distance and do all of that work unless they were getting something of economic value out of it. We believe they felt a moral responsibility to repair a torn universe."
Independent Histories Across the Region
Poverty Point was not the only major gathering site in this part of the continent. WashU researchers are also examining Claiborne and Cedarland, two archaeological sites in western Mississippi that once held comparable collections of artifacts. Both sites have been heavily impacted by development and the removal of objects by private collectors. "It's a sad fact that in archaeology today, you're almost always trailing behind someone's bulldozer," Kidder said.
To avoid disturbing the sites further, the team relied on radiocarbon dating of clam shells and deer bones that were originally collected some 50 years ago. The results show that Cedarland was occupied around 500 years before Claiborne or Poverty Point, giving it a distinct timeline. As Baumgartel put it, "We've pulled these sites apart, given them independent histories, and have started to understand how artifacts from across the region ended up here."
New Excavations and Future Insights
This careful approach is continuing at Poverty Point. During May and June of this year, Kidder and Baumgartel reopened test pits first excavated in the 1970s. By applying modern radiocarbon dating and advanced microscopy techniques, they aim to uncover details that earlier researchers could not access.
"Olivia and I spent a lot of time moving tiny amounts of dirt, and it was hot and tiring," Kidder said. "It's incredible to think about the effort that the people of Poverty Point went through to build those earthworks. They continue to inspire me."
