page_title: Poverty Point
section_title: Lower Jackson and Motley mounds
hierarchical_section_title: Poverty Point / Site description / Lower Jackson and Motley mounds
caption_attribution_description: English: An overview of the Poverty Point Site, built between 1650 to 700 BCE, during the Archaic Period in the Americas.
context_page_description: Poverty Point State Historical Site is a prehistoric earthwork constructed by the Poverty Point culture. The Poverty Point site is located in present-day northeastern Louisiana though evidence of the Poverty Point culture extends throughout much of the Southeastern Woodlands. The culture extended 100 miles across the Mississippi Delta and south to the Gulf Coast. The Poverty Point site has been designated as a U.S. National Monument, a U.S. National Historic Landmark, and UNESCO World Heritage Site. Located in the Southern United States, the site is 15.5 miles from the current flow of the Mississippi River, and is situated on the edge of Macon Ridge, near the village of Epps in West Carroll Parish, Louisiana.
  The Poverty Point site contains earthen ridges and mounds, built by indigenous people between 1700 and 1100 BC during the Late Archaic period in North America. Archaeologists have proposed a variety of possible functions for the site including as a settlement, a trading center, and/or a ceremonial religious complex.
context_section_description: Approximately 1.8 miles (2.9 km) south of the Poverty Point site center is the Lower Jackson Mound (16WC10) a conical structure 10 ft (3 m) in height and 115 ft (35 m) in diameter at its base. For many years, archaeologists believed the Lower Jackson Mound was built during the same time as the Poverty Point site.  However, modern radiocarbon dates from the base of the Mound demonstrate that the Lower Jackson Mound was built ca. 3900 to 3600 BC which predates the Poverty Point earthworks by about 1500 years.  Artifacts typical of the early date, such as baked loess blocks and Evans projectile points, were recovered near the mound.  Lower Jackson Mound is on the same north-south line as the later Poverty Point Mounds E, A, and B.
  Approximately 1.2 miles (2.2 km) to the north of the Poverty Point earthworks is the Motley Mound (16WC7), which is 52 ft (16 m) in height with a base that measures 560 x 410 ft (170 x 125 m).  Motley Mound has some similarity in form to Mound A, however, the cultural affiliation of this earthwork remains speculative.
caption: An overview of the Poverty Point site showing the locations of the nearby Motley and Lower Jackson mounds
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