New evidence supports idea that America’s first civilization was made up of ‘sophisticated’ engineers

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The illustration above shows the core features of the Poverty Point site in northern Louisiana. The green to the right is the Mississippi River flood plain. The orange is Macon Ridge, the higher ground on which the site is located. Six C-shaped ridges are visible at the site. Parts of the ridges have been damaged by historic and modern activities. The pattern south of Mound E is the result of farm activity. Many of the low areas around the site — lighter yellow — are thought to be places where soil was mined to make ridges and mounds.

« New evidence supports idea that America’s first civilization was made up of ‘sophisticated’ engineers

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Each ridge is designated by a number — 1 being the inner ridge and 6 the outer ridge. Researchers believe some of the dirt used to construct the ridges came from the wet areas between the ridges.

« New evidence supports idea that America’s first civilization was made up of ‘sophisticated’ engineers

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An excavation before sampling. Note the color changes between layers. The darker layers have carbon-rich deposits made by humans, such as midden or garbage that was scraped up and dumped to form the ridge structure during construction. There is little organic garbage in the upper third section.

« New evidence supports idea that America’s first civilization was made up of ‘sophisticated’ engineers

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