Convergence at Poverty Point: a revised chronology of the Late Archaic Lower Mississippi Valley

A revised chronology of the Late Archaic period at Poverty Point, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Lower Mississippi Valley, challenges traditional assumptions about cultural diffusion. New radiocarbon data indicate that Jaketown, previously thought to be peripheral to Poverty Point culture, predates it, suggesting that cultural innovations did not spread radially from Poverty Point but instead emerged through local developments and regional convergence. This study highlights the limitations of assuming a single center of innovation and emphasizes the importance of examining local sequences to better understand complex social histories.

Grooms, S. B., Ward, G. M. V., & Kidder, T. R. (2023). Convergence at Poverty Point: a revised chronology of the Late Archaic Lower Mississippi Valley. Antiquity, 97(396), 1453–1469. https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2023.155