User:Spinon1/Poverty Point Objects

Poverty Point Objects are late-archaic artifacts found at Poverty Point, Louisiana and used for the generating and transferring of heat. Unique to other baking stones for their composition of fine dirt instead of rock. They also come in a variety of shapes and for the large amount of objects produced.

Description
Poverty Point Objects are made out of fired clay and from the fine dirt in the area. They come in a variety of seven hand-made shapes, biconical plain and grooved, cylindrical, cross grooved, melon with end grooves, amorphous, and melon shaped. The objects are then placed in an earth oven, heated with fire, meat or other types of food are added, and then buried to cook. Many were made, cumulating to seventy percent of artifact findings in the Poverty Point archaeological site. Most were found away from the ritual mounds of Poverty Point, rather in the ridges towards the river.

Theories
It is unknown what Poverty Point Objects were used for, why so many were made, and who made them. They could have been made in different shapes to generate varying amounts of heat, presumable for earth ovens. It's also possible that Poverty Point Objects were made for fishing or currency weights. The large abundance can be correlated with trading as they were unique and no specific indigenous communities can be tied to Poverty Point itself. Besides the quantity of objects, they are attributed to the area by the Poverty Point specialization in dirt engineering. The reason for their structure is explained by the lack of rocks in the area which contributes to the dirt architecture of Poverty Point.

Cultural Significance
Poverty Point Objects contribute to the idea that Poverty Point itself was a place of trade, unable to pinpoint exactly which indigenous community built the center in the first place. They were used by the original 1950s and 60s archaeologists to create a boundary to signify the expansion of Poverty Point. Poverty Point Objects also could signify an interest in culinary works especially due to the large abundance of food vegetation in the area.