Louisiana’s Poverty Point National Monument is in the running to be listed alongside the likes of the Pyramids at Giza in Egypt as a World Heritage Site, largely thanks to the work of Louisiana archaeologist Diana Greenlee.
If chosen, the monumental earthwork site near Epps, La. would be the first site in Louisiana and the second in the southeastern United States to be added to the list. Greenlee said Poverty Point is estimated to be at least 3,100 years old. Five mounds, six concentric urban ridges and a large interior plaza comprise the site, which Greenlee said was built by ancient hunter-gatherers.
Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne said Poverty Point’s selection as a World Heritage Site would be “an incredible boost to northeast Louisiana” from both an economic and tourism standpoint.
Greenlee said Poverty Point is significant because, prior to its discovery, archaeologists did not believe anyone other than farmers could build such a massive earthwork.
“There’s no other site like it in the world,” Greenlee said. “It’s pretty special.”
University history professor Alecia Long said Poverty Point’s age, size and complexity contribute to its significance.
Greenlee has been employed by the University of Louisiana at Monroe and the Louisiana Division of Archaeology as a Poverty Point station archaeologist since 2006. She said as a new employee, one of her assigned tasks was researching the steps for having Poverty Point named a World Heritage Site.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, or UNESCO, compiles the World Heritage List, which contains sites ranging from the Taj Mahal to the Grand Canyon.
According to the UNESCO website, countries must sign the World Heritage Convention “pledging to protect their natural and cultural heritage” before submitting nominations.
After signing on, Greenlee said each country decides which of its own sites are internationally significant and place them on the Tentative List.
Greenlee said she discovered the U.S. National Park Service, the agency responsible for compiling the U.S. Tentative List, was accepting applications for a new list not long after she began working at Poverty Point. The most recent list before then had been compiled in the 1970s, Greenlee said.
After submitting an application in 2007, Greenlee said Poverty Point workers learned of their Tentative List placement in 2008.
In summer 2011, the World Heritage Committee moved Poverty Point from the Tentative List to the official nomination process, Greenlee said. From then until Dec. 2011, Poverty Point workers prepared the nomination file, which Greenlee said includes formal documentation with discussion of the site’s significance, history, management and issues that may threaten its integrity.
Greenlee said the next step in the nomination process will occur in June or July, when members of the International Council on Monuments and Sites will formally evaluate the site. In 2014, the World Heritage Committee will decide whether to officially add Poverty Point to the World Heritage List or to defer its decision.
“There’s no other site like it in the world…it’s pretty special.”