strategy than hunting and gathering. Maize farm-
ing, therefore, transforms the Indians’ way of life.
Instead of living in small, mobile bands, they begin
to settle in larger, more permanent villages.ca. 1800 to 500 B.C.Poverty Point is settled in Louisiana.
Indians begin building a massive settlement at
Poverty Point, overlooking the floodplain of the
Mississippi River, in what is now northeastern Lou-
isiana. The habitation area covers nearly 500 acres
and includes, at its height, as many as 600 dwell-
ings occupied by some 5,000 people. Located near
the confluence of six rivers, the Poverty Point site
serves as a major trading center for three hundred
years. Exotic materials such as copper, argillite, and
quartz—some from as far away as the Great Lakes
region—are traded there.
Poverty Point also features great earthworks.
Most prominent are mounds about 82 feet wide
and nine feet tall that form six concentric semicir-
cles. The massive construction will be the largest in
North American for the next thousand years. Why
the mounds were built and how they were used re-
mains a mystery.ca. 1500 B.C.Mexican farmers develop an improved
species of maize.
By crossing primitive species of maize (see entry
for CA. 5000 B.C.) with wild grass plants, Mexican
Indians create a hybrid plant that is far superior as
a food source. The new species offers larger ears,
covered with protective husks, and with many more
kernels than earlier forms of maize. Exported from
Mexico, this heartier and more productive plant
will allow Indian groups to the north to adopt set-
tled, largely agricultural ways of life (see entry for
CA. 2000 TO 1000 B.C.).1500 B.C. to A.D. 300The Olmec establish the first great
civilization in Mesoamerica.
Called the “mother civilization” because of its
great influence on the cultures of later Mesoameri-
can people, the Olmec civilization emerges in the
humid lands along the Gulf coast in what is now
southern Mexico. The rich wild-plant resources in
the region allow the Olmec population to grow and
eventually spread throughout Mesoamerica.
The Olmec build large urban areas such as
San Lorenzo and La Venta, where people gather to
trade and attend religious ceremonies. These cen-
ters feature large public buildings and pyramids,
constructed by great teams of workers. Commoners
also farm nearby fields, and craftsworkers produceca. 1800 to 500 B.C.
A plaster reproduction of one of the gigantic stone
heads found at the Olmec site of San Lorenzo
(Neg. no. 321216, Photo by Rota, courtesy the Library,
American Museum of Natural History)