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Assessment Questions 9.2
How does the construction of the Poverty Point earthworks challenge the idea that agriculture is a prerequisite for the development of complex organizational skills?
The construction of the Poverty Point earthworks suggests that hunter-gatherers in Louisiana were able to muster the labor of a large group of people to produce impressive monuments, challenging the idea that agriculture is a prerequisite for the development of complex organizational skills needed for such projects. The site also engaged in a broad trading network, obtaining raw materials through trade.
What subsistence system did the builders of Poverty Point follow, and what were their mainstays in terms of food resources?
The builders of Poverty Point were hunter-gatherers living in an environment with abundant wild foods. Fish and other aquatic resources, in particular, were the mainstays of the Poverty Point diet.
What term is used to describe people living in resource-privileged regions, and what are examples of such groups mentioned in the passage?
People living in resource-privileged regions are referred to as affluent foragers. Examples of affluent foragers mentioned in the passage include the Jomon of Japan and the native people of the northwest coast of North America.