Earthen walls at Poverty Point State Historic Site, Louisiana. This site is more than a thousand years older than Ohio’s Hopewell earthworks.

The amazing earthworks at Poverty Point, Louisiana have been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List! The announcement was made today at the World Heritage Convention in Qatar.

This is wonderful news! Poverty Point now joins Cahokia Mounds, Mesa Verde and Chaco Canyon as the only ancient North American Indian sites to have received this ultimate level of international recognition.

The inscription of Poverty Points will mean an increased international appreciation of the remarkable achievements of North American Indian cultures. In addition, it shows that the UNESCO World Heritage Committee evidently still is willing to consider nominations to the World Heritage List from the United States in spite of the controversy over the U.S. decision to not pay its dues to the UNESCO World Heritage Fund.

This gives renewed hope to the upcoming nominations of Ohio’s Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks and Serpent Mound. Congratulations to Poverty Point State Historic Site! We know just how hard you’ve worked to achieve this goal.

Brad Lepper