Poverty Point up for United Nations distinction

Poverty Point State Historic Site’s prehistoric earthworks in West Carroll Parish took a giant leap toward inclusion on the United Nations’ World Heritage List now that U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar says he will propose the site to be considered as a U.S. nomination. The U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s World Heritage List includes fewer than 1,000 sites, and among them are world-famous landmarks such as the Grand Canyon, the Great Wall of China and the Statue of Liberty. “World Heritage Sites are unique places of natural beauty and historic and cultural importance that are celebrated by people of all nations,” Salazar says. “The remarkable prehistoric earthworks of Poverty Point connect us to those who inhabited our land thousands of years ago.” Poverty Point is a vast complex of earthen mounds and ridges built by inhabitants more than 3,500 years ago. The structures, including an integrated complex of earthen mounds, enormous concentric ridges, and a large plaza, may be the largest hunter-gatherer settlement that ever existed. Poverty Point is part of the Louisiana State Parks system. The Department of the Interior will consult with the Federal Interagency Panel for World Heritage in making a final decision on the submission of nominations to the World Heritage List. U.S. nominations will likely be formally nominated to the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in 2013 for possible inclusion on the World Heritage List in 2014.