The soils at Poverty Point do not preserve bone well. As a result, archaeologists have not found many animal bones at the site. Those they have found show that people ate deer and lots of small animals like fish, squirrel and turtle. Overall, researchers have found more fish bones at the site than any other kind of bone. They probably used bones to make tools, but archaeologists have only found a few of them.

Food

     One reason people built the site where they did was because food was so abundant nearby. Natural wetlands, grasslands, woods and rivers surround the site. These areas offered people a rich and varied diet.

     Archaeologists have found charred pieces of different kinds of plant foods at the site. Among other things, people gathered persimmons, pawpaws, muscadine grapes, and nuts such as pecans and black walnuts. They probably used many different kinds of herbs, too.