Poverty Point contains a collection of earthworks built during a 600-year period. The mounds are concentric half-circles, 4 to 6 feet high with an outside diameter of three-quarters of a mile apart. With no human remains or heaps of shells, archaeologists assume that these mounds were simply symbols of power and wealth. Dating to the Late Archaic period, […]
The Yellowstone Act of 1872 created the world’s first national park. It withdrew more than 2 million acres from sale, settlement, or occupation to be “dedicated and set apart as a public park or pleasuring-ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people.” Unlike Yosemite, the bill put Yellowstone under federal control because ceding it […]
