The preceding view of Poverty Point culture has been written much like an ethnographer might have described it if he had been able to go back some 3000 years in the past. Unfortunately, time travel and direct observation of extinct cultures are beyond our capabilities, and that is why much of the Poverty Point story must be written with such words as: seems, appears, perhaps, maybe, and other equivocal terms. The Poverty Point story is a patchwork of facts, hypotheses, guesses, and speculations. Often there are many different ways to look at the same set of data. This is why there are so many alternative interpretations and differences of opinion among archaeologists who study this fascinating culture. This should not be mistaken for a bad state of affairs. It is good and healthy. It is a sign to all that much remains to be done before we can present a detailed picture in which everyone can be confident. But more than agreement or disagreement is the responsibility thrust upon everyone—archaeologist and public alike—who thirst for understanding of humankind. Poverty Point represents a charge and a commitment. The proud people who were carriers of Poverty Point culture are all dead. But the things they created, their magnificent achievements, their contributions to the saga of human development on this planet live on. Theirs is a legacy worth understanding. REFERENCES CITED Baker, William S., Jr. and Clarence H. Webb 1978 Burials at the Cowpen Slough site (16CT147). _Louisiana Archaeological Society, Newsletter_ 5(2):16-18. Brasher, Ted. J. 1973 _An investigation of some central functions of Poverty Point._ Unpublished M.A. thesis, Northwestern State University, Natchitoches. Bruseth, James E. 1980 Intrasite structure at the Claiborne site. In Caddoan and Poverty Point archaeology: essays in honor of Clarence Hungerford Webb, edited by Jon L. Gibson. _Louisiana Archaeology_ 6 for 1979:283-318. Byrd, Kathleen M. 1978 Zooarchaeological remains. In The peripheries of Poverty Point, by Prentice M. Thomas, Jr. and L. Janice Campbell. _New World Research Report of Investigations_ 12:238-244. Byrd, Kathleen M. and Robert W. Neuman 1978 Archaeological data relative to prehistoric subsistence in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley, edited by Sam B. Hilliard. _Geoscience and Man_ 19:9-21. Duhe, Brian 1976 Preliminary evidence of a seasonal fishing activity at Bayou Jasmine. _Louisiana Archaeology_ 3:33-74. Ford, James A. 1955 The puzzle of Poverty Point. _Natural History_ 64(9):466-472. Ford, James A. 1969 A comparison of Formative cultures in the Americas, diffusion of the psychic unity of man. _Smithsonian Contributions to Anthropology_ 11. Ford, James A., Philip Phillips, and William G. Haag