Beasley Mounds
Dixon Springs Mound Site (40SM43) · Fortified Town at the Mouth of Dixon Creek
Mississippian (Moundville–Thruston)·Mississippian (Middle Cumberland)·🇺🇸 Tennessee, Smith County, United States
About
About Beasley Mounds
Large fortified Mississippian town (c.1000–1400 CE) at the confluence of Dixon Creek and the Cumberland River, with 5 platform mounds (Mound 1: 2.4 m high × 38 m diameter), central plaza, bastioned palisade 400 m circuit and ditch. Excavated by WPA and by University of Tennessee; noted for highest density of Mississippiian stone statuary in Middle Tennessee — paired male/female sandstone figures and kneeling effigies. NRHP 2010 as Mississippian Cultural Resources MPS; Thruston phase center controlling Cumberland chert.
Why it mattersCore Middle Cumberland Mississippian type-site; statuary corpus illuminates SECC iconography and craft specialization.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Statuary function — ancestor effigy vs mortuary furniture vs elite portrait
- 02Reason for paired male/female statues unique to Middle Cumberland
Theories
- 01Beasley statuary workshop exported SECC cannelure figures to Cumberland–Ohio valley
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.1000–1400 CE (Thruston phase)
- Period
- Mississippian (Moundville–Thruston)
- Culture
- Mississippian (Middle Cumberland)
- Purpose
- Fortified polity capital, statuary production center and riverine redistribution
- Abandoned
- c.1400 CE
- Rediscovered
- 1920s; WPA 1930s
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
On the ground
Structures & features
36.3425° N · 86.0754° W · 152 m · 2 mapped features
Mound 1 (principal platform)
mound2.4 m high × 38 m platform at plaza north end, summit elite compound
36.3427° N · 86.0751° WStatuary cache area
structureVillage sector where paired sandstone effigies excavated near Mound 2
36.3422° N · 86.0756° W