Mound Bottom–Pack Site Complex
Mound Bottom State Archaeological Area · Pack Site (40CH1)
Mississippian Middle Cumberland (1000–1350 CE)·Mississippian (Mound Bottom phase)·🇺🇸 Tennessee, Cheatham County, United States
About
About Mound Bottom–Pack Site Complex
Major Mississippian town (1000–1350 CE) on Harpeth River meander: 14 platform and burial mounds including 13-m-high Monks-Mound-scale Mound A (90×70 m base) within 10 ha palisaded plaza, plus Pack Site companion village across river (40CH1) with 7 mounds and French Lick chert workshop. Embanked causeway and ridge connect; platform mounds held elite wattle-daub structures with wall-trench footprints. Among largest Middle Cumberland Mississippian centers rivaling Cahokia’s outliers; extensive shell gorget cache.
Why it mattersLargest Cumberland Basin Mississippian complex; type-site for Middle Cumberland culture; demonstrates Mississippian polity interaction with Cahokia.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Why abandoned c.1350 before European contact
- 02Governing relationship to Pack Site twin town
Theories
- 01Population overexploited bottomland leading to collapse
- 02Regional chiefdom that migrated to Tennessee River 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.1000–1150 CE
- Period
- Mississippian Middle Cumberland (1000–1350 CE)
- Culture
- Mississippian (Mound Bottom phase)
- Purpose
- Regional capital town, river trade and ritual center
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
c.1000–1150 CE
Initial construction
c. 1538 CE
Abandonment
On the ground
Structures & features
36.0864° N · 87.1083° W · 125 m · 2 mapped features
Mound A (great platform)
pyramid90×70 m base, 13 m high; palisaded summit building
36.0870° N · 87.1085° WPack Site mound group (40CH1)
earthwork7 mounds across Harpeth River 600 m west
36.0860° N · 87.1140° W
Gallery