Obion Mounds
Obion Mounds (40HY14) · Work Farm Site
Mississippian (Early–Middle, Dallas)·Mississippian (Western Tennessee)·🇺🇸 Tennessee, Henry County, United States
About
About Obion Mounds
Largest Mississippian site in western Tennessee — 7-mound complex on the north fork of the Obion River (c.1000–1300 CE), with 10 m-high platform mound A on north plaza edge, rectangular 200-m plaza, and palisade. Excavated by WPA 1940s and University of Tennessee; yielded Dallas-phase ceramics, Hiwassee Island Red, and wall-trench houses 7×10 m. Regional paramount town controlling Obion–Tennessee River chert trade, abandoned circa 1300 with regional Mississippian retraction.
Why it mattersWestern Tennessee Mississippian type center; informs Dallas–Shiloh frontier and chiefdom cycling.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 0110m mound construction labor organization without centralized coercion
- 02Link to Shiloh Mounds 35 km south — rivalry or hierarchy
Theories
- 01Obion polity cycling collapse due to Fort Payne chert trade disruption around 1300
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.1000–1300 CE
- Period
- Mississippian (Early–Middle, Dallas)
- Culture
- Mississippian (Western Tennessee)
- Builders
- Mississippian (Obion phase)
- Purpose
- Paramount palisaded town, riverine trade node and mound ceremonial center
- Abandoned
- c.1300 CE
- Rediscovered
- 1940s WPA survey
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
On the ground
Structures & features
36.4055° N · 88.3824° W · 132 m · 2 mapped features
Mound A (north platform)
mound10 m high platform on north plaza edge, summit ceremonial structure postholes
36.4058° N · 88.3821° WPlaza and palisade trace
earthwork200×150 m leveled plaza with palisade ditch trace on west perimeter
36.4052° N · 88.3828° W