The Murphy Mound Archeological Site (
23 PM 43), is a prehistoric
archaeological site
An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology a ...
in the
Bootheel region of the
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...
of
Missouri
Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...
. Located southwest of
Caruthersville in
Pemiscot County, Missouri
Pemiscot County is a county located in the southeastern corner in the Bootheel in the U.S. state of Missouri, with the Mississippi River forming its eastern border. As of the 2020 census, the population was
15,661. The largest city and county ...
the site was occupied by peoples of the
Late Mississippian period, centuries before European colonization of the area.
Conclusive dates for the site's occupation have not been determined; one survey concluded that occupation began around 1200 CE and continued until at least 1400.
A study of the site's pottery held that the location was inhabited from approximately 1350 until 1541.
[ The ]platform mound
Platform may refer to:
Technology
* Computing platform, a framework on which applications may be run
* Platform game, a genre of video games
* Car platform, a set of components shared by several vehicle models
* Weapons platform, a system or ...
, now overgrown with trees, may be the largest of any Mississippian culture site in Missouri. It is located on private land and is not open to the public.[ A selection of the pots is displayed at the University of Missouri Museum of Anthropology.
Excavation at the site's ]