Lilbourn Site
Lilbourn Site (23NM38) · Beckwith Site / Lilbourn Fortified Village
Late Mississippian (Lilbourn phase)·Mississippian (Bootheel)·🇺🇸 Missouri, New Madrid County, United States
About
About Lilbourn Site
Bastioned palisaded Late Mississippian town (c.1100–1350 CE) on Pemiscot Bayou levee near New Madrid, with single 6 m platform mound and 3 ha walled village 15 houses, ditch and bastions every 25 m, borrow pits. Excavated by Beckwith 1925 and by Anderson 1969; produced Lilbourn Trailed and Neeley's Ferry ceramics, Mill Creek hoe production debris. Companion town to Towosahgy 30 km north, forming Lilbourn phase paired capitals before Bootheel abandonment.
Why it mattersLilbourn phase type-site paired with Towosahgy; documents Bootheel Mill Creek hoe industrial production.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01House row alignment — planned grid vs organic palisade-constrained
Theories
- 01Lilbourn–Towosahgy dual capital cycling system collapsed by 1350 New Madrid seismic disruption
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.1100–1350 CE
- Period
- Late Mississippian (Lilbourn phase)
- Culture
- Mississippian (Bootheel)
- Builders
- Mississippian (Lilbourn phase)
- Purpose
- Fortified levee town, Mill Creek chert hoe workshop and civic center
- Abandoned
- c.1350 CE
- Rediscovered
- 1925 Beckwith
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
On the ground
Structures & features
36.5850° N · 89.6150° W · 90 m · 2 mapped features
Platform mound
mound6 m high 70 m base platform on levee crest
36.5853° N · 89.6147° WBastioned palisade enclosure
earthwork200 m palisade with bastions every 25 m and ditch
36.5847° N · 89.6153° W
Gallery