Shiloh Indian Mounds
Shiloh National Military Park Mounds (40HR7) · Shiloh Temple Mound Complex
Mississippian (Shiloh phase, 1000–1350 CE)·Mississippian (Western Tennessee)·🇺🇸 Tennessee, Hardin County, United States
About
About Shiloh Indian Mounds
Largest extant fortified Mississippian town in the Tennessee Valley, inside Shiloh National Military Park on a Tennessee River bluff 35 km south of Savannah. Seven platform mounds (Mound A 7 m high, 35 m base) enclosing a 2 ha plaza, encircled by 2 km bastioned palisade with ditch — built 1000–1350 CE and abandoned before European contact. Excavated 1899–1999 (C.B. Moore, Paul Welch); yielded Mill Creek chert, shell-tempered pottery and wall-trench houses. The 1862 Civil War battle preserved the earthworks inadvertently; NHL 1989.
Why it mattersBest-preserved fortified Mississippian center in Tennessee Valley; reference for mid-south palisade warfare circa 1250–1350.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Cause of 1350 abandonment — warfare vs resource stress vs Ohio–Mississippi chiefdom cycling
- 02Population estimate and labor for 2 km bastioned wall
Theories
- 01Palisade as response to endemic Mississippian warfare after Cahokia collapse
- 02Riverine trade node linking Hatchie and Tennessee drainage
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.1000–1350 CE
- Period
- Mississippian (Shiloh phase, 1000–1350 CE)
- Culture
- Mississippian (Western Tennessee)
- Builders
- Mississippian (Shiloh phase)
- Purpose
- Palisaded river-bluff capital with plaza and mound-summit elite residences/temples
- Abandoned
- c.1350 CE (first terrace settlement shift)
- Rediscovered
- Recorded 1899 by C.B. Moore; park established 1894
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
c.1000 CE
Initial Mississippian settlement on river terrace
c.1200–1300 CE
Palisade construction and mound summit hierarchy
c.1350 CE
Abandonment and dispersal
1894
Shiloh National Military Park established, earthworks preserved
On the ground
Structures & features
35.1415° N · 88.3208° W · 145 m · 2 mapped features
Mound A (Temple mound)
mound7 m high platform mound at north plaza edge, summit ceremonial house floor
35.1425° N · 88.3199° WPalisade bastions and ditch
earthwork2 km bastioned wall with 30 bastions and outer ditch enclosing plaza-town
35.1404° N · 88.3217° W
Gallery