Towosahgy State Historic Site
Beckwith's Fort Archeological Site (23MI2) · Towosahgy Mounds
Late Mississippian (Medley–Dorena phases)·Mississippian (Bootheel)·🇺🇸 Missouri, Mississippi County, United States
About
About Towosahgy State Historic Site
Fortified Late Mississippian civic-ceremonial center (c.1000–1350 CE) on a Pleistocene terrace island in the Cairo Lowlands, preserving 7 mounds (Mound 2 – 2.1 ha platform 12 m high) within bastioned palisade and ditch, 8 ha walled plaza. Type site for the Towosahgy period, excavated by Beckwith 1930s and by University of Missouri; produced Beckwith Incised ceramics, Mill Creek chert, and wall-trench structures. Southeast Missouri Mississippian capital that collapsed circa 1350 likely from New Madrid seismic shift and vacating Bootheel.
Why it mattersKeystone site for Bootheel Mississippian chronology (Towosahgy–Dorena); demonstrates northern variscite trade and Cahokia influence via Mill Creek.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Cause of 1350 abrupt vacating — earthquake vs warfare vs climate
- 02Relation to adjacent New Madrid seismic sand blows
Theories
- 01Seismic destruction destabilized terrace hydrology driving exodus
- 02Competitive cycling between Cahokia-Mississippian satellites
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
- Late Mississippian (Medley–Dorena phases)
- Culture
- Mississippian (Bootheel)
- Builders
- Mississippian (Beckwith phase)
- Purpose
- Walled elite town, maize redistribution and mound summit ceremonialism
- Abandoned
- c.1350 CE
- Rediscovered
- 1930s by Beckwith; state acquisition 1968
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
On the ground
Structures & features
36.6933° N · 89.2356° W · 92 m · 2 mapped features
Mound 2 (main platform)
mound12 m high 160×90 m platform flanking north plaza, summit elite structure
36.6938° N · 89.2352° WBastioned palisade and ditch circuit
earthwork280 m square walled circuit with bastions and borrow ditch enclosing plaza
36.6929° N · 89.2360° W
Gallery