Murphy Mound Archeological Site

{{Short description|Prehistoric archaeological site in USA}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}

{{Infobox ancient site

| name = Murphy Mound Archeological Site
23 PM 43

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| image = Murphy Mound near Caruthersville.jpg

| image_size = 250px

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| caption = View from the south

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| map_type = USA Missouri

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| coordinates = {{coord|36|9|10|N|89|41|40|W|display=inline}}

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| location = Caruthersville, Missouri, Pemiscot County, Missouri, {{flag|USA}}

| region = Pemiscot County, Missouri

| built = 1350 CE

| abandoned = 1541 CE

| epochs = Late Mississippian period

| cultures = Middle Mississippian culture

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| architectural_styles = platform mound

| architectural_details = Number of monuments: {{Infobox NRHP

| embed = yes

| name = Murphy Mound Archeological Site

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| added = May 21, 1969{{NRISref|version=2010a}}

| refnum = 69000119

}}

| notes =

Responsible body: Private

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| precolumbian = yes

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The Murphy Mound Archeological Site (23 PM 43), is a prehistoric archaeological site in the Bootheel region of the U.S. state of Missouri. Located southwest of Caruthersville in Pemiscot County, Missouri{{cite book| editor1=O'Brien, Michael J. | editor2= Dunnell, Robert C.|title= Changing Perspectives on the Archaeology of the Central Mississippi Valley| author= Greenlee, Diana M. | chapter= Prehistoric Diet in the Central Mississippi River Valley| location=Tuscaloosa and London |publisher= University of Alabama Press |year= 1998}}{{rp|302}} the site was occupied by peoples of the Late Mississippian period, centuries before European colonization of the area.{{Cite web|url=https://users.stlcc.edu/mfuller/Murphy.html|title=Murphy Site, 23PM43|date=2009 |access-date =2010-01-01}}

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.{{rp|314}} A study of the site's pottery held that the location was inhabited from approximately 1350 until 1541. The platform mound, 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 cemetery has revealed ninety-one skeletons. These were buried in numerous fashions, including bundle burials, bodies fully extended, and cremations.{{rp|314}} In 1969, Murphy was listed on the National Register of Historic Places; it was the first site in Pemiscot County to be listed on the NRHP.