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Murphy Mound Archeological Site
23 PM 43
Murphy Mound near Caruthersville.jpg
View from the south
Murphy Mound Archeological Site is located in Missouri
Murphy Mound Archeological Site
Location in Missouri
Location Caruthersville, MissouriPemiscot County, Missouri USA
Region Pemiscot County, Missouri
Coordinates 36°9′10″N 89°41′40″W / 36.15278°N 89.69444°W / 36.15278; -89.69444
History
Founded 1350 CE
Abandoned 1541 CE
Periods Late Mississippian period
Cultures Middle Mississippian culture
Site notes
Architecture
Architectural styles platform mound
Architectural details Number of monuments:
Murphy Mound Archeological Site
NRHP reference No. 69000119
Added to NRHP May 21, 1969
Responsible body: Private

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 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, 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. 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.

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