Beasley Mounds Site
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  Location within Tennessee today | |
| Location | Dixon Springs, Tennessee, Smith County, Tennessee,  USA |
|---|---|
| Region | Smith County, Tennessee |
| Coordinates | 36°20′32.86″N 86°4′31.26″W / 36.3424611°N 86.0753500°W |
| History | |
| Cultures | Mississippian culture |
| Site notes | |
| Architecture | |
| Architectural styles | Platform mounds, palisade |
| Responsible body: private | |
The Beasley Mounds Site (40SM43) (also known as the Dixon Springs Mound Site) is a Mississippian culture archaeological site located at the confluence of Dixon Creek and the Cumberland River near the unincorporated community of Dixon Springs in Smith County, Tennessee. The site was first excavated by amateur archaeologists in the 1890s. More examples of Mississippian stone statuary have been found at the site than any other in the Middle Tennessee area. The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2010.
The Beasley site was a large village area with one large platform mound 8 feet (2.4 m) in height and 125 feet (38 m) in diameter and three smaller ones. The first of the smaller mounds was located 300 feet (91 m) east of the larger mound and was 3 feet (0.91 m) high and 125 feet (38 m) in diameter. The other two mounds were located to the south and southeast of this mound and were both about 2 feet (0.61 m) to 3 feet (0.91 m) in height and about 100 feet (30 m) in diameter. The site was surrounded by a low embankment with regular rises thought to have once been a wooden defensive palisade with bastions. Located outside the palisade on a steep bluff overlooking the Cumberland were two small stone mounds, similar to ones found at the Castalian Springs and Sellars Mound sites. In this area several large stone box graves and mortuary caves have also been found.[1]
