Mound Bottom
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Mound Bottom
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View of the central plaza and platform mound at Mound Bottom, from May's Mace Bluff
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| Location | Cheatham County, Tennessee |
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| Coordinates | 36°8′23.35″N 87°6′4.93″W / 36.1398194°N 87.1013694°WCoordinates: 36°8′23.35″N 87°6′4.93″W / 36.1398194°N 87.1013694°W |
| Built | 950-1300 CE |
| NRHP reference # | 71000813 |
| Added to NRHP | 1971 |
Mound Bottom is a prehistoric Native American complex in Cheatham County, Tennessee, located in the Southeastern United States. The complex, which consists of earthwork platform and burial mounds, a central plaza, and habitation areas, was occupied between approximately 1000 and 1300 AD, during the Mississippian period.
The Mound Bottom site is likely associated with another mound complex located just over a mile to the south known as the Pack Site, or Great Mound Division, and together they have been called the "Great Mound Group." Due to structural similarities in the mounds and ceramic chronologies, these sites are believed to have been contemporaries.
Mound Bottom is situated on a horseshoe bend of the Harpeth River at the river's confluence with Mound Creek, which approaches the riverbank opposite the site from the east. The Mound Bottom bend is one in a series of sharp bends found along the lower Harpeth as the river twists and turns through a steep gorge en route to its confluence with the Cumberland River several miles to the north. The Harpeth surrounds Mound Bottom on the north, south, and east, while the entry to the bend from the west is marked by rocky uplands.
Mound Bottom is today located approximately 1-mile (1.6 km) north of the point where U.S. Route 70 crosses the Harpeth River, on the outskirts of Kingston Springs. The site is managed by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation as part of Harpeth River State Park. The Pack Site is located on private property approximately 1.5 miles (2.4 km) southwest of Mound Bottom, just south of US-70.
Together the Mound Bottom site and Pack Site contain up to 34 earthen mounds, including between 11 and 14 at Mound Bottom and 20 at Pack. Some of these are flat-topped platform mounds that supported structures including ceremonial buildings or elite residences, while others were burial mounds. At Mound Bottom, the principal large flat-topped mound and up to 13 additional smaller mounds were arranged around a central plaza. The principal mound at Mound Bottom originally stood at least 36 feet tall and measured about 246 feet along each side of its base, and is oriented approximately 11 degrees east of north. The mound summit was originally accessed via a ramp or staircase located at the midpoint of the eastern face. According to early historical reports the Mound Bottom complex was surrounded by an earthen wall topped with a palisade of upright logs. However, any sign of the palisade had been plowed away by the early 1920s. In addition to the earthen, mounds, the site also included hundreds of houses, cemeteries, and agricultural fields.
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