What is Chucalissa?
Chucalissa is an archaeological site near Memphis, Tennessee. Native Americans lived at Chucalissa until the 18th century when Europeans arrived. The Native Americans that lived there were part of a larger political and cultural system called the "Mississippian culture". Think about the city you live in.  Is it also part of a larger political and cultural system?

What did archaeologists find at Chucalissa?
They found platform mounds, which are flat-topped rectangular man-made hills. They are a common feature of the Mississippian Native American Culture. They were commonly used as platforms for temples and the houses of political and religious leaders. To build a platform mound, people would take baskets, fill them up with dirt from another area and pile it together where they wanted the mound to be located.

They also found many artifacts left by the people who lived at Chucalissa. Archaeologists used these artifacts to learn about the culture of the people that lived at Chucalissa. You can do the same at the dig site page!