Lyon’s Bluff was an agricultural village in the Black Prairie of Mississippi primarily occupied from about AD 1200 to 1650. It was occupied when Hernando de Soto entered the area in the winter of 1540, and there is potential for linking the site to one of the Native polities mentioned in the Spanish chronicles. Because of the area’s peculiar environmental characteristics, the state of preservation of archaeological remains is extraordinarily good, as revealed by excavations and remote sensing. Work on the flank of the single platform mound revealed a beautiful sequence of layers signifying multiple episodes of demolition and rebuilding of a mound-top structure. A later, 19th century reoccupation of the western end of the site likely represents Choctaw families associated with a nearby mission. A major part of the site was faced with imminent destruction when the Archaeological Conservancy stepped in to save what is one of the most important sites in the Mid-South region.

Evan Peacock received his BA in Anthropology from Mississippi State University (MSU) and his MSc and PhD in Archaeology from the University of Sheffield, England. He has worked in private-sector archaeology, for the US Forest Service, and for MSU, whence he retired as Professor Emeritus of Anthropology in 2018. Evan is author of approximately one hundred scholarly works on past and present human environmental impacts, chemical sourcing of artifacts, evolutionary archaeology, and a range of other topics. His book Mississippi Archaeology Q&A (University Press of Mississippi) has received wide acclaim for public outreach, and his memoirs (Kudzu on the Ivory Tower: From the Backwoods to an Academic Career in the Deep, Deep South) have recently been published by Borgo Publishing.