Mound 58

Directly south of Mound 42, Patrick indicates a rather large conical mound that he numbered 58. Patrick records no height for this mound. The McAdams Map of 1882 gives 20 feet (6.1 meters); the Thomas Map of 1894, 15 feet (4.6 meters); and the Peterson-McAdams Map of 1906, 14 feet (4.3 meters). Moorehead refers to it only as one “of the very large mounds” (Moorehead 1923: 48). The 1930 survey for the USGS Monks Mound quadrangle shows three 5-foot (1.5-meter) closed contours in this area. The elevation of the top of this mound is given as 440 feet (134.1 meters) above sea level. This would indicate a height of about 20 feet (6.1 meters). By 1966 the mound was only 1 meter (3.3 feet) high. Although the earlier maps indicate some lowering of Mound 58 through time, it seems apparent that its major destruction was after 1930. It may have been mostly leveled during construction of the nearby Falcon Drive-In Theater.

This area has been cultivated for many years, and the mound today is indistinct in the contour lines of that area. Based upon those contours, it appears the mound spread to the north and south. In the 1920s, when Moorehead worked in the area, he added a Mound 74 just to the west of Mound 58. It may be, however, that this is just part of Mound 58 disturbed in the 50 years from the time of Patrick to Moorehead. Modern contours in the area show no well-defined second mound but rather an extension to the west that appears to be something like a platform or terrace. Had there been another mound so close to Mound 58, Patrick and his surveyors would surely have indicated it on their map.

Based upon all the previous maps and recorded observations, Mound 58 was a large, conical mound which in the late 1800s was probably 20 feet (6.1 meters) or more in height. There is no reference to any excavation conducted in this mound.