Chucalissa is one of the most significant archaeological sites in the Memphis area — a Mississippian culture mound complex that was inhabited from around 900 AD to the 1500s, when it was abandoned before Hernando de Soto's expedition passed through. The site includes a large central mound, smaller platform mounds surrounding a plaza, and the remains of a dense village. The University of Memphis manages the site and operates the C.H. Nash Museum, which displays artifacts excavated from the site and explains the Chucalissa people's culture, social structure, and eventual disappearance.
A reconstructed village alongside the mounds shows the architectural methods and domestic arrangements of the period, using the evidence from excavations. The setting — on a bluff above the Wolf River — is genuinely atmospheric. Chucalissa is about 10 kilometres south of downtown in T.O. Fuller State Park; a car is necessary to get there.