Town Creek Indian Mound (31 MG 2)[2] is a prehistoric Native American archaeological site located near present-day Mount Gilead, Montgomery County, North Carolina, in the United States.

[4] The Pee Dee people shared the Mississippian culture that was characterized in part by building large, earthwork mounds for spiritual and political purposes.

It is owned by the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources and is operated by the Division of State Historic Sites.

The Pee Dee people built their mound on a low bluff at the confluence of Town Creek and the Little River.

Many of the highest-ranking members of the tribe lived, died, and were buried at Town Creek; the elite served both political and religious roles.

The ceremonies included fasting, bathing, the ingestion of cathartic medicine, and ritual scratching of the skin with the teeth of the garfish.

The amateur group used a scraper pulled by a mule to uncover artifacts, including animal and human bones, and shards of pottery.

He allowed exploratory work to begin in 1937 by a team from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, funded by the WPA of the President Franklin D. Roosevelt administration.

Coe and his team uncovered various artifacts and burial vaults, and also found the remains of a defensive wooden palisade that once surrounded the town and mound.

The remains of two gates and guard towers have been discovered on the north and south ends of the palisade, with archaeological evidence pointing to the successive construction and destruction of at least five protective walls.

This is a pattern seen at other Mississippian sites, such as Cahokia, a major center located in present-day southwestern Illinois across the Mississippi River and near Saint Louis, Missouri.

A total of 563 burials have been found at Town Creek Indian Mound; they are believed to be Pee Dee people.

The remains of young children and infants have been found tightly wrapped in deerskins and placed within large pottery vessels which archeologists have called burial urns.

Traditionally, historic excavations have taken place over a much shorter period of time, and artifacts are often moved to a distant research facility.

Coe maintained his center of operations at Town Creek for over 50 years, allowing him to establish a consistent plan of research and study.