What is "citico"

Citico (also "Settaco", "Sitiku", and similar variations) is a prehistoric and historic Native American site in Monroe County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. The site's namesake Cherokee village was the largest of the Overhill towns, housing an estimated population of 1,000 by the mid-18th century. The Mississippian village that preceded the site's Cherokee occupation is believed to have been the village of "Satapo" visited by the Juan Pardo expedition in 1567.

The Citico site is now submerged by the Tellico Lake impoundment of the Little Tennessee River, created by the completion of Tellico Dam at the mouth of the river in 1979. The modern community of Citico Beach has developed along the shoreline above the ancient site. The lake is managed by the Tennessee Valley Authority and the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.

Citico can refer to:

• Citico (Tellico archaeological site) (40MR7) — A prehistoric and historic Native American site in Monroe County, Tennessee, USA
• Citico (Chattanooga, Tennessee) (40HA65) — a prehistoric and historic Native American site in modern Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA.
• Two streams, each called Citico Creek, associated with the Citico sites in Monroe and Hamilton counties in East Tennessee.
• Citico Creek Wilderness — a wilderness area (part of the greater Cherokee National Forest) centered on the stream of the same name in Monroe County, Tennessee

Citico Town and Mound, at the mouth of Citico Creek in current Chattanooga, Tennessee, was a major center of the Coosa confederacy, second in size to Etowah, at the time of Hernando de Soto's march through the area in 1540 ce. In archaeological terms it is considered as part of the ' Dallas Phase' of Mississippian/ Muscogee culture, c. 1300-1600 ce. For the muskogean version and origin of the name, see Satapo.

Citico mound was the center of Citico town, and survived essentially intact up to the US Civil War when it was dug into and used to store gunpowder. It was partially excavated by Clarence Bloomfield Moore in 1914 and subsequently destroyed in 1915 to create a road extending east upriver from downtown Chattanooga. The Tennessee Division of Archaeology designates the site as "40HA65".

The site is scheduled for destruction in 2016-17 as part of the City of Chattanooga- Hamilton County Cannon brownfield development, Central Avenue extension through Lincoln Park and north across Citico Creek to Riverside Drive, and private college-student housing development.