Citico was a major Native American site on the Little Tennessee River in eastern Tennessee, with evidence of Paleo-Indian, Archaic, Woodland, Mississippian, and Cherokee occupation. Rising to prominence in the 16th century as an important Mississippian village, it is often identified with Satapo, visited by Juan Pardo’s Spanish expedition in 1567. By the 18th century it had become the largest Overhill Cherokee town, noted in colonial accounts and associated with ceremonies, tradition, and regional leadership. After its people moved southwest before 1776, the town was burned during frontier conflict. Now submerged beneath Tellico Lake, it remains one of the most significant archaeological sites in the Little Tennessee Valley.