Florida’s Native people built hundreds of earthmounds, but what they built at Crystal River is exceptional and they are still there.
Mound building began in the Southeast thousands of years ago, with some used as burial monuments and some as platforms for special buildings. A large site, with six mounds, developed on the Gulf coast about 50 miles north of New Port Richie and today is the Crystal River State Park. Occupation began about 2,500 years ago when two special persons were buried and mounds were built over them and village life began.
People hunted, fished, and gathered shellfish in the nearby bays. Mound building increased and their artifacts reveal trade and interaction with people from distant places. For example, the site yielded numerous special stone artifacts - associated with high-status individuals — that were imported from the Appalachian Mountains. Also, archaeologists found copper musical pipes imported from the Great Lakes.
Today, many of the artifacts found there are on display in a museum on site, and the mounds are open and interpreted for the public.
Unearthing Florida is a project of WUWF Public Media, the Florida Public Archaeology Network(FPAN), and its founder, Dr. Judith Bense, since 1998. FPAN's Michael Thomin is a contributor to the program. WUWF's Sandra Averhart is the executive producer.
