Just north of our capital of Tallahassee, a Native capital town existed about a thousand years ago on Lake Jackson.
I’m Dr. Judy Bense and this is Unearthing Florida
Lake Jackson Archaeological State Park is a mound center with seven platform mounds around a formal plaza. This was the capital of a large and rich agricultural Apalachee chiefdom and occupied by their chiefs and leaders for about 500 years between about 1050 and 1500 AD. Some mounds were for the burial of leaders and others were building platforms.
Calvin Jones, state archaeologist, excavated part of a mortuary mound that was privately owned and scheduled for destruction revealing a series of layers containing burials of high-ranking chiefs buried with incredible things such as embossed copper plates, copper axes, pearls, engraved shell gorgets, and stone and ceramic pipes. All these items were part of a widespread southeastern ceremonial complex at the time.
The park is open to the public and many of the artifacts recovered from Mound 3 are exhibited in the Museum of Florida History in Tallahassee.
**Note: the museum is temporarily closed for renovations as of July 2024.
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.
