Lake Jackson Mounds Archaeological State Park

Lake Jackson Mounds Archaeological State Park
IUCN Category V (Protected Landscape/Seascape)
Location	Leon County, Florida, USA
Nearest city	Tallahassee, Florida
Coordinates	30°30′00″N 84°18′49″W
Established	May 6, 1971
Governing body	Florida Department of Environmental Protection

Lake Jackson Mounds Archaeological State Park is one of the most important archaeological sites in Florida, a former chiefdom and ceremonial center of the Fort Walton Culture (1100–1550). The complex originally included seven earthwork mounds, a constructed public plaza and numerous individual village residences.

One of three major mound sites in the Florida Panhandle, the park is in northern Tallahassee, on the south shore of Lake Jackson. On May 6, 1971, the site was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). The complex is managed as a Florida State Park.

Mounds

Mound 2 at Lake Jackson Mounds Archaeological State Park

Mound 4 at Lake Jackson Mounds Archaeological State Park

The park includes all or part of three mounds in a complex that originally included seven mounds. It also includes a constructed and leveled ceremonial public plaza, where ritual games and gatherings took place. The village had an area of numerous individual residences, where artisans and workers lived. The original community would have included communal agricultural areas as well, where the people cultivated the maize that supported the dense population.

The mounds were built by people of the Fort Walton Culture, the southernmost expression of the Mississippian culture, between 1000 and 1500. The mounds indicate this was the site of a regional chiefdom, and was thus a political and religious center. Related sites of mound building cultures are featured at Fort Walton Mound, a National Historic Landmark; and Letchworth Mounds State Park, a Weeden Island culture archeological site.

The descendants of these people were likely the historic Muskogean-speaking Apalachee people, who lived in the area at the time of contact with Spanish explorers.

Artifacts found at the Lake Jackson site include motifs of the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex (SECC). This cultural complex coincides with the time period of the Lake Jackson mounds. Mound 2, the largest, is 36 feet (11 m) high, and 272 by 312 feet (95 m) at the base. Three-quarters of Mound 2 is in the park. All of the smaller Mound 4 is included in the park, and about half of Mound 5, the smallest earthwork.

Mound 3

The mounds in the park have not yet been systematically excavated by archaeologists. Mound 3, located on private property outside the park, was destroyed in the winter of 1975–1976.

Calvin Jones, an archaeologist with the State of Florida Bureau of Historic Sites and Properties, conducted a salvage operation before the platform mound was dug away to be sold as fill. Mound 3 was originally 15 feet (4.6 m) high and 150 feet (46 m) on a side at the base. He used radio-carbon dating of wood and charcoal excavated from the bottom and the top of the mound to determine dates of 760 years and 475 years Before Present (based on 1950 as present) for its span of construction. This means approximately 1190 to 1475.

On the lowest level of Mound 3, near the center, was a large quantity of charred corn. The bulk of the mound was a mixture of midden materials, red clay from nearby hills, and white sand from the lake shore. The pattern of deposits of fill demonstrated that the earth was intentionally brought to the site, likely in baskets. The earthwork was the result of skilled planning, knowledge of soils and organization of numerous laborers over the period of many years. The mound was regularly built up in new levels. The outer surface of the mound was covered in red clay.

Postholes indicated that buildings were erected in the flat top, the characteristic platform of the mound. Periodically, the buildings were burned, the mound raised by additions of earth and a new layer of clay. New buildings would be erected on top. This cycle was repeated twelve times in a 250-year period. Based on studies at Cahokia Indian Mounds, the predominant Mississippian culture center, scholars believe the buildings were burned and mounds were raised and renewed after the death of a major chief.

Burials

Archeologists recovered 24 burials from Mound 3. Others were known to have been lost in the destruction of the mound. Seven of the twelve levels that had been the top of the mound had graves dug into them. Graves dug into the other levels may have been lost as the mound was destroyed. The burials were in deep pits, none of which were dug down into previous graves. Some of the graves were lined with split logs.

All of the burials were accompanied by burial garments and other grave goods. In the sequence from lower to higher levels (oldest to more recent), the grave goods became more elaborate. In the upper levels, the grave goods included many objects made of copper, beads made of shell and pearl, and pipes associated with ritual use of tobacco.

Although most of the burials were of elite men, the graves included one woman and a child of about eleven years of age, probably of the elite class. One of the bodies had been cremated. The bones of a dog were found on top of one of the clay levels that was an earlier top surface of the mound.

Recreational activities

The large park has areas for such activities as hiking and picnicking. Concessions are also available.

Endangered species

The park is home to an endangered species of plant, the Trillium reliquum. It was discovered by hikers in February 2010. This species was previously thought to inhabit only parts of Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is working to catalog the population.

References

• Brown, Robin C. (1994) Florida's First People: 12,000 Years of Human History. Sarasota, Florida: Pineapple Press, Inc. ISBN 1-56164-032-8

External links

• Lake Jackson Mounds Archaeological State Park - official site
• Leon County listings at National Register of Historic Places
• Leon County listings at Florida's Office of Cultural and Historical Programs
• Lake Jackson Mounds State Archaeological Site at Absolutely Florida
• Mississippian capitals : an archaeological investigation of Precolumbian political structure