The Cades Pond culture is defined as a Middle Woodland Southeast period archaeological culture in north-central Florida, dating from around 100 to 600 CE.
The Cades Pond culture is defined as a Middle Woodland Southeast period archaeological culture in north-central Florida, dating from around 100 to 600 CE.
The Cades Pond culture is found in an area roughly corresponding to present-day central and eastern Alachua County, northernmost Marion County, the southeastern corner of Bradford County, and western Putnam County. [1] Cades Pond village sites are located within 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) of a major lake or river. [2] Most known village sites are in clusters between large lakes. A couple of villages have been found along the Santa Fe River. Milanich identifies six clusters of villages and major mounds in the Cades Pond area: Paynes Prairie, between Paynes Prairie and Newnans Lake; Levy Lake, between the western end of Paynes Prairie and Levy Lake; Cross Creek, between Orange Lake and Lochloosa Lake (adjacent to Cross Creek); Natural Bridge, at the Natural Bridge on the Santa Fe River; and Santa Fe Lake, on the north side of Santa Fe Lake. He also declares it likely that there are two to four more clusters in western Putnam County. [3] The name of the culture derives from the Cades Pond Mound, in southeastern Bradford County (the Santa Fe Lake cluster), which was excavated by Henry Gilman in the 1870s. The present definition of the Cades Pond culture was developed around 1970. [4]
There may have been more than 50 mounds in Alachua County before agriculture and other development degraded or destroyed many of them. Most of those mounds were probably constructed by Cades Pond people. Villages and mounds usually occurred together. Villages that were ceremonial centers might also include one or more of additional mounds, cemeteries, other earthworks, and/or ponds. Some outlying hamlets might not have a mound. [5] Villages appear to have been occupied for long periods, and included large storage pits. [6]
Mounds and village sites of the Cades Pond culture include the Running Lake Mounds (8AL182, 8AL183), near River Sink on the Santa Fe River, the Simmons Place (8AL188) near where Olustee Creek joins the Santa Fe River, the Cades Pond Mound and the Griner Mound (8BF8) northeast of Santa Fe Lake, the Prairie Creek Midden site between Paynes Prairie and Newnans Lake, the Shirea Site (8AL49, 8AL84) and the Melton Site (8AL5, 8AL7, 8AL169) on the north side of Paynes Prairie, the Ramsey Pasture Mound (8AL78) and Wacahoota Mound (8AL58) between the western end of Paynes Prairie and Levy Lake, the Cross Creek site (8AL2, 8AL3) between Orange Lake and Lochloosa Lake, the River Styx site (8AL458) north of Orange Lake, and mounds near Hawthorne (8AL464), and Evinston (8AL117). [7] [8]
Prior to 100, people of the Deptford culture spent most of their time on the Gulf of Mexico coast with seasonal excursions to inland sites. Deptford people established permanent villages in the area of Alachua County around 100, as the Cades Pond culture developed out of the Deptford culture. Late Deptford sites on the Gulf coast close to the Cades Pond culture area built shell mounds. Horseshoe-shaped shell rings appeared in those sites starting in the first century CE. Several early Cades Pond sites, including River Styx, Ramsey Pasture and Cross Creek, had horseshoe shaped sand mounds or earthworks surrounding a central mound used for burials. [9]
The River Styx site, the earliest known Cades Pond site, was a transitional site, with Deptford style ceramics resembling the Yent Complex, whereas Deptford ceramics have not been found at later Cades Pond sites. The River Styx site has been compared to the more elaborate Crystal River (Deptford and Santa Rosa-Swift Creek culture) and Fort Center (Belle Glade culture) sites. Almost all of the burials at the River Styx site were cremations, whereas cremations were rare at other Cades Pond sites. Occupation of the River Styx site extended from about 100 to about 200. [10] [11]
The somewhat later Cross Creek site is more elaborate than the River Styx site, with several mounds. It did not have any Deptford-style ceramics. A burial mound is surrounded by a horseshoe-shaped earthwork, as at the River Styx site, but does not contain any cremations. Other mounds at Cross Creek do not have associated earthworks around them. [12] [13]
The Ramsey Pasture Mound (8FL78) has a central mound surrounded by horseshoe-shaped earthwork, which presumably places it early in the development of the Cades Pond culture, but it has not been excavated and cannot be placed in sequence with other sites. [14]
Weeden Island ceremonial pottery appeared in Cades Pond mounds around 300. Pottery found in Cades Pond villages and middens was largely undecorated, and resembled contemporary ceramics of the St. Johns culture. [15] [16] Cades Pond culture has been described as a Weeden Island culture, but St. Johns series pots always outnumbered Weeden Island pots in Cades Pond mounds, suggesting closer ties to the St. Johns culture area than to Weeden Island. [17] The influence of Weeden Island culture on Cades Pond may have weakened by 500. [18] Around 600 to 700 the Cades Pond culture was replaced by the Alachua culture. [19] [20] Wallis suggests that drought in north central Florida in 659 to 724 is related to replacement of the Cades Pond culture by the Alachua culture. [21] The ritual and mounds of the Alachua culture were simpler than that of the Cades Pond culture. The subsistence patterns of the Alachua culture were oriented to upland areas, making little use of the wetlands that were so important to Cades Pond culture. Rolland offers three scenarios for consideration: (1) that the Alachua culture developed in place from Cades Pond, adopting pottery styles from inland cultures running up through Georgia and South Carolina into North Carolina, (2) that the predecessors of the Alachua culture moved into the area and coexisted with people of Cades Pond for a while (Cades Pond pottery may have remained in use in the area into the 9th or 10th century), eventually absorbing the Cades Pond people, or (3) the Cades Pond people left the area or otherwise disappeared before the people of the Alachua culture moved into the area. [22]
The Cades Pond culture is distinguished by its pottery and stone tools, and by the siting of its villages. Pottery found at Cades Pond sites consists primarily of large, undecorated bowls. Stone tools include hafted knives and scraping tools, perforators, triangular knives, manos and metates and sandstone abraders. Bone tools include double-pointed leisters, splinter awls, perforators, flakers, deer ulna awls, scrapers or fleshers, punches, and fids. Shell columella (the central column of a conch or whelk shell, often used as a hammer) and tools with shark's teeth have also been found. [23]
The Cades Pond people heavily exploited the aquatic resources of their environment. A large midden at the Melton site on the north side of Paynes Prairie provided evidence for most of what is known of Cades Pond subsistence. Eighty-five percent of the 1500 individual animals used for food at one site came from aquatic habitats. Included were snails, clams, 12 species of fish, frogs, 7 species of turtles, 5 species of water snakes, alligator, 7 species of water birds, otter, and muskrat. Land animals consumed included deer, black bear, panther, opossum, rabbits, squirrel, skunk, rats, and foxes. Identified plant remains include hickory (especially mockernut hickory), pine nuts, acorns, Chickasaw plum, persimmon, and wild cherry (Carolina cherry laurel). There is no evidence that the Cades Pond people cultivated any crops. Ceramics at the site suggest that food was commonly boiled or otherwise cooked with water. There were few grinding implements found, but wooden grinding tools are unlikely to have survived conditions at the site. [24] [25]
Pottery of St. Johns Plain and Dunns Creek Red types indicate trade with or influence from cultures of the St Johns River valley. Evidence of trade with cultures of the Gulf, and possibly, Atlantic, coasts, includes the presence of remains of several types of shark, sea turtles, mullet and marine mollusks. Wider trade networks are shown by the presence of objects made from slate, greenstone and copper, deposits of which are not found in Florida. [26]
There is no archaeological evidence of cultivation and consumption of maize in the Cades Pond culture. However, analysis of bone collagen and apatite that has been performed on skeletons from the early (200-400) Cades Pond Cross Creek and late (600-800) Cades Pond Melton I mounds suggests that C4 plants, presumably maize, were increasing as a part of the diet of Cades Pond people from the early period to the late period. [27]
Alachua County is a county in the north central portion of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 278,468. The county seat is Gainesville, the home of the University of Florida since 1906, when the campus opened with 106 students.
Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park is a Florida State Park, encompassing a 21,000-acre (85 km2) savanna in Alachua County, Florida lying between Micanopy and Gainesville. It is also a U.S. National Natural Landmark. It is crossed by both I-75 and U.S. 441. It is in the center of the Paynes Prairie Basin. The basin's primary source of drainage is Alachua Sink. During occasional wet periods, the basin will become full. A notable period occurred from 1871 to 1891 when the Alachua Sink was temporarily blocked. During this period, shallow draft steamboats were a frequent sight on Alachua Lake in the center of the prairie. The region was also historically known as the Alachua Savannah. Its drainage has been modified by several canals. Since 1927, Camps Canal has linked the basin to the River Styx which leads to Orange Lake and eventually the Atlantic Ocean through the St. Johns River. That reduced the basins water intake by half. Additional changes to the prairie's environment have been detrimental to its hydrology. In 1970, the state of Florida acquired the land and has been in the process of restoring the environment to a more natural condition ever since.
The Weeden Island cultures are a group of related archaeological cultures that existed during the Late Woodland period of the North American Southeast. The name for this group of cultures was derived from the Weedon Island site in Old Tampa Bay in Pinellas County.
Crystal River State Archaeological Site is a 61-acre (250,000 m2) Florida State Park located on the Crystal River and within the Crystal River Preserve State Park. The park is located two miles (3 km) northwest of the city of Crystal River, on Museum Point off U.S. 19/98.
The Alachua culture is a Late Woodland Southeast period archaeological culture in north-central Florida, dating from around 600 to 1700. It is found in an area roughly corresponding to present-day Alachua County, the northern half of Marion County and the western part of Putnam County. It was preceded by the Cades Pond culture, which inhabited approximately the same area.
The Belle Glade culture, or Okeechobee culture, is an archaeological culture that existed from as early as 1000 BCE until about 1700 CE in the area surrounding Lake Okeechobee and in the Kissimmee River valley in the Florida Peninsula.
The Caloosahatchee culture is an archaeological culture on the Gulf coast of Southwest Florida that lasted from about 500 to 1750 AD. Its territory consisted of the coast from Estero Bay to Charlotte Harbor and inland about halfway to Lake Okeechobee, approximately covering what are now Charlotte, Lee, and Collier counties. At the time of first European contact, the Caloosahatchee culture region formed the core of the Calusa domain.
Big Mound City (8PB48) is a prehistoric site near Canal Point, Florida, United States. It is located 10 miles east of Canal Point, off U.S. Route 98. On May 24, 1973, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. It is located inside the J.W. Corbett Wildlife Management Area.
Mount Royal (8PU35) is a U.S. archaeological site close to where the St. Johns River exits from Lake George in Putnam County, Florida. It is located three miles (5 km) south of Welaka, in the Mount Royal Airpark, off County Road 309 on the eastern bank of the St. Johns River. The site consists of a large sand mound and several nearby middens.
The St. Johns culture was an archaeological culture in northeastern Florida, USA that lasted from about 500 BCE until shortly after European contact in the 17th century. The St. Johns culture was present along the St. Johns River and its tributaries (including the Oklawaha River, and along the Atlantic coast of Florida from the mouth of the St. Johns River south to a point east of the head of the St. Johns River, near present-day Cocoa Beach, Florida. At the time of first European contact, the St. Johns culture area was inhabited by speakers of the Mocama, Agua Fresca and Acuera dialects of the Timucua language and by the Mayacas.
The Deptford culture was an archaeological culture in southeastern North America characterized by the appearance of elaborate ceremonial complexes, increasing social and political complexity, mound burial, permanent settlements, population growth, and an increasing reliance on cultigens.
The Santa Rosa–Swift Creek culture was characterized by the appearance of elaborate ceremonial complexes, increasing social and political complexity, mound burial, permanent settlements, population growth, and an increasing reliance on cultigens. "Santa Rosa" is associated with the archeological site Santa Rosa Island, Santa Rosa County, Florida. "Swift Creek" is associated with the archeological site near Swift Creek, Bibb County, Georgia.
The Safety Harbor culture was an archaeological culture practiced by Native Americans living on the central Gulf coast of the Florida peninsula, from about 900 CE until after 1700. The Safety Harbor culture is defined by the presence of Safety Harbor ceramics in burial mounds. The culture is named after the Safety Harbor site, which is close to the center of the culture area. The Safety Harbor site is the probable location of the chief town of the Tocobaga, the best known of the groups practicing the Safety Harbor culture.
Fort Center is an archaeological site in Glades County, Florida, United States, a few miles northwest of Lake Okeechobee. It was occupied for more than 2,000 years, from 450 BCE until about 1700 CE. The inhabitants of Fort Center may have been cultivating maize centuries before it appeared anywhere else in Florida.
Ocale was the name of a town in Florida visited by the Hernando de Soto expedition, and of a putative chiefdom of the Timucua people. The town was probably close to the Withlacoochee River at the time of de Soto's visit, and may have later been moved to the Oklawaha River.
The Suwannee Valley culture is defined as a Late Woodland Southeast period archaeological culture in north Florida, dating from around 750 to European contact. The core area of the culture was found in an area roughly corresponding to present-day Suwannee and southern and central Columbia counties. It was preceded by the McKeithen Weeden Island culture and followed by the Spanish mission period Leon-Jefferson culture.
The city of Gainesville, Florida, USA, was incorporated in 1869.
The River Styx archaeological site is the site of a village and burial mound in North Central Florida that was occupied during the development of the Cades Pond culture out of the Deptford culture early in the Current Era (CE).
The Roberts Island complex is an archaeological site in Citrus County, Florida, near the Gulf of Mexico, dating from the late Woodland period. It is located on an island in the Crystal River midway between the springs at the head of the river and the mouth of the river on the Gulf of Mexico. The site is a geographically separate unit of the Crystal River Archaeological State Park. The site includes three shell mounds and three middens. Two of the mounds may have had stepped sides. The Roberts Island complex was developed as the Crystal River site declined and most other ceremonial sites in the region were abandoned during the 7th or 8th century.
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