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Native American architects have constructed impressive structures(referred to as Indian Mounds) throughout the state of Florida for over 5,000 years. This Amerindian building activity occurred across three separate archaeological time periods: the Archaic period, the Woodland period, and the Mississippian period.
Some of the first monumental constructions, the Horr's Island mounds, were built along the west coast of Florida around 5,000 years ago during the Archaic period.. This site is believed to be the location of the oldest burial mound in North America. Other Florida Indian Mound sites built during the Archaic period are the Tomoka Mounds, the Guana River Shell Ring, and the Joseph Reed Shell Ring (one of the largest shell rings ever discovered).
The next major constructions, the Fort Center mounds, would not be built until the Woodland period. Fort Center is one of the largest precolumbian sites in Florida from which amazing carved wooden artifacts have been unearthed. Other constructions during this time period include:
- the Crystal River mounds site, home to one of Florida's first truncated pyramid mounds & famous for its standing stone stellae which may have served calendrical functions
- the Letchworth Mounds site, home to the largest precolumbian earthwork in Florida, a truncated pyramid mound rising over 42 feet high
Florida Indians' mound building activity would reach its height during the Mississippian period when more and larger truncated pyramid mounds would be constructed at places such as:
One of the most impressive accomplishments from this time period was the construction of Mound Key, a manmade island built up over a thousand years from discarded shells featuring a central canal, watercourts, and truncated pyramid shell mounds. A similar mound site is the Pineland mound site.
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