Crystal River: An Enduring Legacy

Crystal River: An Enduring Legacy. . The ancient Native peoples who built these mounds lived at Crystal River for more than a thousand years from around AD 50 to AD 1050. , , Archaeologists think of this as a village where people lived, but also as a place where visitors came to trade goods and information, or take part in communal projects and ceremonies. The people of Crystal River made tools and fine crafts mostly from local resources, but also used exotic materials like copper and quartz crystals. People traded for these items from as far away as present-day Ohio and Michigan in exchange for valuable shells native to the gulf coast. , , A Changing Place , Just as people today have built up our modern cities over time, many generations of Native Americans transformed the landscape you see here to fit their vision of an enduring community. , , What Happened to the People of Crystal River? , The people who lived here did not disappear overnight. Some moved just across the river to build a new community and set of mounds while others likely left for smaller settlements on the shell islands closer to the Gulf of Mexico. , , Timeline , AD 50 , First Phase , Construction of the Main Burial Complex may have started before people first lived at Crystal River. In the first century AD a small village developed and construction of Mound G began. During this time, the climate was generally warm with lots of rainfall; sea level would have been at or below where it is today. , , AD 200 , Second Phase , A large influx of people came to Crystal River Village after around AD 200. Archaeologists can tell this from dense layers of artifacts in the Midden area. During this second phase, the Native peoples here built Mound H and Mound K. The warm climate, frequent rains, and near modern sea level continued during this time. , , AD 500 , Third Phase , The largest mound at Crystal River, Mound A, was started during this time. Sea level dropped and climate became colder, with less frequent rainfall during the third phase. People began moving away from Crystal River Village after around AD 500 and set up another village at Roberts Island just downstream. , , AD 800 , Fourth Phase , Evidence shows people used Crystal River Village very little after AD 800, even as climate conditions improved. Archaeologists cannot say exactly why people relocated to Roberts Island, but the decision likely involved both environmental and social changes.