<< Image Pages Fort Walton Mound - Artificial Mound in United States in The South
Submitted by AKFisher on Wednesday, 30 August 2023 Page Views: 304
Pre-ColumbianSite Name: Fort Walton Mound Alternative Name: Fort Walton Beach Heritage Park & Cultural Center, 8OK6Country: United States
NOTE: This site is 3.869 km away from the location you searched for.
Region: The South Type: Artificial Mound
Nearest Town: Fort Walton Beach, FL
Latitude: 30.404930N Longitude: 86.60718W
Condition:
5 | Perfect |
4 | Almost Perfect |
3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
0 | No data. |
-1 | Completely destroyed |
5 | Superb |
4 | Good |
3 | Ordinary |
2 | Not Good |
1 | Awful |
0 | No data. |
5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
4 | Short walk on a footpath |
3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
2 | A long walk |
1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
0 | No data. |
5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
0 | no data |
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Artificial Mound in The South
The Fort Walton Mound (8OK6) is an archaeological site located in present-day Fort Walton Beach, Florida, United States. The large platform mound was built about 850 CE by the Pensacola culture, a local form of the Mississippian culture.[3] Because of its significance, the mound was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964.
Still reduced by time, the massive mound is still 12 feet (3.7 m) high and 223 feet (68 m) wide at the base. It was an expression of a complex culture, built by a hierarchical society whose leaders planned and organized the labor of many workers for such construction. The mound served combined ceremonial, political and religious purposes. At the center of the village and its supporting agricultural lands, the mound served as the platform for the temple and residence of the chief. Successive leaders were buried in the mound and additional layers were added over time.
This is one of three surviving mound complexes in the panhandle, the others being Letchworth Mounds and Lake Jackson Mounds state parks.
History:
The Fort Walton Mound was probably built around 800 CE, although Charles H. Fairbanks who excavated the mound in 1960 believed it was built between 1500 and 1650 based on pottery sherds he uncovered and analyzed.[4] The mound served as the ceremonial and political center of their chiefdom and probably the residence of the chief. It was also the burial ground of the elites in the society. Archaeological evidence suggests that several buildings once stood on top of the mound, perhaps at different times throughout its use. These buildings were probably done in the typical wattle and daub construction common among Southeastern Native American groups. By sometime in the late 1600s the mound was abandoned by its original builders and lay dormant in use until the area was reinhabited by white settlers in the mid 19th century.
Fort Walton Culture:
The mounds were built by the people of the Pensacola culture, a regional variation of the Mississippian culture.[3] The Fort Walton culture was named for the site by archaeologist Gordon Willey, but later work in the area has led archaeologists to believe the Fort Walton site was actually built and used by people of the contemporaneous Pensacola culture. The peoples of the Fort Walton culture used mostly sand, grit, grog, or combinations of these materials as tempering agents in their pottery, whereas the Pensacola culture peoples used the more typical Mississippian culture shell tempering for their pottery.[14] The site was abandoned by 1500 A.D. but the exact reason for the abandonment is unknown. It has been speculated that this was due to the arrival of European settlers, but this statement is unproven because the sites were already found abandoned by Spanish explorers years before.[15]
The people are recognized as being one of the most successful pre-Columbian cultures in regards to agriculture. A number of crops were successful including corn, beans, and squash. The mound itself appears in a common architectural fashion for the period with features such as a pyramidal base with a truncated top. The flat top was used for ceremonies, temples, and residences for high-ranking officials.[16]
Fort Walton Beach Heritage Park & Cultural Center:
Fort Walton Mound is now protected as part of the Fort Walton Beach Heritage Park & Cultural Center, which features several museums included with admission: the Indian Temple Mound Museum, Camp Walton Schoolhouse Museum, Garnier Post Office Museum and Civil War Exhibits Building.
Indian Temple Mound Museum:
The city-owned and operated Indian Temple Mound Museum features pre-Columbian artifacts found on site and from other locations, as well as a variety of exhibits on later Native American and Floridian history including artifacts from the European Explorers, local pirates and early settlers. The address is 139 Miracle Strip Pkwy SE, near the intersection of State Road 85 and U.S. Route 98, in the Florida Panhandle. The museum was first opened in 1962 and the current location was opened in 1972. Source: Wikipedia (see link below).
References:
1. National Register of Historical Places - Florida (FL), Okaloosa County". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. February 14, 2007.
2. Fort Walton Mound Archived 2009-05-02 at the Wayback Machine at National Historic Landmarks Program Archived September 27, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
3. By Guy E. Gibbon; Kenneth M. Ames, eds. (1998). "Fort Walton Site and Culture". Archaeology of Prehistoric Native America: An Encyclopedia. p. 293. ISBN 9780815307259.
4. Fairbanks, Charles, "Excavations at the Fort Walton Temple Mound, 1960," Florida Anthropologist, Vol. XVIII, No. 4, December 1965, pg. 243.
14. Rochelle A. Marrinan; Nancy Marie White (2007). "Modeling Fort Walton Culture in Northwest Florida" (PDF). Southeastern Archaeology. 26 (2–Winter). Archived from the original (PDF) on April 3, 2013.
15. Cox, Dale. "Explore Southern History". Fort Walton Mound. Retrieved April 8, 2012.
16. Lost Worlds. Florida: Fort Walton Mound. Lost Worlds. Archived from the original on February 19, 2011. Retrieved April 8, 2012.
Further reading and information:
Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Walton_Mound
Indian Temple Mound Museum
https://www.fwb.org/parksrec/page/indian-temple-mound-museum
Directions:
From downtown Fort Walton Beach, FL via Beale Pkwy NW W, 1.7 mi.
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