Lake Jackson Mounds Archaeological State Park
Lake Jackson Mounds
Fort Walton Mississippian 1050–1500 CE·Fort Walton (Apalachee) Mississippian·🇺🇸 Florida, Leon County, United States
About
About Lake Jackson Mounds Archaeological State Park
Fort Walton Mississippian mound center (1050–1500 CE) on Lake Jackson shore: six earthworks with two major platform mounds (Mound 2 11 m high), village 100 houses, repoussé copper plates (Lake Jackson copper plate with forking eye motif), imported Tennessee shell. Northernmost peninsular Florida Mississippian capital, linking Apalachee chiefdom to interior exchange, abandoned before De Soto 1539.
Why it mattersSouthernmost Mississippian copper-plate center; links Fort Walton to Southeastern Ceremonial Complex.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Source of copper (Great Lakes vs Appalachian) via INAA
- 02Cause of abandonment before contact
Theories
- 01Chiefly cycling collapse
- 02Lake level drop stressing maize agriculture
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.1050–1200 CE; peak 1200–1500 CE
- Period
- Fort Walton Mississippian 1050–1500 CE
- Culture
- Fort Walton (Apalachee) Mississippian
- Builders
- Fort Walton Mississippian (Apalachee ancestors)
- Purpose
- Platform mound chiefdom capital and copper workshop
- Abandoned
- c.1500 CE (pre-contact)
- Rediscovered
- 1940s Calvin Jones excavations; state park 1966
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
1050 CE
Plaza and Mound 2 construction begins
1300 CE
Peak copper workshop activity
On the ground
Structures & features
30.5000° N · 84.3208° W · 30 m · 2 mapped features
Mound 2 Platform
mound11 m high temple mound with summit structure postholes
30.5005° N · 84.3205° WBurial Mound and Copper Workshop
featureLow burial mound with copper plate caches
30.4995° N · 84.3215° W
Gallery