St. Johns Culture - Mounds

Mounds

Purpose-built mounds of sand (as opposed to shell middens) first appeared in the St. Johns culture region around 100 CE. As was common throughout Florida, mounds were used for burials. Some bodies were buried intact, in a flexed position, but most were first placed in charnel houses, which were often built on top of a mound. The flesh was removed from, or allowed to rot off of, the bones, and the bones were cleaned. Eventually the accumulated long bones and skulls of each individual were bundled and then buried in a group in the mound. The charnel house would then be destroyed, often by fire. A new layer of sand might then be added to the mound, and a new charnel house build on the top.

The early mounds in the St. Johns culture region were generally 4 feet (1.2 m) high up to an occasional 10 feet (3.0 m). The number of burials in a mound might be as high as 100, but most held fewer than 25. After 1050 influence from the Mississippian culture led some groups to construct platform mounds, which may have been topped by temples and/or chiefs' residences. One of these mounds, the Shields Mound in Duval County, eventually reached 190 feet (58 m) along each side of the base, and held 150 burials. Another mound, Mt. Royal Mound, just north of Lake George, which was 15 feet (4.6 m) high and 160 feet (49 m) in diameter, was primarily a burial mound. This mound also contained many items apparently received as trade goods from the region of the Mississippian culture. Chiefdoms in the St. Johns culture region did not achieve the size and power of those to the west, from the Florida panhandle through to the Mississippi valley, and large platform mounds were rare in the St. Johns region.