Garden Patch Archeological Site facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Garden Patch Archeological Site (8Di4)
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 Location in Florida
Location in the United States
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| Location | Dixie County, Florida |
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| Nearest city | Horseshoe Beach |
| Area | 21 acres (8.5 ha) |
| NRHP reference No. | 91000454 |
| Added to NRHP | April 25, 1991 |
The Garden Patch is an important archaeological site located near Horseshoe Beach, Florida. It dates back to the Middle Woodland period, a time when ancient people lived in this area.
For a long time, the Garden Patch site was a special place used for ceremonies. It was connected to two ancient groups of people: the Swift Creek and Weeden Island cultures. On April 25, 1991, this site was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places, which means it's a very important historical place.
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Exploring Horseshoe Cove
The Garden Patch site is found in a place called Horseshoe Cove. It's about 16 kilometers (10 miles) north of the Suwannee River and only 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) from the Gulf of Mexico. This area is part of Florida's "Big Bend Coast."
The Changing Landscape
The Big Bend Coast is very flat, with a thin layer of sand over limestone rock. It has many different types of watery areas, like freshwater swamps, saltwater marshes, and tidal flats. Over thousands of years, the sea level has risen. This change turned old sand dunes that were once on land into islands.
Ancient Neighbors of Garden Patch
Archaeologists have found 17 other ancient sites near Horseshoe Cove. The history of these sites seems to be connected to how Garden Patch grew into a major ceremonial center. Interestingly, there's a large area, about 6 to 12 kilometers (4 to 7 miles) wide, around western Horseshoe Cove where no ancient sites have been found.
Two islands in Horseshoe Cove, Butler Island and Bird Island, also have ancient sites linked to Garden Patch. These islands were once part of the mainland. But as sea levels rose, they became separated.
- The site on Bird Island was used at different times: from 2480–2290 BC, then 360–170 BC, and later, after it became an island, from 810–980 AD.
- Butler Island was used from 170 BC – 5 AD, and then, after it became an island, from 885–1215 AD.
When People Lived at Garden Patch
People first lived at Garden Patch from 25–120 AD. This first settlement was likely a simple home or small village. Around 240 AD, a new group of people began to use the site. They started building large mounds, which showed that Garden Patch was becoming a special ceremonial center.
This was happening at the same time as other important ceremonial centers were being built at Crystal River and Shell Mound (near Cedar Key). The Garden Patch ceremonial center was used for about 300 years, then it was left empty. Later, another part of the site, which hadn't been used before, was settled for a couple of centuries.
What We Know About Garden Patch
Many archaeologists have studied the Garden Patch site over the years.
Early Discoveries
In 1902, a famous archaeologist named Clarence Bloomfield Moore explored three mounds "near Horseshoe Point." Today, we know these are Mounds VII, V, and VI at the Garden Patch site. Moore dug into Mound V and found some burials and a few ancient objects.
Later, in 1948, people collected items from the surface of the site. In the 1970s, archaeology students did small test digs. More recently, starting in 2010, the site was carefully mapped, and more excavations were done to learn even more.
The Site's Layout
The Garden Patch site has six mounds, three areas where ancient trash (called "midden") was left, and a pond. These features are all on an old sand dune. The mounds are different heights, from less than one meter to over 2.5 meters tall.
The mounds and midden areas form a "horseshoe-shaped ring" around a central open space, or "plaza." This plaza has very few artifacts or trash. This kind of "ring" layout is common at ceremonial centers from the Middle Woodland period in northern Florida and southern Georgia.
Mound IV: A Natural Landmark
Mound IV was first thought to be built by humans. But later studies showed it was actually a natural hill. People lived on Mound IV for several centuries, starting early in the site's history. Experts believe Garden Patch might have been chosen as a village site because Mound IV was already there, along with the pond and other natural mounds. These other natural mounds were later made taller by adding shells or sand. People seemed to live on Mound IV the most during the 4th century.
The Mystery of Mound V
Mound V has been studied by archaeologists since Moore's dig in 1902. This mound also started as a low natural hill. It was used for some burials, and a building that might have been a charnel house (a place to keep bones) was built on it.
Around the 4th century, the mound was covered with a thick layer of oyster shells, about 1.5 meters (5 feet) deep. Later, a layer of sand was added on top. This way of building mounds is similar to how Mound D at Kolomoki and Mound C at the McKeithen site were built.
Scientists have used radiocarbon dating to find out when Mound V was built. It was built around the same time as Mound D at Kolomoki, and probably earlier than Mound C at McKeithen. Unlike Mound C at McKeithen, but like mounds at nearby Hughes Island Mound and Palmetto Mound sites, burials and artifacts were found in the sand layer of Mound V.
Clues from Pottery
Some pieces of broken pottery, called pottery sherds, found at Garden Patch show connections to places far away. One type of pottery, called Swift Creek Complicated Stamped, was made by pressing carved wooden paddles onto the clay before it was baked.
Sherds found at Garden Patch had been stamped with the exact same paddle as sherds found at Kolomoki and at the Block-Sterns site in Leon County, Florida. This tells us that people from these different places might have traded with each other or shared ideas.
