Orange period facts for kids
The Orange period or Orange culture was a time in ancient Florida, roughly from 4,000 years ago to about 2,500 or 3,000 years ago. It was part of the late Archaic period, which means it happened before people started farming widely and before more complex societies developed. We know about the Orange culture mainly because of a special kind of pottery they made called Orange-series fiber-tempered pottery. This pottery had plant fibers mixed into the clay.
During this ancient time, the sea level rise slowed down and became similar to what it is today. This led to the formation of Barrier islands and lagoons along much of Florida's coast. The St. Johns River also changed, creating many wetlands (swampy areas) in its valley. Because of these new rich environments, larger groups of people could settle down in one place. They used the resources from these coastal and riverine wetlands in Florida. Drier areas were not used as much.
Different regional cultures started to appear in these wetland areas. Before the Orange period, the Mount Taylor period existed along Florida's east coast and near the St. Johns River, starting around 5000 to 4000 BCE. Fiber-tempered pottery first appeared in Georgia and South Carolina around 2500 BCE, made by the Stallings culture. This pottery then arrived in Florida around 2000 BCE, marking the start of the Orange period. The Orange culture spread throughout the St. Johns River area and along the Florida coast, from north of the St. Johns River's mouth down to Sebastian, Florida. After about 1,000 to 1,500 years, the Orange culture changed into the St. Johns culture. These cultures—Mount Taylor, Orange, and St. Johns—developed in the same area of northeastern Florida. The main difference between them is the pottery: Mount Taylor had no pottery, Orange had fiber-tempered pottery, and St. Johns had pottery with sand or sponge spicules mixed in.
The Story of Orange Pottery
The Orange period is mostly known for its unique Orange-series ceramics (pottery). An archaeologist named Ripley P. Bullen sorted Orange-series pottery into five different time periods. He based this on how the pottery looked, its shape, how it was made (by hand or coiled), and if it had other materials mixed in besides fiber.
However, new discoveries, like more radiocarbon dating (a way to find out how old things are) and studies of Orange-series pottery since the 1990s, suggest a different idea. These studies think that the differences in pottery might show regional variations (different styles in different areas) rather than changes over time. Kenneth Sassaman, another expert, suggests that St. Johns pottery might have appeared along the middle St. Johns River much earlier than previously thought, around 3,500 years ago, instead of 1000 to 500 BCE.
