Weeden Island culture facts for kids

The Weeden Island Cultures were groups of ancient people who lived in the Southeastern United States a long time ago, during a period called the Late Woodland period. They are known for their unique pottery and how they lived. The name "Weeden Island" comes from a place called the Weedon Island site in Pinellas County, Florida, near Old Tampa Bay.

A Look at Their History

The Weeden Island cultures are mostly known by the special pottery they made. This pottery falls into two main types:

• Everyday Pottery: This was used for daily life, like cooking and storing food. You can find pieces of it in their old village sites and trash piles (called middens).
• Special Ceremony Pottery: This pottery was used for important events and ceremonies. It's mostly found in large earth hills they built, called mounds.

These two types of pottery developed differently over time. The everyday pottery changed a lot from one region to another, showing that different groups had their own styles. The special ceremony pottery, however, was more similar across different groups, suggesting they shared some common beliefs and ceremonies.

Experts believe that the everyday styles of Weeden Island cultures grew out of an older group called the Swift Creek culture. This happened around 200 to 500 CE in the area where Alabama, Florida, and Georgia meet, near the Chattahoochee and Apalachicola rivers. In other areas, their everyday pottery came from the Deptford culture. The special ceremony part of their culture came from the Hopewell tradition, which was a big network of shared ideas and ceremonies across ancient North America. The Weeden Island cultures lasted in some places until about 1200 CE. Their sites have been found from Mobile Bay in Alabama all the way to the Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia, and from south of Tampa Bay up to Columbus, Georgia.

These ancient people lived in different places, so they found food in different ways. Some groups did a little bit of farming, but most were hunter-gatherers. This means they found their food by hunting animals and gathering plants. They often lived near hardwood forests (called hammocks) or along coasts and rivers, where they could find lots of food like fish and shellfish. They were "semi-sedentary", meaning they stayed in one place for a while instead of moving constantly.

The first time Weeden Island special ceremony pottery was described was at the Weedon Island site. An archaeologist named J. Walter Fewkes from the Smithsonian Institution dug there in 1923 and 1924. Today, we know that the Weedon Island site was actually part of a different but related group called the late Manasota culture. The Manasota culture started much earlier, around 500 BCE, and its everyday pottery was not connected to the main Weeden Island cultures.

Different Groups and Times

The Weeden Island culture wasn't just one big group; it was made up of several different groups living in various regions. They all shared the same basic ceremonial practices, but their everyday lives and pottery styles were different depending on where they lived.

Here are some of the different Weeden Island groups and when they lived:

• North Peninsular Gulf Coast: Along the Gulf of Mexico coast of Florida, from Pasco County north to the Aucilla River.
• Cades Pond culture: In north-central Florida.
• McKeithen Weeden Island culture: In northern inland Florida.
• Manasota culture: In the central Gulf Coast of Florida (this group adopted Weeden Island ceremonies).
• Northwest culture: From the Aucilla River across the Florida Panhandle to Mobile, Alabama.
• Early Kolomoki culture: In the lower Chattahoochee Valley.
• Later Wakulla Weeden Island culture: In the lower Chattahoochee Valley, lower Flint River valley, and parts of Alabama and Georgia.

Archaeologists have divided the Weeden Island culture into two main time periods:

• Weeden Island I Period: From about 200 CE to 700 CE.
• Weeden Island II Period: From about 700 CE to 1200 CE.

Some of the Weeden Island II cultures later developed into what archaeologists call "proto-Mississippian" cultures, which were early forms of the larger Mississippian culture.

Before the Weeden Island cultures, there were groups like the Deptford culture and later the Swift Creek and Santa Rosa-Swift Creek cultures. After the Weeden Island cultures, new groups emerged in those areas, such as the Alachua culture, the Suwannee Valley culture, and the Fort Walton Culture.

Many archaeologists have noticed a clear difference between the special ceremony items and the everyday items in Weeden Island culture, especially their pottery. This suggests that their society had different rules and customs for sacred and daily life. Over hundreds of years, the way these communities were organized, their leaders, and their beliefs slowly changed, leading to the more complex societies of the later Mississippian period.

McKeithen Weeden Island Culture

The McKeithen Weeden Island culture was a specific group of early Weeden Island people who lived in northern Florida. Their area was north of the Santa Fe River, stretching from the Aucilla River east towards the St. Johns River. This group existed for about 500 years, from 200 to 700 CE, and was later followed by the Suwannee Valley culture.

The McKeithen culture is named after a landowner who allowed archaeologists to dig up some mounds on his land before they could be damaged. The McKeithen site was a village next to a stream, with three large mounds. These mounds were built in a triangle shape, with the main point of the triangle facing where the sun rises during the summer solstice. This suggests they had knowledge of astronomy and planned their constructions carefully. The mounds were likely built between 350 and 475 CE.

Archaeologists found many signs of people living in a crescent shape around an open area, which was probably a central gathering place or "plaza" because it had very few artifacts. The three mounds were built around this plaza. Wood and charcoal found at the site helped scientists use radiocarbon dating to figure out that the village was active from about 200 to 750 CE.

Each of the three mounds had a different purpose:

• Mound B: This mound had a rectangular building on top. Experts think it might have been a temple or the home of a priest who led ceremonies for the dead. A person believed to be this priest was buried inside the building. After some time, the body was likely exposed, and then the bones were buried. A wooden and earth tomb was built over the grave. Later, the tomb and building were burned, and the ashes were spread. A special ceramic bird head was placed in the ground, and then the whole mound was covered with a layer of dirt. This event happened around 354 CE.
• Mound A: This was a special area where bodies were prepared and temporarily buried. A wall of posts separated several burial pits from the rest of the village. Large posts, up to two feet wide, seemed to mark the graves. After the bodies had decomposed, the bones were carefully collected and moved to Mound C. Many broken pottery pieces and small fire pits suggest that ceremonies were held here while the bodies were being prepared. Around 354 CE, the wall of posts and other posts were piled over the empty grave pits and burned.
• Mound C: This mound held a special building called a charnel house, where bundles of bones (usually a skull and limb bones) were stored. After a while, these bone bundles were buried around the edge of the mound. Around 475 CE, about 36 bone bundles were taken from the charnel house and buried. The charnel house was then burned, and a large fire was built on top of it, perhaps for a feast. A big bowl with animal heads on its rim, which might have been used for special drinks like the black drink, was left on the fire's remains after its bottom was broken out. At least 17 other pottery vessels, including hollow animal figurines, were broken and left on top of the bone bundle graves. Finally, the entire mound was covered with a six-foot layer of earth.

The pottery found at the McKeithen site was also divided into three types:

• Everyday Pots: These were plain or had very simple decorations and were made from local clay.
• Prestige Ware: These pots had more decorations, like lines and dots, and sometimes were "painted" with red clay. They were found most often in the mounds but sometimes in the village too.
• Sacred Vessels: These were only found in the mounds and were very fancy. Some were even shaped like animals. Some of these special vessels were brought in from other places, but the animal-shaped ones were usually made from local clay.