Park Summary for Print - Crystal River Archaeological State Park

Welcome to Crystal River Archaeological State Park

A National Historic Landmark, this 61-acre, pre-Columbian, Native American site has burial mounds, temple/platform mounds, a plaza area, and a substantial midden. The six-mound complex is one of the longest continuously occupied sites in Florida. For 1,600 years the site served as an imposing ceremonial center for Native Americans. People traveled to the complex from great distances to bury their dead and conduct trade. It is estimated that as many as 7,500 Native Americans may have visited the complex every year. Although primarily an archaeological site, the park sits on the edge of an expansive coastal marsh. Anglers may catch saltwater and freshwater fish. As part of the Great Florida Birding Trail, the park offers bird-watchers the chance to observe a variety of birds. The park has a boat tour of the river every Friday, weather permitting. Located on Museum Pointe in Crystal River.

Contact the Florida Park Service Information Center for general inquiries.
For Information about Crystal River Archaeological State Park, please call 352-795-3817.

Hours of Operation

This park is open from 8 a.m. until sundown, 365 days a year. The Visitor Center/Museum is open from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. except on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

Driving Directions

From the town of Crystal River travel north on US 19 for two miles; turn west on State Park Street; travel for one mile; turn left on Museum Pointe and follow it into the park.

Park Fees

Admission Fee - $2.00 per vehicle (limit of 8 people per vehicle).

Pedestrians, bicyclists, extra passengers, passengers in vehicles with a holder of an Annual Individual Entrance permit the Admission Fee is $1.00 per person.

Bus tour admission fee is $40.00 or $1.00 per person whichever is less (the driver is free).

This site is a National Historic Landmark and is ADA accessible. Prices include all state and local taxes.

Activities at Crystal River Archaeological State Park

	Birding The area within the park has been largely altered by man. Clearings associated with the mound complex are adjacent to a dense tree line that works well for bird watching. The site will be listed as a birding area in the Great Florida Birding Trail. It is one of four ADA accessible birding sites in Citrus County.
	Boat Tours HERITAGE-ECO BOAT TOURS. The vessel "Monroe" (26 passengers) is the vehicle for a lower river Heritage-Eco Tour. The program " The Ancient River Dwellers" is provided weekly. The cost is $10.00 per person (children under 6 are free). The 1½ hour trip allows the participants the opportunity to see the coastal marsh and learn how it and the associated marine estuary provided for the pre-Columbian people that lived here. Boat trips currently run on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday but are subject to change due to weather conditions. Call the park for confirmation of days and details at (352) 795-3817.
	Fishing Anglers may catch saltwater and freshwater fish in designated areas. Do you need a Fishing License?
	Interpretive Exhibit Interpretive exhibits relate the chronology of archaeological excavations done at the site beginning in 1903.
	Pets Well-behaved dogs are welcome at Crystal River Archaeological State Park. They must be kept on a 6-foot leash at all times and can not be left unattended for more than a half-hour. Dogs are not permitted in the Visitor Center.
	Picnicking A small picnic area is provided.
	Visitor Center STUDY OF THE LOCAL PRE-HISTORIC COASTAL DWELLERS. The primary reason for this site's place in the Florida State Park Service is to preserve and interpret the mound structures, burial areas and the lifeways of the coastal dwellers who used the area in ancient times. The visitor center contains exhibits that display artifacts related to the site and provides a few comparisons with what was occurring in other parts of the world during similar time periods. ADA restrooms are located at the Visitor Center/Museum building.

Special Events for Crystal River Archaeological State Park

There are no events listed at this time. Please call our park for more details on possible future events.

Crystal River Archaeological State Park Ranger Programs

UNDER A TREE, READ TO ME
Upon request. Crystal River Preserve State Park is proud to present our newest program for Kindergartener's - Under a Tree, Read to Me as a part of Florida State Park's commitment to our Get Real in Florida, classrooms without walls program . A park ranger is available to visit your Kindergarten classroom once a month to read a book to your students. Along with the book, comes an age appropriate activity that complements the book. This activity can be done with the ranger or at the teacher's convenience depending upon the time frame available. The story takes approximately 10 minutes with a 30 minute activity. The month of May, students are invited to Crystal River Preserve State Park's Visitor Center to have two original stories read to them on the 'Big Screen' with a corresponding activity.
Each book has been carefully selected to teach our youngest citizens about the environment and how to practice good environmental citizenship. The activities are age appropriate and selected to enhance academic goals of the Sunshine State Standards. Below is a list of the book titles.
If you would be interested in this program coming to your school, please contact Vicky Mendenhall at 352-563-0450.

Book Titles:
September - Frogazoom
October - Stellaluna
November - Good Night Little Bear
December - Forest Bright, Forest Night
January - Leo The Lightening Bug
February - Diary of a Worm
March - Mister Seahorse
April - Miss Spiders Tea Party
May - Kiley's Bottle Boat & Kiley's Forever Mystery
May - Clara Caterpillar
May - Somewhere in the Ocean

Call 352-563-0450 for more details.
SIFTING FOR TECHNOLOGY
Ongoing. Great for kids and adults!This Park Ranger or Volunteer led program allows the participants the opportunity to learn the disciplines of archaeology while sifting through soil removed from the dredged boat slip at the park. This is a very controlled program which is designed to recover tools and artifacts from the spoil. It is limited to groups of 24 people or less. The preferred number of participants is 12. This program is periodically offered to park visitors and can be arranged by school groups. The program is designed to last about two hours. To request this program or for more information call the park at (352) 795-3817.
Call for more details.
ARCHAEOLOGICAL TECHNIQUE DEMONSTRATION
Scheduled. This ranger given program uses the Sifting for Technologies interactive exhibit to discuss the disciplines of archaeological excavation and research. It is used for groups that are too large in number to perform Sifting for Technology. The demonstration and educational talk takes about an hour. To schedule this program or for more information, call the park at (352) 795-3817.
Call for more details.
INTERPRETIVE SLIDE PROGRAMS
As requested. These programs are related to the pre-historic Native Americans. They may be on site or off site and generally last an hour with questions and answers. They may be constructed to meet the needs of the group. To request this program or for more information, call the park at (352) 795-3817.
Call for more details.
GUIDED TOURS
Ongoing. Ranger led guided tour of the entire mound complex and visitor center exhibits can be arranged for groups of 10 or more persons. It is necessary that they are arranged at least two weeks in advance and are based on availability of staff. The tour fee is $20.00 per each interpreter (one interpreter per 30 participants). Schools may have the educational tours and park entry at no cost. This tour takes about 1½ hours. To request this tour or for more information, call the park at (352) 795-3817.
Call for more details.
AWARD-WINNING DOCUMENTARIES
Every 3rd Saturday of every month. Award winning documentaries are shown in the Redfish Revue Theatre. Two show times are available to see one environmental and one cultural selection. Bring popcorn and a drink and join us for an educational good time. For more information call the park at 352-795-3817 or 352-563-0450.
Call for more details.
TOOLS & TECHNOLOGY: NOW AND THEN
Off-site schools as requested. This program is presented at schools with "short" program schedules. It involves the use of hands-on examples of modern and ancient tools and technology along with a printed sheet that allows students to draw lines from modern to ancient items that are comparable via pictures.

A "short" program schedule is usually 15 to 20 minutes long where staff has a number os small classes coming in for the instruction at different times.
Appropriate for grades 2 through 4.
Call 352-795-3817 for more details.

Frequently Asked Questions about Crystal River Archaeological State Park

Question: Is this a "real” Indian Burial Site?
Answer: The park is the true location of the Indian Burial Mounds. All of the mounds located in the park are authentic mounds, constructed by the Indians right where they are located now. Some of the mounds have been partially excavated in the past and some have barely been touched by archaeologists. That is why it is so important that we protect these mounds. They are some of the last vestiges we have of people the archaeologists call "The Pre-Columbian Mound Builders.”

Question: What is the archaeological dating placed on this mound complex?
Answer: The mound complex at Crystal River has been dated by archaeologists to have been in existence from approximately 500B.C. through 1400A.D. These dates are general dates based on several Carbon 14 date samples taken from burials excavated during the 1960’s. With further work and more date samples taken in the future, there is a possibility that these dates could vary up to 500 years in accuracy.

Question: What tribe was responsible for building these mounds?
Answer: All of the activity at the Crystal River Site appears to have taken place prior to the "European arrival”. Because of this, we have no way of knowing what these Pre-Columbian Mound Builders called themselves. Most archaeologists will agree that they were probably the ancestors of what would later be called, by the Spanish, either the Timucuan Tribe or the Calusa Tribe.

Question: Are the artifacts in the Visitor Center authentic?
Answer: Some of the artifacts are authentic and some are authentic replicas. All of the "contemporary exhibit” artifacts are replicas with the exception of the pottery vessel from New Mexico. All of the projectile points, jewelry, tools and pottery shards on display are authentic. Intact pottery vessels are, for the most part, authentic replicas.

Question: How long does it take to tour the site?
Answer: The Visitor Center takes approximately 20 minutes to tour and the ½ mile paved foot trail through the grounds takes about 20 minutes to walk. Visitors should plan on sending from 40 minutes to one hour in order to completely enjoy all the site has to offer. NOTE: I have, however, known people to get stuck for several minutes on our 30 foot high observation deck, atop the main Temple Mound. Sitting and watching the river meander by, enjoying the breezes and the scenery atop this wonderful mound are often the culprit.

Question: Where do we go to see/swim with the Manatee?
Answer: The archaeological site does not deal with the manatees in any way. The Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge, the location of the manatees during cold weather, is located in the Crystal River about three miles upstream from the site. The archaeological site does not offer access to this area. For information about the Manatee you can call the Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge at 352-563-2088. The Manatee can also be viewed year round at the Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park, about 10 miles south of Crystal River on U.S. Highway 19/98.

Question: Where are the park’s restrooms?
Answer: Go over to the orange bulletin board and go out the glass door to the right. Restrooms are right outside the door.

Crystal River Archaeological State Park History

The beautiful Crystal River is about six miles long. This park is located approximately half way between the spring fed source in Kings Bay and its mouth at the Gulf of Mexico. This location must have appealed to aboriginal people as it provided easy access to both fresh and salt-water environments. One half mile West of the park the Crystal River splits. The southern branch is known as the Salt River. It provides another avenue of access to the salt marsh, many small islands and the Gulf. The shallow waters of the Florida Gulf Coast provided a wide variety of seafood to its early inhabitants. Expansive grass flats extend many miles into, the gulf and are interlaced with a network of oyster beds.

The site was used by this areas earliest inhabitants thousands of years before to the arrival of the Europeans in the New World. Perhaps 10,000 years ago, the site was likely used for short time periods by people who traveled in search of food. For thousands of years this hunting and gathering strategy worked well and the site continued to be seasonally occupied. As the coastal population increased, complex social structures emerged that resulted in the formation of regional communities.

The Crystal River Site became the regional center for the Florida Gulf Coast Deptford people. A place to which they would travel, for religious or political guidance, ceremonial gatherings and trading. It is estimated that by 1000 A.D., the population along this portion of the Florida Gulf Coast numbered 7,000 to 10,000 people. Here, the people relied on the rich marine estuaries to provide their growing families with food.

The estuaries provided well. This is evidenced by the shell heaps that are here and at hundreds of smaller sites in the area. These low lying shell heaps, composed of discarded food stuffs and household materials, are routinely referred to as middens. To some, these relate to our modern day landfills but to others they represent the life of the community that once existed here.

The park’s midden area had its beginnings sometime prior to 500 B.C., eventually covering an area of about 1300 feet long, 100 feet wide and seven feet deep. The deposits are arc shaped, consistent with other Deptford Period sites. At the extreme west end of the midden there are two small mound structures. These two mounds were not mapped during the first exploration of the site. Perhaps they remained hidden by the dense vegetation which previously covered them. Archaeologist Ripley Bullen was the first to locate and map them in the 1960’s. He called them the “Priest’s Mound” and the “Village Mound.” This terminology was based on evidence of a ramp that was once on the eastern side of the Priest’s Mound. Apparently the earthen ramp pointed to the northeast from the Priest’s Mound, through the center of the Plaza to a similar ramp that is still located at the far end of the plaza at the Second Temple mound. The Second Temple Mound is the result the tend that allowed for larger and higher mounds to be constructed.

The tallest and most impressive mound on the site is referred to as the First Temple Mound.Early Accounts of the large platform mound describe it as a large shell heap from the top of which one could see the Gulf of Mexico. According to C.B. Moore’ s 1903 description, the mound stood 28 feet 8 inches high, with its summit plateau measuring 107 feet in length and 50 feet wide. A shell ramp, measuring 80 feet long and some 14-21 feet wide extended to the northeast across a shell causeway. The causeway led towards the burial area and a marker stone. Because of its ramp and flat top, the mound gave every appearance of the typical “temple” mound often associated with later prehistoric cultures of the Southeast.

In 1960, a previous landowner removed two thirds of the mound for fill. That activity uncovered charcoal lenses on the northeast face of the mound, at a depth of 19 feet. Pottery shards found on the Temple Mound as well as a carbon dated charcoal lens (dated at 600 A.D.) seem to place the mounds construction during the Late Weeden Island or early Safety Harbor Period.

Today, additional plant/tree growth to the west block the view of the gulf, the ramp is gone and the shell cause way has been covered over but at it’s northern end lies the Main Burial Mound Complex.

This burial complex likely had its beginnings as a preconceived design. It was used during at least two of Florida’s many cultural periods. The mound’s earliest burial was about 250 B.C. with others taking place until sometime prior to 1300 A.D. It is estimated that this burial mound complex contains between 1000 and 1500 burials. The earliest excavations in this complex were conducted in 1903 by Clarence B. Moore, with his primary focus being the conical mound. The burials in mound in this component are believed to be the oldest at the site. The people buried in this mound, in many instances, were buried with exotic artifacts from the northern regions of North America. These items had been obtained through a massive trade network that existed at the time, now called the Hopewell Interaction Sphere. They included copper objects, mica, lead, and crystals. These types of artifacts, however, were not found in later excavations in other portions of the mound, indicating a breakdown in the trade network had occurred.

Archaeologist, Ripley Bullen using Moore’s information, was the first to apply modern archaeological techniques to the site. Through his research he was able to identify at least two different cultural periods that occurred during the site’s occupation. This was done by identification of specific pottery types and the realization that through time the burial practices and construction techniques changed as a result of influences provided through ideas filtering in from other regions.

Bullen, recognizing the significance of this pre-Columbian cultural center, urged the Florida Park Service to acquire it. After acquisition and its subsequent protection by the State of Florida, Bullen was called on to develop interpretive exhibits for the site’s visitors. His work also included the restoration of the burial mound structures damaged by previous excavations. In this task, he re-buried skeletal remains of 425 individuals which had been removed from this mound by Moore.

During land clearing in 1964, the most enigmatic archaeological features of the site were discovered near the main burial complex. These were identified by Bullen as ceremonial stones or stelae. Stele #1 is located approximately 75 feet east of the Main Burial Complex. On the North side of this stone, Which was erected around 440 A.D. there is the crude outline of a man’s face, shoulders, with flowing hair and an ear spool. The function that this stone played and the relationship with other stones placed on the site is unclear. One theory suggests that these limestone boulders were used as celestial markers in a seasonal calendar. More archaeological investigation is, however, needed to determine if all the stones have been located. Once this happens perhaps the stones social or scientific function may be better understood.

Little is known about the procession of ancient mound structure development at this site and others along this portion of the Gulf coast. Since the ancient people that lived here had no known written language, archaeologists rely on information gathered through the interpretation of artifacts in association with cultural features and other remains. They use the information collected to develop models of the ancient lifeways. Due to the limited archaeological investigations that have been done here, trying to develop a model of day to day life is difficult. The dating of events at this site is based on dateable types of pottery and a few carbon dates taken from other portions of the site. The historically recorded lifeways of similar coastal sites, like Safety Harbor, gives us some idea of how these mounds were used.

It appears that the changing social structure of the people using this center led to later construction of an additional ceremonial mound. This second Temple mound was probably constructed late in the Weeden Island or early Safety Harbor period. The reason for its construction is not clear. The platform appearance and its association with the plaza to its southwest indicate that it may have been used as a stage. Large groups of people in the plaza would be able to clearly observe ceremonies or occurrences taking place on top of the mound. The intact ramp leading from the top of this mound is in line with the remnants of the ramp from the priests’ mound at the other end of the plaza. Also in this line is another marker stone.

Stele #2, which is located near the center of the plaza behind the visitor center, like stele #1, has never had an excavation to a depth of more than two feet. Additional archaeological investigation may reveal the stones’ true uses. While many theories have been developed on how these marker stones were used by the people that erected them, each theory has many unanswered questions. Were these stones used. to anticipate seasons using the celestial bodies? Do they have some as yet undetermined relationship with the burial mounds. Was there intended placement with regards to burial mounds? This is not known, however due north of stele #2 there is another burial mound.

This smaller burial mound is believed to have been constructed during the same time period as the Second Temple mound. However, this date has not been confirmed and no specific dateable pottery was found in the mound.

For almost four decades this sacred site has been open to the public under the protection of the Florida State Park Service. The mound complex was recognized as a National Historic Landmark in 1990 and continues to draw visitors from around the world. While the investigations of the site have answered many questions about the ancient coastal dwellers it also has provided many new ones. As Cultural/Heritage awareness increases and technological archaeology improves, perhaps many of these unanswered questions will in fact be answered. Only time will tell.

Crystal River Archaeological State Park Volunteer Information

Volunteers can do many things -- greet visitors, conduct tours, help rangers remove exotic plants or maintain the natural beauty of a beach, waterway or trail.