Additional Information for Crystal River Archaeological State Park
The visitor center/museum houses the park office as well as a collection of artifacts collected at the site. Artifacts such as arrowheads, pottery, jewelry, stone and bone tools are on exhibition. Interpretive exhibits also relate the chronology of archaeological excavations done at the site beginning in 1903. A small gift shop is located near the visitor center/museum. (Note: the gift shop, while offering a variety of novelty and educational items, does not deal in Native American artifacts of any kind.)
Plant Life
The park has maintained grounds with natural buffers. Plants you could expect to see are; Needle Palm, Southern Red Cedar, American Beautyberry, Pignut Hickory, Coral Bean, Sweetbay, Wild Coffee, and other plants common to hydric hammock and shell mound areas.
Wildlife
Area Geography
Crystal River Archaeological State Park is situated in the physiographic province known as the Gulf Coastal Lowlands, which includes most of the broad coastal plain between the Brooksville Ridge and the Gulf of Mexico. The lowlands generally are level, although ancient dunes of higher elevation occasionally provide some relief. In the lowlands, there are coastal swamps and marine terraces of Pleistocene age (10,000 to 1.6 million years ago). The marine terraces are gently sloping features with escarpments that face seaward. These features formed when sedimentary materials were alternately deposited and eroded as sea levels rose and fell.
Most of the site lies at five feet above sea level or less, with the lowest points occurring along the Crystal and Salt Rivers. The highest elevation at the site, 29 feet above sea level, occurs at the flattened top of Mound A, the southern temple mound.
Resources
The resources in this park are mostly cultural in nature. Created by aboriginal Americans, over the course of a millennium or more, are temple mounds, middens (refuse mounds), and burial mounds. At some point in the occupation of this site, stone markers or monuments with inscriptions on them were strategically placed with a purpose that has yet to be determined. Artifacts that have been unearthed can be seen in the visitor center/museum.
Pets
Pets are welcome in the park with exception of the Visitor Center. They must be on a six foot hand held leash.
Please see our General Parks Pet Policy for more information.
Links
Florida Division of Recreation and Parks neither endorses links nor approves of links to external sources. External links are made available to assist the Internet user in his or her search. The Florida Division of Recreation and Parks takes no responsibility for a link's operation or content. The links that are shown are not an exclusive listing of organizations available within the State.
