Pierce Mounds Complex An Ancient Capital in Northwest Florida Nancy Marie White Department of Anthropology University of South Florida, Tampa [email protected] Final Report to George J. Mahr, Apalachicola, Florida December 2013 ii ABSTRACT The Pierce site (8Fr14), near the mouth of the Apalachicola River in Franklin County, northwest Florida, was a major prehistoric mound center during the late Early and Middle Woodland (about A.D. 200-700) and Mississippian (about A.D. 1000-1500) periods. People lived there probably continuously during at least the last 2000 years (until right before the European invasion of Florida in the sixteenth century) and took advantage of the strategic location commanding the river and bay, as well as the abundant terrestrial and aquatic resources. Besides constructing several mounds for burial of the dead and probably support of important structures, native peoples left long midden (refuse) ridges of shells, animal bones, artifacts and blackened sandy soils, which built up a large and very significant archaeological site. Early Europeans and Americans who settled in the town of Apalachicola recognized the archaeological importance of Pierce and collected artifacts. But since the site and its spectacular findings were published by C.B. Moore in 1902, much information has been lost or misunderstood. Recent investigations by the University of South Florida were commissioned by the property owner to research and evaluate the significance of the site. There is evidence for an Early Woodland (Deptford) occupation and mound building, possibly as early as A.D. 200. Seven of the mounds form an oval, with the Middle Woodland burial mounds on the west side. At least one temple mound, on the northeast side, centers the thick late prehistoric Fort Walton occupation, now radiocarbon-dated to A.D. 1270. Other mounds such as Singer (8Fr16) to the west, and the Cemetery Mound (8Fr21), Mound near Apalachicola (8Fr20A), Shell Mound near Mound Near Apalachicola (8Fr20B), and Cool Spring Mound (8Fr19), to the east, were apparently all part of this original complex of 13 mounds. Jackson Mound (8Fr15), 1.5 km to the west-northwest along the riverbank, was a related locale. Material evidence of widespread economic, social, and probably even spiritual power includes elaborate pottery, shell, and stone artifacts, as well as exotic materials such as copper and silver. This prehistoric political and religious center must have controlled interaction on both a north-south axis up and down the river and an east-west axis along the Gulf for perhaps two millennia. Cover photo: Weeden Island Incised red-painted ceramic cup from Pierce Mound A Burial 2 and 4 group (NMAI #174076.000; photo courtesy of the National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution; photo by NMAI Photo Services Staff); drawing (adapted from Moore 1902:223, Fig. 159) shows its design of two human hands and other symbols (an upside-down person?). iii iv CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES viii LIST OF FIGURES ix LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS xi INTRODUCTION, RESEARCH GOALS, AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 1 LOCATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL BACKGROUND 4 Natural Environment 4 Economic and Sociopolitical Setting 6 HISTORY OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION 8 Little-Known Early History 8 Moore’s Mounds: Which is Which? 10 Later History of the Land 14 Professional Archaeology 16 Recent Investigations 19 UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA INVESTIGATIONS 26 History of Work 26 Field and Lab Methods, Strategies, Research Questions 28 THE MOUND COMPLEX AND SITE AREAS 30 PIERCE MOUND A (8Fr14A) 38 Location and Description 38 Burials 38 Other Mound Deposits 48 Ceramics 50 Stone 57 Shell and Pearl 59 Bone and Teeth 60 Metals 61 Recent Investigations 62 Interpretation of Mound A 65 PIERCE MOUND B (8Fr14B) 68 Description and History 68 Materials and Interpretation 69 v PIERCE MOUND C (8Fr14C) 72 Location, Description, Looting, Investigation 72 Materials and Interpretation 75 PIERCE MOUND D (8Fr14D) 82 PIERCE MOUND E (8Fr14E) 82 PIERCE MOUND F (8Fr14F) 86 PIERCE MOUND G (8Fr14G) 88 PIERCE TEMPLE MOUND H (8Fr14H) 90 Location, Description, Corrections 90 Investigations, Materials, Interpretation 93 SINGER MOUND (8Fr16) 100 PIERCE WEST VILLAGE AREA 106 PIERCE CENTRAL VILLAGE AREA 112 PIERCE EAST VILLAGE AREA 124 CEMETERY MOUND/EAST VILLAGE AREA (8Fr21) 132 MOUND NEAR APALACHICOLA/EAST VILLAGE AREA (8Fr20A) 140 SHELL MOUND NEAR MOUND NEAR APALACHICOLA/FAR EAST VILLAGE AREA (8Fr20B) 158 COOL SPRING MOUND (8Fr19) 164 JACKSON MOUND (8Fr15) 166 JACKSON MIDDEN (8Fr77) 166 “MOUND NEAR APALACHICOLA 2” (8Fr22) 167 ADDITIONAL DATA FROM PIERCE ARTIFACT COLLECTIONS 168 British Museum 168 Florida Museum of Natural History 174 Florida Bureau of Archaeological Research 178 vi Other Institutional Collections 179 Private Collections 179 SUMMARY AND INTERPRETATION OF PIERCE MOUND COMPLEX 181 Mounds and Habitation Areas 181 Subsistence , Ceremony, Significance, and Potential 186 Material Culture and Long-Distance Connections 188 CONTRIBUTIONS OF THIS WORK 192 Archaeological Synthesis and the Stories of the Past 192 Future Research 193 Digging into Archives 194 Management Recommendations And Public Archaeology 195 REFERENCES 196 APPENDIX: CATALOG OF CULTURAL MATERIALS 203 vii LIST OF TABLES 1. Archaeological time periods represented at Pierce 2 2. Shovel tests done by Penton, 1996 21 3. Excavation units done by USF and BAR 29 4. Pierce mound and other site identification update 31 5. Mound A burials 40 6. Mound A soil stratification in cores 64 7. Mound A materials recovered by USF investigations 64 8. Mound B materials recovered by BAR and USF investigations 70 9. Mound C strata in looter hole profile 74 10. Mound C materials recovered 75 11. Mound C shell disk beads 80 12. Mound E strata in Test Unit 2E 84 13. Mound E materials recovered 85 14. Mound F stratification 87 15. Mound F materials recovered 87 16. Mound G stratification 89 17. Temple Mound H materials recovered by BAR and USF investigations 93 18. Singer Mound burials 102 19. Singer Mound stratification 103 20. Singer Mound materials recovered 104 21. Pierce West Village area materials recovered 107 22. Pierce West Village area USF subsurface tests 111 23. Pierce Central Village area materials recovered 113 24. Pierce Central Village area materials by depth from BAR shovel test 120 25. Pierce Central Village area materials by depth from Shovel Test 11-1 122 26. Pierce East Village area materials recovered 126 27. Cemetery Mound/East Village area materials recovered by BAR and USF 137 28. Mound Near Apalachicola/East Village area materials recovered by BAR and USF 142 29. Mound Near Apalachicola/East Village area ceramics from Shovel Test 1 156 30. Shell Mound near Mound Near Apalachicola area materials recovered 161 31. Cool Spring Mound burials 164 32. British Museum materials from Pierce 169 33. Florida Museum of Natural History materials from Pierce 176 34. Division of Historical Resources photos from Pierce 178 35. Mounds and Components in Pierce Complex by Function and Time Period 182 viii LIST OF FIGURES 1. Location of Pierce site in northwest Florida 1 2. Location of Pierce in the Apalachicola delta region 4 3. Location of Pierce on old riverbank west of the city of Apalachicola 5 4. View of Turtle Harbor marsh adjacent to Pierce, with wild red hibiscus 6 5. C. B. Moore’s published map showing Pierce location 10 6. Moore’s sketch map of Pierce site from his notes, 1902 13 7. Sears’s sketch map of Pierce, 1959 17 8. Cover of novel Selena, which includes reference to Pierce mounds 20 9. Topographic map of all excavations on Mahr property at Pierce 25 10. Photo of Pierce Mound H (temple mound) in 1983 26 11. Lidar image of Pierce mounds complex 35 12. Lidar image of Pierce mounds complex showing site divisions 36 13. Drawing of reconstruction of Pierce mound complex layout 37 14. Map of Pierce Mound A burials 39 15. Drawing of Pierce Mound A Burial 2,4,5 group 45 16. Weeden Island Zoned Red double-necked vessel from Mound A Burial 2,4,5 group 51 17. Weeden Island Zoned Red vessels from south-southeast slope of Mound A 52 18. Santa Rosa Stamped small unusual vessel from Mound A 53 19. Franklin Plain tetrapodal pot from Mound A 54 20. Weeden Island Plain worm-shaped pot from Mound A Burial 2, 4, 5 group 55 21. Weeden Island Plain three-necked vessel from east slope of Mound A 56 22. Weeden Island Plain small lobed vessel from Mound A Burial 93 56 23. Two chert points from Mound A 57 24. Ground stone pendant probably from Mound A Burial 63 58 25. Pearl beads probably from Mound A Burial 66 60 26. Bison bone gorget from Mound A 60 27. Copper tube from Mound A Burial 66 61 28. Silver-covered copper disks from Mound A Burial 81 62 29. Mound A in 2006 63 30. Mound B in 2007 68 31. Mound B in 2011 with pothole 71 32. Mound C in 2006, 2007 73 33. Mound C looter hole and drawing of stratification 74 34. Mound C ceramics: Deptford, Swift Creek, check-stamped 78 35. Mound C ceramics: fabric-marked, cordmarked, Santa Rosa Stamped, Deptford 79 36. Mound C shell disk beads 80 37. Mound C animal remains 81 38. Mounds E and F, 2011 83 39. Mound E Test Unit 2E 84 40. Mound F Test Unit 11A 86 ix 41. Mound G in 2011 88 42. Mound G Test Unit B 89 43. Temple Mound H in 1949, 2007 91 44. Temple Mound H, front and back, 2011 92 45. Temple Mound H, Fort Walton Incised sherds 97 46. Temple Mound H rectangular shell tool 99 47. Singer Mound in 1995 and 2011 101 48. Singer Mound Test Unit Sing1 103 49. Singer Mound materials recovered 105 50.