The Mill Cove Complex is a group of prehistoric
archaeological sites located in
Duval County, Florida
Duval County is in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 995,567, up from 864,263 in 2010. Its county seat is Jacksonville, Florida, with which the Duval County government has been conso ...
built by people of the
St. Johns culture
The St. Johns culture was an archaeological culture in northeastern Florida, USA that lasted from about 500 BCE (the end of the Archaic period) until shortly after European contact in the 17th century. The St. Johns culture was present along the ...
approximately 900 to 1250 CE. The site encompasses two sand mounds, Grant Mound (
8DU14) and the contemporaneous Shields Mound (8DU12) located away, and an area in between the two which is full of St. Johns culture
midden
A midden (also kitchen midden or shell heap) is an old dump for domestic waste which may consist of animal bone, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, potsherds, lithics (especially debitage), and other artifacts and ecofact ...
deposits.
Shields Mound
The mound is a mortuary structure first excavated in 1894 and 1895 by
Clarence Bloomfield Moore. At the time Moore described the mound as being a slightly oblong shaped rectangular
platform mound in diameter and in height with a summit measuring by . There was a ramp running to the top on the north face that measured in length by wide. Later archaeological work in 1999-2002 determined that the mound is a
burial mound and not a substructure platform mound with burials as Moore assumed. Moore found a number of exotic
grave goods in the mound, including copper artifacts and several spatulate
celts similar to ones found in
Mississippian culture
The Mississippian culture was a Native Americans in the United States, Native American civilization that flourished in what is now the Midwestern United States, Midwestern, Eastern United States, Eastern, and Southeastern United States from appr ...
sites in other parts of the southeastern US and generally seen as elite status symbols.
He also found one
copper plate similar to others he'd found when he excavated the Grant Mound and
Mount Royal Mound, another nearby St. Johns culture sites.
Grant Mound
In 1894 C. B. Moore described the mound as being a truncated cone
mound in height, with a base diameter of a summit diameter of . When he excavated the mound he found a large number of graves and many artifacts, although all of the artifacts do not seem to be associated with burials as grave goods. The artifacts were of both local and nonlocal manufacture and included 147 polished stone celts, chipped stone tools,
soapstone smoking pipes,
shell drinking cups of the type used for the
black drink
Black drink is a name for several kinds of ritual beverages brewed by Native Americans in the Southeastern United States. Traditional ceremonial people of the Yuchi, Caddo, Chickasaw, Cherokee, Choctaw, Muscogee and some other Indigenous peop ...
ritual, bone pins,
pottery and a variety of items made from or covered with copper. The copper items included embossed plaques, beads, two bi-conical
ear spool
A plug (sometimes earplug or earspool), in the context of body modification, is a short, cylindrical piece of jewelry commonly worn in larger-gauge body piercings. Modern western plugs are also called flesh tunnels. Because of their size—which ...
s and two
long-nosed god maskettes.
[ Both the copper covered earspools and long-nosed god maskettes are rare items that have associations with the Cahokia site in western Illinois and the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex.][
]
Trade
The presence of exotic copper items in the two mounds along with busycon
''Busycon'' is a genus of very large edible sea snails in the subfamily Busyconinae. These snails are commonly known in the United States as ''whelks'' or ''Busycon whelks''. Less commonly they are loosely, and somewhat misleadingly, called "conc ...
shells has led archaeologists to believe the peoples of the Mill Cove Complex were involved in long distance trade with Mississippian culture
The Mississippian culture was a Native Americans in the United States, Native American civilization that flourished in what is now the Midwestern United States, Midwestern, Eastern United States, Eastern, and Southeastern United States from appr ...
peoples to their west. Whelk shells and yaupon holly, two local products, were valuable elite commodities to the peoples of the Mississippian cultures, used to make shell gorget
Shell gorgets are a Native American art form of polished, carved shell pendants worn around the neck. The gorgets are frequently engraved, and are sometimes highlighted with pigments, or fenestrated (pierced with openings).
Shell gorgets were mos ...
s, ritual drinking vessels, beads and columnella pendants and the ingredient for the black drink.[
]
See also
* Turtle Mound
Turtle Mound is a prehistoric archaeological site located south of New Smyrna Beach, Florida, on State Road A1A. On September 29, 1970, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. It is the largest shell midden on the mainland ...
* Fort Walton culture
References
External links
{{Pre-Columbian North America
St. Johns culture
Archaeological sites in Florida
Mounds in Florida