Crystal River Archaelogical State Park

We’ve been to lots of Native American mounds (1, 2, 3, 4, 5). We still learned a lot by coming here. There was an item called stela here that we haven’t seen at other mounds. Basically it’s a stone slab with a design (in this case a face). However, no one knows its purpose. Maybe something similar to the statues we have.

Interestingly, there was some mention that there may have been Mayan influences with this civilization. There was much more complex pottery here. Much of the art seems similar to Mayan art.

There also seemed to have more artifacts than most mound museums.

Some mounds were midden mounds with shells, bones, and broken tools. There were also burial mounds and ceremonial mounds. Temple Mound is right on the water (Crystal River) with some tremendous views (and very windy).  The river was busy with people enjoying the holiday.

Hey, it’s not all about archeology! This is right around the corner. The funny thing is that it used to be in front of some sort of store as advertising. Now whatever it was is closed and it’s just seems a place to pull over and get a picture taken.