Letchworth Mounds |
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The Letchworth Mounds by nearby Monticella in Florida are, like the Crystal River Mounds, considered a complex because there are several mound structures of varying purposes. The Letchworth Mounds represent the tallest mounds of the period with the tallest one certainly being ceremonial in nature (Mainfort).
Like the other Woodland Period mound structures, the Letchworth complex dates from circa 450AD to approximately 900AD and have yet to be fully examined. The native-American culture supposed to have constructed the Letchworth mounds belonged to the Weeden Island culture which disappeared circa 900AD while other researchers have connected the Letchworth complex with the Ft. Walton period which was later, around 1000-1500AD (Mainworth).
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Regardless, the sites largest mound, one of the largest mounds in existence from any period, measures approximately 300 feet in width by 46-50 feet in height. All told there are, or were 5 mounds but one has been destroyed in the modern era. The culture that populated and constructed the Letchworth Mounds is little known other than the Weeden Island hypothesis. However, most Woodland Period cultures constructed these large mounds for varying purposes from burial to ceremonial but in all instances they occupied a central role in the community life of the population. Additionally, it is supposed that the presence of these mounds and their use in daily life indicated an elite or ruling class.
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Resources & Further Reading:
Milanich, Jerald T. Archaeology of Precolumbian Florida. Gainesville, FL: University of Florida Press, 1994.
Morgan, William N. Pre-Columbian Architecture in Eastern North America. Gainesville, FL: University of Florida Press, 1999.
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