Fort Walton Culture

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Fort Walton Culture was a mound-building Native American culture that flourished near Ft. Walton Beach, Florida in the Southeastern United States from approximately 1100~1550 AD. This culture appeared to come about due to contact with the major Mississippian centers to the north and west. It was the most complex in northwest Florida region. The Fort Walton peoples put in to practice mound building, intensive agriculture, made pottery in a variety of vessel shapes and had a hierarchial settlement patterns that reflected other Mississippian societies.

The Lake Jackson site was the largest known ceremonial center of the Fort Walton culture, however, has its own designation as The Leon-Jefferson Culture due to both Apalachee Fort Walton and Lamar Creek (Eastern Georgian) ceramic traditions. It appears that the Lamar Creek people moved south and assimilated with the Apalachee.

The northwest Florida Region also encompasses the Letchworth Mounds of Jefferson County as well as Tallahassee's Lake Jackson mound. It is generally defined as encompassing the Florida Panhandle east from the Chipola River to the Aucilla River. Frequently, there are cultural differences between the inland groups who relied on the inland resources of what are now Leon and Jefferson counties and those who utilized coastal resources.

Sources:

• Matthew E. Keith, Department of Anthropolgy, Florida State University
• Woodville Karst Plain Project