Velda Mound

Velda Mound Archaeological Site 8 LE 44
Velda Mound Archaeological Site 8 LE 44
Location
Coordinates	30°30′4.39″N 84°13′19.78″W / 30.5012194°N 84.2221611°W / 30.5012194; -84.2221611
Country	USA
Region	Leon County, Florida
Nearest town	Tallahassee, Florida
History
Culture	Fort Walton Culture, Apalachee
First occupied	1450
Abandoned	1625
Excavation and maintenance
Responsible body	State of Florida
Dates excavated	1970s, 1980s
Architecture
Architectural styles	platform mound

Velda Mound (8LE44) is a Native American archaeological site located in northern Tallahassee, Leon County, Florida, United States. The site was first occupied by peoples of the Fort Walton Culture (a regional variation of the Mississippian culture)^[1] in the late prehistoric period and during the protohistoric period was part of the extensive Apalachee Province of the panhandle. The site is now owned by the State of Florida and managed as a park.

History and use

Velda Mound was built in approximately 1450 by Fort Walton peoples and occupied by their descendants the Apalachee until about 1625.^[2][3] The Spanish explorers called this area Apalachee Province in recognition of the tribe's power, a territory which also included the Lake Jackson Mounds and major center of Anhaica. The platform mound is believed to have served as a residence for a village leader, with a village surrounding the mound. The village inhabitants cultivated vegetables in small family plots and farmed large communal farming fields in the area around the village.^[3] They cultivated numerous varieties of maize, beans and squash.

Velda Mound was abandoned by indigenous peoples by the beginning of the Spanish Mission Period (ca. 1565). This was most likely the result of their depleting nearby natural resources, such as trees for building homes and for firewood. The soil may have become depleted as well. The people would move to new lands which were more fertile, and allow older areas to recover. No evidence exists showing occupation of the mound by the later Spanish or British colonists.

During the 1950s, the large Velda Dairy operation was developed in much of northern Leon County. Their property for cows and pastureland included the Velda Mound. Looters searching for artifacts dug into the mound and damaged it by disturbing the interior and altering the structure.

The dairy property was later sold for redevelopment as residences. The mound has since been repaired and is now owned by the state. The mound is located in the Arbor Hill neighborhood within the sub-division of Killearn Estates.

See also

• Leon-Jefferson culture

References

v t e Mississippian and related cultures List of Mississippian sites Mound builder (people) Timeline of Mississippi valley Middle Mississippian American Bottom and Upper Mississippi Aztalan Big Eddy Cahokia Monks Mound Mound 34 Mound 72 Woodhenge Cloverdale Dickson Mounds Emmons Cemetery John Roy Kuhn Station Mitchell Orendorf Sugarloaf Mound Steed-Kisker culture Lower Ohio River and Confluence area Adams Dogtooth Bend Kincaid Mounds Marshall Millstone Bluff Orr-Herl Rowlandton Mound Towosahgy Turk Twin Mounds Ware Wickliffe Mounds Middle Ohio River Angel Mounds Angel Phase Annis Mound Bone Bank Caborn-Welborn culture Ellerbusch Hovey Lake-Klein Hovey Lake District Murphy Prather Slack Farm Tolu Welborn Village Yankeetown Tennessee and Cumberland Backusburg Beasley Mounds Brentwood Library Brick Church Castalian Springs Dunbar Cave Fewkes Group Mound Bottom Riverview Mounds Archaeological Site Sellars Indian Mound Obion Mounds Old Town Swallow Bluff Island Mounds Central and Lower Mississippi Belle Meade Phase Boyd Mounds Campbell Chucalissa Eaker Menard-Hodges Murphy Mound Parkin Nodena Phase Nodena Site Tipton Phase Tunica Walls Phase South Appalachian Mississippian Avery Beaverdam Creek Bell Field Mound Bessemer Bussell Island Chauga Mound Chiaha Chota Citico Coosa chiefdom Dallas Phase Dyar Etowah Mounds Garden Creek Hoojah Branch Irene Jere Shine Joara Joe Bell King Lamar Lamar Phase Liddell Little Egypt Long Swamp Site Mabila Mandeville McMahan Moccasin Bend Moundville Mouse Creek Phase Mulberry Muscogee (Creek) Nacoochee Mound Nikwasi Ocmulgee Park Mound Pisgah Phase Punk Rock Shelter Rembert Mounds Roods Landing Rucker's Bottom Savannah Shiloh Sixtoe Mound Summerour Toqua Town Creek Indian Mound Waddells Mill Pond Wilbanks Fort Walton culture Anhaica Apalachee Apalachee Province Cayson Corbin-Tucker Fort Walton Mound Lake Jackson Mounds Leon-Jefferson Culture Letchworth Mounds Velda Mound Yon Pensacola culture Bottle Creek Indian Mounds Dauphin Island Fort Walton Mound Hickory Ridge Cemetery Naval Live Oaks Cemetery Pensacola people Plaquemine Mississippian Anna Emerald Mound Fitzhugh Mounds Flowery Mound Foster's Mound Ghost Site Mounds Grand Village of the Natchez Holly Bluff Jaketown Jordan Mounds Julice Mound Mangum Mazique Medora Mott Mounds Natchez Pocahontas Mounds Routh Mounds Scott Place Mounds Sims Taensa Transylvania Mounds Venable Mound Winterville Caddoan Mississippian Battle Mound Belcher Mound Bluffton Mound Caddo Caddoan Mounds Gahagan Mounds Ka-Do-Ha Indian Village Spiro Mounds Upper Mississippian cultures Oneota Beattie Park Mound Group Blood Run Hartley Fort State Preserve Roche-a-Cri Petroglyphs Fort Ancient culture Alligator Effigy Mound Clover Dodge Leo Petroglyph Serpent Mound SunWatch Indian Village Culture Artwork Emmons mask Long-nosed god maskette Mississippian copper plates Rogan plates Spiro plates Wulfing cache Mississippian culture pottery Mississippian stone statuary Shell gorget Languages Caddoan languages Central Algonquian languages Cherokee language Mobilian Jargon Muskogean languages Natchez language Siouan languages Timucua language Tunica language Yuchi language Religion Ballgame Black drink Calumet (pipe) Chunkey Earth/fertility cult Green Corn Ceremony Horned Serpent Platform mound Southeastern Ceremonial Complex Stone box grave Thunderbird Underwater panther Related topics Chevron bead Clarksdale bell Maize Mill Creek chert de Soto Expedition

v t e Pre-Columbian North America Periods Lithic Archaic Formative Classic Post-Classic Archaeological cultures Adena Alachua Ancient Pueblo (Anasazi) Baytown Belle Glade Buttermilk Creek Complex Caborn-Welborn Calf Creek Caloosahatchee Clovis Coles Creek Deptford Folsom Fort Ancient Fort Walton Fremont Glades Glacial Kame Hopewell List of Hopewell sites Hohokam Leon-Jefferson Mississippian List of Mississippian sites Mogollon Monongahela Old Cordilleran Oneota Paleo-Arctic Paleo-Indians Patayan Plano Plaquemine Poverty Point Prehistoric Southwest Red Ocher Santa Rosa-Swift Creek St. Johns Steed-Kisker Tchefuncte Tocobaga Troyville Archaeological sites Angel Mounds Bandelier National Monument The Bluff Point Stoneworks Cahokia Chaco Canyon Casa Grande Coso Rock Art District Eaker Effigy Mounds National Monument Etowah Indian Mounds Eva Folsom Site Fort Ancient Fort Center Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument Holly Bluff Site Hopewell Culture National Historical Park Kincaid Mounds Kolomoki Manitou Cliff Dwellings Marksville Meadowcroft Rockshelter Mesa Verde Moorehead Circle Moundville Mummy Cave Nodena Site Ocmulgee National Monument Old Stone Fort Parkin Park Pinson Mounds Portsmouth Earthworks Poverty Point Pueblo Bonito Rock Eagle Rock Hawk Russell Cave National Monument Salmon Ruins Serpent Mound Spiro Mounds SunWatch Taos Pueblo Toltec Mounds Town Creek Indian Mound Winterville Miscellaneous Black drink Buhl Woman Calumet Chunkey Clovis point Container Revolution Eastern Agricultural Complex Eden point Effigy mound Falcon dancer Folsom point Green Corn Ceremony Horned Serpent Kennewick Man Kiva Metallurgy Mi'kmaq hieroglyphic writing Medicine wheel Mound builders N.A.G.P.R.A. Stickball Norse colonization of the Americas Piasa Southeastern Ceremonial Complex Three Sisters agriculture Thunderbird Underwater panther Related Genetic history Indigenous Portal of North America Pre-Columbian era