A New Look at a Very Old Place
A New Look at a Very Old Place
A Symbolic Analysis of the Mound/Pond Complex, the Fort Center Site, Glades County, Florida
Here is offered a new twist on the traditional view of the mound/pond complex at the Fort Center site (AD 200–800) in the Lake Okeechobee Basin of south Florida by interpreting the site through the lens of a Cherokee creation myth. Although recent work contradicts the elaborate mortuary pond platform proposed by Sears, Sears's original reconstructions are used because they provide the detailed stratigraphic sequences that are the basis for the interpretations. Brief summaries of the components of the mound/pond complex and the construction sequence are first provided. Then the construction sequence is discussed in terms of how it closely corresponds to aspects of the Earth Diver myth as recorded by Mooney for the Cherokee. The mound/pond complex is interpreted as an idealized reconstruction of the cosmos of Southeastern Indians, per Hudson (1976).
Keywords: South Florida, Fort Center site, stratigraphic sequences, construction sequence, Ceremonialism, Cherokee creation myth, Southeastern Indians
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