Two stone stelae at the Crystal River site, Florida, are in similar alignment with two temple mounds. One stela has an incised human head, ceremonial caches, and a radiocarbon date of about A.D. 440. The stelae, their spatial relationships, and the ceremonial deposits are evidence of influences from southeastern Mexico.
The Crystal River site, on the west coast of Florida about 65 miles north of Tampa, presents one of the many unsolved problems of Florida archaeology. Included in the site is a curving shell ridge, shaped like a fishhook with a temple mound where the barb of the hook would be, a large sand or sand and shell burial mound surrounded by a platform to the north, another temple mound further to the north, and a large deposit of shell to the northwest (Moore, 1903, Fig. 16). Obviously, this is a large and complicated site. Practically the only archaeological work done at Crystal River is that of Moore who, during his three visits, dug all the burial mound and part of its surrounding platform (Moore, 1903; 1907; 1918). Moore did no work in the shell midden or temple mounds and our knowledge of the site is limited to its burial complex.
Recent work in the mountains of Honduras has disclosed four ceramic and ten preceramic sites all between altitudes of 5000 and 6500 feet. Fluted stemmed points, medium-sized scrapers, and very small side scrapers link the preceramic sites to late Paleo-Indian or early Archaic times. Stonework from the ceramic sites is typologically different. Migration routes at these altitudes are suggested.
Five new radiocarbon dates from an Archaic midden at the Palmer site on the Florida Gulf coast confirm the previous estimate of 2000 B.C. for the beginning of pottery making in the Southeast. Correlations over hundreds of miles give extremely close results between archaeological subperiods and radiocarbon dates.
Survey and tests in Grenada indicate three major ceramic periods. The first, A.D. 0-700, is a typical Caribbean extension of the Saladoid-Barrancoid tradition of Venezuela. The second is represented by burnished, red-painted pottery with rim points and horns associated with black-and-red-painted cazuelas. A thick, crude ware which frequently exhibits deeply scratched surfaces characterizes the third. A late phase with finger-indented rims is associated with historic materials. These ceramic traditions are correlated with the pre-Arawak, Arawak, and Carib Indians.
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