Archaeological culture practiced by Native Americans living on the central Gulf coast Florida
Map of the approximate area of the Safety Harbor archaeological culture
The Safety Harbor culture was an archaeological culture practiced by Native Americans living on the central Gulf coast of the Florida peninsula, from about 900 CE until after 1700. The Safety Harbor culture is defined by the presence of Safety Harbor ceramics in burial mounds. The culture is named after the Safety Harbor site, located close to the center of the culture area. The Safety Harbor site is the probable location of the chief town of the Tocobaga, the best known of the groups practicing the Safety Harbor culture.
The Safety Harbor people were organized into chiefdoms and lived primarily in villages along the shoreline of Tampa Bay and the adjacent Gulf of Mexico coast. The chiefdoms may have consisted of about 15 mi (24 km) of shoreline, and extended about 20 mi (32 km) inland. Each chiefdom had a principal town or "capital" with a temple mound and central plaza. Fifteen such towns have been identified along the Florida Gulf coast from southern Pasco County to northern Sarasota County, an area that includes all of the Tampa Bay area. Only one principal town has been found inland.
Descriptions of the villages by Spanish visitors mostly agree with archaeological reconstructions. Capitals had a central rectangular plaza. A truncated pyramidal mound up to 20 ft (6.1 m) high and up to 130 ft (40 m) long on each side at the base stood on one side of the plaza. One or more buildings stood on top of the mound, and a ramp ran from the top of the mound to the plaza. A burial mound would be located off to the side. A shell mound, or midden, ran along the shore, and other middens were sometimes located on other sides of the plaza. The plaza itself was kept clear of debris. The more important residents of the town had their houses around the plaza, while the lower class lived in huts further from the plaza. The Spanish reported that the chief and his family resided on the main mound, and that a "temple" (probably a charnel house) stood on the opposite side of the plaza. Archaeological excavations suggest that the charnel houses were on the mounds. Village sites without mounds, and isolated burial mounds, are also known.[1][2]
^Bullen: 50-1, 53-4
^Milanich 1998: 103, 105
and 16 Related for: Safety Harbor culture information
Safety Harbor, Florida, United States. It is the type site for the SafetyHarborculture, and includes the largest remaining mound in the Tampa Bay area...
SafetyHarborculture. From about 300 to 700 the Manasota culture adopted the ceremonial ceramics and burial practices of the Weeden Island cultures of...
Bay were home to the Weedon Island Culture and then the SafetyHarborculture for thousands of years. These cultures relied heavily on Tampa Bay for food...
town is believed to be the archeological SafetyHarbor site. This is the namesake for the SafetyHarborculture, of which the Tocobaga are the most well-known...
(11 km) long north to south. Anna Maria Island was part of the SafetyHarborculture area for many centuries before the arrival of Europeans in Florida...
sixteenth century.. Tampa Bay was the heart of the SafetyHarborculture area. People in the SafetyHarborculture lived in chiefdoms, consisting of a chief town...
Timucua language. The Mocoso of Tampa Bay lived in the area of the SafetyHarborculture. The Mocoso people were among the first inhabitants of Florida encountered...
been related to the Poverty Point culture. The area around Tampa Bay and southwest Florida (from Charlotte Harbor to the Ten Thousand Islands) each had...
from roughly 500 to 1500 and was inhabited by the Deptford and SafetyHarborcultures. Oyster shell middens have been found at the site. On July 3, 1986...
variety of the SafetyHarborculture found in Citrus, Hernando and Pasco counties. Mounds that are consistent with the SafetyHarborculture have been found...
SafetyHarborculture. About 20 sites with temple mounds have been found around Tampa Bay, with several in Pinellas County. Best known of the Safety Harbor...
culture) Late Woodland Southeast (Alachua culture, Suwannee Valley culture) SafetyHarborculture 1492: Christopher Columbus sails in search of a new route to...
Goggin identified tribes and chiefdoms around Tampa Bay (in the SafetyHarborculture area) – including Tocobaga, Uzita, Pohoy, and Mocoso – as Timucua...
the SafetyHarborculture, 1000–1200. Recent[when?] discoveries and theories by Martin Byers concerning the Hopewell culture and Mississippian culture indicate...
of the area afforded development of maritime culture on the island. Peoples of the SafetyHarborculture are credited with the construction of the mounds...
Global Information