Big Mound Key-Boggess Ridge Archeological District
Charlotte County, United States
The Big Mound Key-Boggess Ridge Archeological District is a historic site near Placida, Florida. It is located southeast of Placida, on Big Mound Key. On December 3, 1990, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. Big Mound Key is just off the mainland of the southern end of Cape Haze, at the entrance to Charlotte Harbor. The archaeological site on Big Mound Key covers 13.5 acres (5.5 ha), and includes four 20-foot (6.1 m) tall mounds arranged in a rectangle, linear ridges, and possible canals. The mounds and ridges consist primarily of conch shells. A radiocarbon date of about 2000 years old has been obtained from near the base of the trenched mound. Most radiocarbon dates and ceramics are from the Weeden Island culture period, about 400 to 900. The mound was the site of a village, possibly the seat of a large chiefdom, serving as an intermediate trade point between the Manasota people of the Tampa Bay area and the Calusa people to the south. There is evidence that the chief lived at the top of one of the mounds. Despite the site's significance, there has yet to be an extensive excavation and publishing of the findings. The first survey reported was by John Goggin and his students in the early 1950s and later by Bullen & Bullen in 1956. The ceramics taken from the site were consistent with the Glades Period, plain, sand-tempered types found throughout the
Archaeological site data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).