MOUNT ELIZABETH MOUND

Mount Elizabeth Mound was constructed approximately 4,000 years ago during the Late Archaic Period by Florida bands who selected this site for a ceremonial shell midden-mound. It was occupied 4,000-800 years ago by ancient peoples who first subsisted by hunting large land animals, and then later on a diet of smaller animals and shellfish as they established villages and towns along waterways where fresh water was available. The abundant shells that make up a large part of the mound were harvested from the nearby Indian River Lagoon and the Atlantic Ocean. This site is the southernmost evidence of fiber-tempered pottery along Florida’s east coast. After European contact, these and most Florida natives died of disease or war with Creeks, and their British allies. After Florida was transferred from Spanish to British control in 1763, these remaining Native Floridians were given the option of staying in Florida or going to Cuba. They chose to go to Cuba and boarded a ship in Biscayne Bay in the fall of 1763, thus ending the history of a proud people who had lived here for 5,000 years.