FOUNDATIONS OF THE CADES POND CULTURE IN NORTH-CENTRAL FLORIDA: THE RIVER STYX SITE (8AL458)

The River Styx site was an important Middle Woodland ceremonial center in north-central Florida that included a horseshoe-shaped earthen embankment, a burial mound containing only cremations, and diverse nonlocal artifacts. The site was recorded more than forty years ago but a report was never written. This article presents a summary of excavation results at River Styx and analysis of the pottery assemblage based on archived notes and collections at the Florida Museum of Natural History. From the pottery assemblage, 24 vessel lots, consisting of mostly partially reconstructed vessels, are described in terms of form, surface treatment, and mineralogical constituents characterized by petrographic analysis. The provenance of each vessel is inferred, and more than half of the analyzed assemblage is judged to be nonlocal.