Suwannee Valley culture

The Suwannee Valley culture is defined as a Late Woodland Southeast period archaeological culture in north Florida, dating from around 750 to European contact. The core area of the culture was found in an area roughly corresponding to present-day Suwannee and southern and central Columbia counties. It was preceded by the McKeithen Weeden Island culture and followed by the Spanish mission period Leon-Jefferson culture.

The Suwannee Valley culture was defined in the 1990s, as excavations revealed a unique ceramic assemblage. The core area of the Suwannee Valley culture was roughly bounded on the north, west and southwest by a great bend in the Suwannee River, and on the south by the Santa Fe River. The Suwannee Valley culture probably included the south bank of the Santa Fe River, in northern Alachua County, Florida, where it bordered the similar Alachua culture. It also extended westwards towards the Aucilla River, beyond which lay the Wakulla (750-950) and Fort Walton (950-Spanish mission period) cultures and eastwards towards the St. Johns culture. To the north, in southern Georgia, was an otherwise undefined culture area characterized by the Carter Complicated Stamped ceramic series.

The Suwannee Valley ceramic assemblage has some elements from the adjacent Wakulla and Alachua cultures, but is distinct from both. The Suwannee Valley culture developed out of the McKeithen culture. While Wakulla ceramics have been found at early Suwannee Valley sites, no evidence has been found of contact between the later Fort Walton culture and the Suwannee Valley culture.

In the early part of the Suwannee Valley culture, settlement patterns became more scattered, with smaller sites, than in the preceding McKeithen Weeden Island culture. A similar pattern occurred in the adjacent Wakulla culture. This change in settlement pattern may be associated with increased cultivation of crops. Later in the Suwannee Valley culture period, in the Island Pond phase, larger settlements, associated with burial mounds, developed.

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