Florida Historical Markers Programs - Marker Detail

Description: Side One: This earthen mound pays tribute to the ancestors of the Timucua Indians who lived and established villages near lakes and other sources of fresh water in north central Florida. Around 950 CE, following millenia of occupation by Native American peoples near Lake Alice, the ancestors of the Timucua marked this location as sacred with the initiation of a cemetery. They buried several individuals in a central grave and then constructed a small earthen mound over them. Over the years, additional burials were laid on the mound surface and covered with earth, especially on the southeastern side, resulting in an oval-shaped footprint. In 1881, assistant Gainesville Postmaster James Bell began conducting a limited amateur excavation, but found no evidence of burials. In 1976, a more thorough scientific excavation was conducted by University of Florida archaeologists and students that confirmed that the site had been used for burial purposes. The mound is estimated to have been around 50’ in diameter and about 6’ high prior to disturbance by plowing and early excavations. The site was protected within the Law School Woods conservation area. This burial mound is sacred to Native peoples and protected under State law. Side Two: Although this mound ceased to be used for burial purposes, indigenous people continued to live in this area. They are known to those who came after them as the Timucua. Scholars refer to those Timucua who lived in this part of North Florida when Europeans arrived in the 16th Century under the subdivision Potano, named for the Spanish mission San Francisco de Potano established about 10 miles north of here in 1606. Our knowledge about the Timucua comes from archaeological sites like this one and from historical records from the Spanish Colonial period. The descendants of the people buried here were probably part of the system of Catholic missions throughout this region. Untold numbers of Timucua people died from war, forced labor, and disease during the 17th and 18th centuries. This marker is intended honor to the memory of the first people of Alachua County, using the following words from the Timucuan language: Naebahiono manta nahiabotanicano - We remember them with compassion.