Famous Florida Sites: Mt. Royal and Crystal River

by Jerald T. Milanich (Editor)

"Assembles a variety of hard-to-find articles on two important Florida sites. [Milanich’s introduction] provides an updated interpretation of the sites and a context for the classic articles."—Elizabeth D. Benchley, University of West FloridaTwo of the most famous archaeological monuments in the southeastern United States—excavated first a century ago--are in Florida. Both Crystal River (near the Gulf Coast in Citrus County) and Mount Royal (on the St. Johns River just north of Lake George) help shape our appreciation of precolumbian Native American cultures. This volume, written by some of the most notable American archaeologists, presents for the first time the most extensive literature on fieldwork at the sites, including descriptions of the extraordinary artifacts from each.
 In a well-referenced introduction, Jerald Milanich places both monuments in context and addresses the persistent controversies and uncertainties that surround them, answering questions such as when Mount Royal’s large mound was constructed, why an array of copper artifacts was found there, and whether evidence supports the contention that Crystal River was a solar observatory with direct ties to the Maya.Contents
Introduction, by Jerald T. Milanich
MOUNT ROYAL
Mt. Royal, Putnam County [1894], by Clarence B. Moore
Mt. Royal, Putnam County [1894], by Clarence B. Moore
CRYSTAL RIVER
Mound near the Shell-Heap, Crystal River, Florida [1903], by Clarence B. Moore
Crystal River Revisited [1907], by Clarence B. Moore
Aboriginal Site on Crystal River, Florida [1918], by Clarence B. Moore
Negative Painted Pottery from Crystal River, Florida [1944], by Gordon R. Willey and Philip Phillips
The Cultural Context of the Crystal River Negative Painted Style [1948], by Gordon R. Willey
A Prototype for the Southern Cult [1948], by Gordon R. Willey
Crystal River, A 1949 Visit [1949] by Gordon R. Willey
The Enigmatic Crystal River Site [1951], by Ripley P. Bullen
Crystal River Revisited, Revisited, Revisited [1951], by Hale G. Smith
The Famous Crystal River Site [1953], by Ripley P. Bullen
Veracruz, the Crystal River Complex, and the Hopewellian Climax [1964], by Edward V. McMichael
Recent Additional Information [1965], by Ripley P. Bullen
Stelae at the Crystal River Site, Florida [1966], by Ripley P. Bullen
Jerald T. Milanich, curator in archaeology at the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville, is the author of Florida’s Indians from Ancient Times to the Present (UPF, 1998) and nine other books about the Indians of the southeastern United States.

256 pages, Paperback

First published June 6, 1999

About the author

Jerald T. Milanich is an American anthropologist and archaeologist, specializing in Native American culture in Florida. He is Curator Emeritus of Archaeology at the Florida Museum of Natural History at the University of Florida in Gainesville; Adjunct Professor, Department of Anthropology, College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Florida; and Adjunct Professor, Center for Latin American Studies at the University of Florida. Milanich holds a Ph.D in anthropology from the University of Florida.

Milanich has won several awards for his books. Milanich won the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Florida Archaeological Council in 2005 and the Dorothy Dodd Lifetime Achievement Award from the Florida Historical Society in 2013. He was inducted as a Fellow into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2010.

Milanich's research interests include Eastern United States archeology, pre-Columbian Southeastern U.S. native peoples, and colonial period native American-European/Anglo relations in the America. In May 1987 he was cited in a New York Times article:

Milanich is married to anthropologist Maxine Margolis, also a professor at the University of Florida. They are the parents of historian Nara Milanich, who teaches at Columbia University.