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54-668: The Yustaga were closely associated with the Northern Utina people living on the other side of the Suwannee River, though they appear to have spoken a different dialect of the Timucua language , perhaps Potano . The Yustaga were among the first Timucua to encounter Europeans, as their location near the Apalachee ensured that several explorers passed through their territory looking for that group. After decades of resistance they were brought into

108-482: A 200-year period. Some of the terraces and aprons on the mound seem to have been added to stop slumping of the enormous mound. Although the mounds were primarily meant as substructure mounds for buildings or activities, sometimes burials did occur there. Intrusive burials occurred when a grave was dug into a mound and the body or a bundle of defleshed, disarticulated bones was deposited into it. Mound C at Etowah has been found to have more than 100 intrusive burials into

162-682: A derivative culture emerged among the peoples of the Suwannee River Valley, the groups later designated as the Yustaga and Northern Utina. This culture, known as the Suwannee Valley culture, is particularly distinguished by its ceramics , and was still extant at the time of European contact. As a Weedon Island derivative, it is closely related to the Alachua culture of the Potano , a Timucua group of what

216-700: A derivative culture emerged in the Suwannee Valley area, known as the Suwannee Valley culture. This culture was common to all the Suwannee Valley peoples (the Northern Utina and the Yustaga), and as a Weedon Island derivative was closely related to the Alachua culture of the Potano . It is particularly distinguished by its ceramics . Archaeological evidence suggests that the Northern Utina lived in small community groups, perhaps representing localized chiefdoms , separated from each other by considerable distances. John E. Worth suggests that these may have been organized into

270-527: A dialect of the Timucua language known as "Timucua proper". They appear to have been closely associated with the Yustaga people, who lived on the other side of the Suwannee. The Northern Utina represented one of the most powerful tribal units in the region in the 16th and 17th centuries, and may have been organized as a loose chiefdom or confederation of smaller chiefdoms. The Fig Springs archaeological site may be

324-518: A larger regional chiefdom that was continuous from at least the early days of European contact through the 17th century. Early European accounts record certain chiefs as paramount over others, while during the 17th-century towns in the Timucua Province were missionized evidently based on their preeminence. This may be evidence of a continuous regional chiefdom, but Worth notes it must have been much looser than more integrated Timucua chiefdoms such as

378-449: A level of regional disunity, and no large-scale monuments such as platform mounds , often signs of integrated regional chiefdoms, have been discovered in Yustaga territory. The Yustaga appear to have encountered the expedition of Pánfilo de Narváez when it came through the area in 1528. Expedition survivor Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca records a meeting with a great chief named Dulchanchellin, who lived east of Apalachee and may have been

432-434: A loose regional chiefdom that was continuous from at least the early period of European contact. In this arrangement, the head of the most important town, Cotocochuni or Potohiriba, would have been paramount chief over all others. Possible evidence for this lies in the fact that later Spanish lists of Yustaga chiefs consistently name them in order of the prominence of their towns, with Potohiriba invariably first. Additionally,

486-431: A new layer of fill added, along with a new structure on the now higher summit. Sometimes the surface of the mounds would get a several inches thick coat of brightly colored clay. These layers also incorporated layers of different kinds of clay, soil and sod, an elaborate engineering technique to forestall slumping of the mounds and to ensure their steep sides did not collapse. This pattern could be repeated many times during

540-577: A team, and that large crowds would gather to watch the games. While the Apalachee yielded to missionary pressure and stopped playing the game in 1677, the Yustaga refused to do so, insisting that their version of the game did not have the moral problems of the Apalachee version. The game continued to be played by the Yustaga into the 1680s. The Western Timucua groups, the Potano, Northern Utina and Yustaga, rebelled against Spanish authority in 1656. Lúcas Menéndez, chief of San Martín de Ayacutu, and paramount chief of

594-659: A thousand years, starting in the Archaic period and continuing through the Woodland period . Many different archaeological cultures ( Poverty Point culture , Troyville culture , Coles Creek culture , Plaquemine culture and Mississippian culture ) of North Americas Eastern Woodlands are specifically well known for using platform mounds as a central aspect of their overarching religious practices and beliefs. These platform mounds are usually four-sided truncated pyramids , steeply sided, with steps built of wooden logs ascending one side of

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648-538: Is a scholarly convention; it was never used by the people themselves or by their Spanish or Indian contemporaries. It is unclear what the people themselves called themselves, if they had a general name for themselves at all. The Spanish in the 17th century knew them as the Timucua and referred to the region in which they lived as the Timucua Province . Their dialect was known as Timucua (now usually called "Timucua proper"). Over time smaller provinces were joined into

702-550: Is in the accounts of Hernando de Soto 's expedition, which passed through their territory in 1539. These accounts indicate that the Northern Utina were more populous than any other tribe De Soto had yet encountered, and lived in distinct villages that were subordinate to a chief named Aguacaleycuen. Aguacaleycuen's main village was located on the Ichetucknee River , perhaps at the Fig Springs archaeological site . Aguacaleycuen

756-459: Is now Alachua County . The dialect spoken by the Yustaga is unclear, as the tribe had not been missionized at the time Father Francisco Pareja , the principal source for the Timucua language and its dialects, undertook his linguistic work between 1612 and 1627. However, a 1651 letter written by the Yustaga chief Manuel to the Spanish crown survives in the Spanish archives. The language of the letter

810-553: Is probably a variant of "Yustaga", and to the east of the Apalachee . However, they believed he lived near high mountains (the Appalachian Mountains , which early Europeans believed extended to Apalachee territory). The French believed Onatheaqua to be very wealthy and to have controlled access to the mountains and the strange and valuable things located there. The Northern Utina received a number of Spanish emissaries following

864-518: Is very similar to that in sources from the Potano tribe of present-day Alachua County, leading scholars such as the linguist Julian Granberry to conclude the Yustaga spoke the Potano dialect noted by Pareja. Archaeological evidence suggests that the Yustaga, like the Northern Utina, lived in distinct groups of villages, probably representing small-scale local chiefdoms . Around eight such community groups were known in historical times. Anthropologist John Worth suggests these might have been organized into

918-599: The Creek and Yamasee allied to the English colonies to the north. As a result surviving Northern Utina migrated closer to St. Augustine where they merged with other Timucua peoples, and were removed to Cuba in 1763. Platform mound A platform mound is any earthwork or mound intended to support a structure or activity. It typically refers to a flat-topped mound, whose sides may be pyramidal. The indigenous peoples of North America built substructure mounds for well over

972-664: The Florida Panhandle . To the south and southeast of the Northern Utina, on the other side of the Santa Fe River, were the Potano , another Timucua group. Other Timucua speakers lived to the north in Georgia, including the Arapaha . Far to the east were the eastern Timucua groups, including the Saturiwa and the (eastern) Utina. The area occupied by the Northern Utina (and the Yustaga) at

1026-603: The Northern Utina . The Northern Utina were closely associated with the Yustaga, but spoke a different dialect, known as Timucua proper. To the west of the Yustaga was a region known as the Apalachee Province , inhabited by the Apalachee and other peoples. The Yustaga region had been inhabited for thousands of years. During the first millennium AD its inhabitants participated in the Weedon Island culture , which spread across much of western Florida and beyond. From about 900

1080-477: The Spanish mission system in the 1620s. Like all Timucua groups, they experienced significant demographic decline in the period of European contact, especially following raids by English -allied Indians from the north. Surviving Yustaga eventually moved closer to the Spanish capital of St. Augustine and mingled with other missionized Indians, losing their independent identity. The westernmost of all Timucua groups,

1134-563: The earthworks . When Europeans first arrived in North America, the peoples of the Mississippian culture were still using and building platform mounds. Documented uses for Mississippian platform mounds include semi-public chief 's house platforms, public temple platforms, mortuary platforms, charnel house platforms, earth lodge /town house platforms, residence platforms, square ground and rotunda platforms, and dance platforms. Many of

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1188-524: The 1565 establishment of St. Augustine , but they consistently rejected all Spanish overtures for several decades. Then in 1597, as part of a renewed wave of missionary effort, the Spanish sent the Timucua Christian leader Juan de Junco to the Northern Utina cacique mayor (head chief), probably at the town of Ayacuto at the Figs Springs site. Alone among the other missionaries sent out that year, Juan

1242-522: The 16th century; these people were known as the Agua Dulce (Freshwater) to the Spanish in the 17th century. The conflation comes from the fact that the Utina were known to their enemies as Thimogona , which may be the origin of the name "Timucua". However, the 16th-century Utina were not particularly closely related to the people of the Timucua Province. Modern use of the term "Utina" has caused confusion between

1296-563: The 16th-century Utina chiefdom and the "Timucua proper"; as such scholars Jerald Milanich and Ken Johnson have suggested classing the two groups as eastern Utina and Northern Utina, respectively. The Northern Utina lived in a region spreading roughly from the Suwannee River in the west to the St. Johns River in the east, and from the Santa Fe River northward into southern Georgia . However,

1350-547: The Apalachee Province). French soldiers visited the Yustaga on two occasions, exchanging gifts with the chief and sojourning among his people for several months. The French reports credited Houstaqua with 3000 to 4000 warriors. The Spanish, who displaced the French from Florida in 1565, established a system of missions to convert the natives to Christianity . Unlike most Timucua groups, who generally requested missionaries from

1404-444: The Apalachee. Instead, they led the Spanish into an ambush. De Soto ultimately prevailed and subsequently executed Aguacaleycuen and other hostages, but by the time he got into Yustaga, the villages had already been evacuated. De Soto and his men reached the town of Uzachile on 25 September, and stayed there for four days. One chronicler stated that there were 200 houses in the town, with plenty of maize, beans and pumpkins. Sources from

1458-596: The French Huguenot settlement of Fort Caroline , established in 1564, record a chief named "Houstaqua", whose name is probably a variant of Yustaga. The French understood that Houstaqua and his neighbor, Onatheaqua (probably a chief of the Northern Utina), lived to the east of the Apalachee. However, they thought they lived near gold-bearing mountains (the Appalachian Mountains , which the Europeans thought extended into

1512-523: The Northern Utina increased considerably as smaller peripheral provinces were incorporated into the Timucua Province, which eventually included all of northern Florida between approximately the Aucilla and St. Johns Rivers . However, the tribe experienced significant demographic decline during the same period due to disease and other factors. They took the forefront in the Timucua Rebellion of 1656. This

1566-409: The Northern Utina increased substantially as smaller provinces were merged into Timucua Province, and San Martín became the principal mission and town for an increasingly wide area. However, they suffered considerable demographic decline from the epidemics that spread through Florida through the 17th century. Under the principal chief of Ayacuto Lúcas Menéndez, the Northern Utina were at the forefront of

1620-676: The Northern Utina, and Diego, chief of Potohiriba, and most powerful of the Yustaga chiefs, led the revolt. Potohiriba was the principal meeting place for the rebels. The rebels killed several Spaniards, a Mexican and some African slaves, but no missionaries. The chiefs of Machaba and Potohiriba were among the rebel leaders captured by the Spanish, and were executed for their roles in the rebellion. Four missions are known to have been still in use in 1688: Mission San Pedro y San Pablo de Potohiriba, Santa Elena de Machaba, San Miguel de Asile and San Matheo de Tolapatafi (San Miguel de Asile may have been an Apalachee mission). There were 330 families living at

1674-429: The Spanish built a mission at Potohiriba before any other Yustaga town, despite its comparatively remote location, suggesting it was already a center of considerable regional importance. Even still, Worth notes the regional Yustaga chiefdom would have been much less integrated than certain eastern Timucua chiefdoms such as the Saturiwa and (eastern) Utina . Ceramic dating may vary from community to community, suggesting

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1728-471: The Spanish into an ambush. After a battle, De Soto executed Aguacaleycuen and other hostages and moved into Uzachile's territory, which he found already evacuated. In 1564 the French settlers of Fort Caroline heard of a powerful chief in this area named Onatheaqua. Though details are limited, this Onatheaqua may have ruled the Northern Utina chiefdom led earlier by Aguacaleycuen. The French understood his chiefdom to be near that of Chief Houstaqua, whose name

1782-415: The Spanish of their own volition, the Yustaga actively resisted Spanish missionary efforts. Spanish records indicate that the paramount chief of the Yustaga consistently refused to allow missionaries to even enter his territory until the 1620s, over twenty years after missionization had begun among the Northern Utina and other interior groups. Around 1623 the chief of Cotocochuni, probably the main village of

1836-471: The Timucua Province, and the name "Timucua" was applied to an increasingly wide area of northern Florida. In the 20th century, when the name Timucua came to designate all the groups who spoke the Timucuan language , scholars began to substitute the term Utina for what the Spanish had known as the Timucua Province. Utina originally designated a different tribe who lived along the middle St. Johns River in

1890-502: The Timucua Rebellion of 1656, in which they, together with the Yustaga and Potano , revolted against the Spanish colonial government. After the Spanish put down the rebellion the Northern Utina were forcibly relocated to a series of new towns along the Camino Real or Royal Road from Apalachee Province to St. Augustine. This caused a severe breakdown in the social structure, and the Northern Utina were largely defenseless against raids by

1944-492: The Yustaga Province was by far the most populous, having an estimated 12,000 inhabitants, compared to only 7,500 in the Timucua Province , which at that time included the Northern Utina as well as the Potano and other groups. The Yustaga played what is often called the " Apalachee ball game ." A missionary wrote an account of the Yustaga ball game in 1630. He indicated that the game was played with 50 or even 100 players on

1998-425: The Yustaga regional chiefdom, finally consented to two friars entering his territory, though he forbade his subjects from getting baptized or providing the missionaries with food. Eventually, however, both the chief and his daughter converted to Christianity, and the conversion of the Yustaga proceeded quickly thereafter. Mission San Pedro de Potohiriba was established at Cotocochuni, and over time missions were built at

2052-417: The Yustaga's territory extended into the Florida Panhandle and southwestern Georgia . They lived in the western Suwannee River valley, roughly between the Aucilla and Suwannee Rivers (present-day Madison and Taylor Counties ). On the east side of the Suwannee, inhabiting a territory spanning roughly to the St. Johns River in the east and the Santa Fe River in the south, lived another Timucua people,

2106-470: The eastern Utina , the Saturiwa , or the Potano . Large-scale monuments such as platform mounds , often signs of integrated regional chiefdoms, have not been found in Northern Utina territory, and ceramic dating may vary from community to community, suggesting disunity. The Northern Utina probably encountered the survivors of the Narváez expedition in 1528, but the earliest definite historical record of them

2160-439: The final layer of the mound, with many grave goods added, such as Mississippian copper plates ( Etowah plates ), monolithic stone axes, ceremonial pottery and carved whelk shell gorgets . Also interred in this mound was a paired set of white marble Mississippian stone statues . A long-standing interpretation of Mississippian mounds comes from Vernon James Knight , who stated that the Mississippian platform mounds were one of

2214-454: The four missions in 1689. Raids by English colonists in the Province of Carolina and their native allies in 1704 and the years following destroyed the missions in Yustaga. Northern Utina The Northern Utina , also known as the Timucua or simply Utina , were a Timucua people of northern Florida . They lived north of the Santa Fe River and east of the Suwannee River , and spoke

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2268-668: The later Northern Utina. Uzachile may have been paramount over the various chiefdoms of more or less equal status on both sides of the river. They may have been in a defensive alliance against the Apalachees , the Utina (of the St. Johns River valley) and the Potano . Upon reaching Aguacaleycuen's village, De Soto captured the chief, as was his usual practice, intending to release him upon his party's safe arrival at Uzachile's village. Thereafter some chiefs approached de Soto and offered to take him to Uzachile, who they said sought an alliance against

2322-565: The life of a site. The large amounts of fill needed for the mounds left large holes in the landscape now known by archaeologists as " borrow pits ". These pits were sometimes left to fill with water and stocked with fish. Some mounds were developed with separate levels (or terraces) and aprons, such as Emerald Mound , which is one large terrace with two smaller mounds on its summit; or Monks Mound , which has four separate levels and stands close to 100 feet (30 m) in height. Monks Mound had at least ten separate periods of mound construction over

2376-511: The main centers of the population were in the eastern Suwannee River valley. On the other side of the Suwannee, living between it and the Aucilla River (present-day Madison and Taylor Counties ), were another western Timucua group, the Yustaga . The Yustaga were closely related to the Northern Utina, but appear to have spoken a different dialect, perhaps Potano. Beyond the Yustaga were the non-Timucuan Apalachee , who lived throughout much of

2430-404: The main villages of the other local chiefdoms. This project, which established Yustaga as a province of the Spanish mission system, was the most significant of its kind in the early 17th century. Having much less frequent contact with the Europeans and the diseases they introduced, the Yustaga maintained stable population levels later than any other Timucua group. At the start of the mission period

2484-532: The mounds were the result of multiple episodes of mound construction, with the mound becoming larger with each event. The site of a mound was usually a site with special significance, either a pre-existing mortuary site or civic structure. This site was covered with a layer of basket-transported soil and clay known as mound fill, and a new structure constructed on its summit. At periodic intervals, averaged about twenty years, these structures would be removed, possibly ritually destroyed as part of renewal ceremonies, and

2538-432: The predecessor to the later Yustaga paramount chiefs. However, the name "Yustaga" first appears in the chronicles of Hernando de Soto 's 1539 expedition, which describe it as the region immediately east of Apalachee. In de Soto's time the chiefdom was ruled by a chief named Uzachile, who was allied with (and possibly related to) the paramount chief on the other side of the Suwannee, Aguacaleycuen, whose domain corresponds to

2592-410: The remains of their principal village, Ayacuto , and the later Spanish mission of San Martín de Timucua . The Northern Utina had sporadic contact with the Europeans beginning in the first half of the 16th century. In 1539 Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto passed through the Northern Utina region, where he captured and subsequently executed Aguacaleycuen, who may have been the principal chief at

2646-537: The three "sacra", or objects of sacred display, of the Mississippian religion – also see Earth/fertility cult and Southeastern Ceremonial Complex . He based his theory on analogy to ethnographic and historic data on related Native American tribal groups in the Southeastern United States. Knight suggests a microcosmic ritual organization based around a "native earth" autochthony , agriculture, fertility, and purification scheme, in which mounds and

2700-489: The time of European contact corresponds to the area of the Suwannee Valley culture . Suwannee Valley ceramics were displaced by Leon Jefferson ceramics during the Spanish mission period (the 17th century). The area has been inhabited for thousands of years. In the first millennium AD the region's inhabitants participated in the Weedon Island culture , which spread across much of western Florida and beyond. From about 900

2754-462: The time. Later French sources note a powerful chief in the area named Onatheaqua, who may have been a successor to Aguacaleycuen. After several decades of resistance the Northern Utina became part of the Spanish mission system in Florida in 1597. Their territory was organized as the Timucua Province , and San Martín de Timucua and three other missions were established between 1608 and 1616. The profile of

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2808-424: Was allied with (and possibly related to) another chief on the other side of the Suwannee River, Uzachile, whose chiefdom may correspond with the later Yustaga chiefdom. Upon reaching Aguacaleycuen's village De Soto captured the chief, as was his custom, intending to release him once his party had safely reached Uzachile. Subsequently some subordinate chiefs, asserting that Uzachile sought an alliance with De Soto, led

2862-581: Was put down by the Spanish, who razed their villages and relocated the populace to a series of new communities along the Camino Real or Royal Road running between the Apalachee Province and St. Augustine . In this reduced position the Northern Utina were largely powerless against raids by northern tribes allied with the English settlers such as the Creek and Yamasee , and suffered further from epidemics. They eventually moved closer to St. Augustine and mingled with other Timucua groups, losing their independent identity. The name "Northern Utina" for these people

2916-491: Was successful, and convinced the chief to send emissaries to St. Augustine to negotiate peace. The Northern Utina rendered obedience to the Spanish crown, and the Spanish dispatched a friar to the main village of Ayacuto, where the important Mission San Martín de Timucua was established in 1608. Over the next eight years at least three more missions were established in Northern Utina territory: Santa Fé de Toloca , Santa Cruz de Tarihica, and San Juan de Guacara. The profile of

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