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The Safety Harbor culture was an archaeological culture practiced by Native Americans living on the central Gulf coast of the Florida peninsula, from about 900 until after 1700. The Safety Harbor culture is defined by the presence of Safety Harbor ceramics in burial mounds. The culture is named after the Safety Harbor Site, which is close to the center of the culture area. The Safety Harbor Site is the probable location of the chief town of the Tocobaga, the best known of the groups practicing the Safety Harbor culture. The Safety Harbor people were organized into chiefdoms and lived primarily in villages along the shoreline of Tampa Bay and the adjacent Gulf of Mexico coast. The chiefdoms may have consisted of about of shoreline, and extended about inland. Each chiefdom had a principal town or "capital" with a temple mound and central plaza. Fifteen such towns have been identified along the Florida Gulf coast from southern Pasco County to northern Sarasota County, an area that includes all of the Tampa Bay area. Only one principal town has been found inland. Descriptions of the villages by Spanish visitors mostly agree with archaeological reconstructions. "Capitals" had a central rectangular plaza. A truncated pyramidal mound up to high and up to long on each side at the base stood on one side of the plaza . One or more buildings stood on top of the mound, and a ramp ran from the top of the mound to the plaza. A burial mound would be located off to the side. A shell mound, or midden ran along the shore, and other middens were sometimes located on other sides of the plaza. The plaza itself was kept clear of debris. The more important residents of the town had their houses around the plaza, while the lower class lived in huts further from the plaza. The Spanish reported that the chief and his family lived on the main mound, and that a "temple" (probably a charnel house) stood on the opposite side of the plaza. Archaeological excavations suggest that the charnel houses were on the mounds. Village sites without mounds and isolated burial mounds are also known.〔Bullen: 50-1, 53-4〕〔Milanich 1998: 103, 105〕 ==Geography and time span== The Safety Harbor culture area extended along the central Gulf coast of Florida. Bullen described it as running from Tarpon Springs to Sarasota, with some evidence that it reached the Aucilla River to the north and Charlotte Harbor to the south. Mitchem limited the northern extent of the culture area to the Withlacoochee River, but included the coast south into Collier County, and east into eastern Polk County. Milanich defines the culture area as the coast from the Withlacoochee River to Charlotte Harbor, placing the area from Charlotte Harbor to Collier County in the Caloosahatchee culture. The heart of the culture area was around Tampa Bay, what Mitchem and Milanich call "Circum-Tampa Bay". This area included all of what is now Hillsborough and Pinellas counties, southern Pasco County, and northern Manatee County. To the north the area between the Withlacooche River and the Gulf coast, including Citrus County, Hernando County and northern Pasco County, formed the "Northern Safety Harbor" area. South of Tampa Bay southern Manatee County, Sarasota County and northern Charlotte County comprised the "Manasota Safety Harbor" (Mitchem) or "South-Central Safety Harbor" (Milanich) area ("Manasota" is also the name given the Weedon Island-related culture that preceded the Safety Harbor culture in most of its area). DeSoto County, Hardee County and most of Polk County were part of the "Inland Safety Harbor" area. Mitchem called his regional variant south of Charlotte Harbor (southern Charlotte County, Lee County and western Collier County) "South Florida".〔Bullen: 50〕〔Milanich 1994: 392-401〕〔Mitchem: 568, 569〕 Safety Harbor ceramics are found in burial mounds in the Caloosahatchee culture area (Mitchem's South Florida Safety Harbor). Milanich ascribes the presence of such objects to trade, but states that future work may clarify the relationship of the Safety Harbor and Caloosahatchee cultures. Luer and Almy note that temple mounds south of Charlotte Harbor differ significantly from Safety Harbor temple mounds in form. Luer has also argued that other materials found in burial mounds south of Charlotte Harbor belong to a south Florida, or "Glades Cult", artifact complex. Luer also argues that the presence of Mississippian culture and St. Johns culture artifacts in burial mounds shows that such articles, along with Safety Harbor objects, were traded into the area.〔〔Milanich 1994: 390-391〕 The Safety Harbor culture developed in-place from the Manasota culture, a Weeden Island-related culture of the central Florida Gulf coast. Safety Harbor was influenced by the Mississippian culture, with some ceramics resembling the Mississippian-related Fort Walton culture and incorporating symbols of the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex, but the people of the Safety Harbor culture had not adopted an agricultural economy, and consequently, the culture did not become Mississippian. Safety Harbor mounds generally built on late Weeden Island period mounds.〔Milanich 1994: 389, 409, 412〕〔Milanich 1998: 105〕 Changes in decorated ceramics and the presence of European artifacts support a division of the Safety Harbor culture into four phases. Pre-contact phases were the Englewood, 900-1100 and the Pinellas, 1100-1500. Phases during the Spanish colonial period included Tatham, 1500-1567, and Bayview, 1567-1725.〔Milanich 1994: 389〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Safety Harbor culture」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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