A thousand years ago, Native Americans lived at Crystal River and used a natural lagoon at this spot as a canoe landing and as an entrance to their bustling village and ceremonial space. They also fished the river and estuary to help sustain their community, and artifacts such as bone fish hooks and gorges show how they used the environment. In modern times, a landowner filled in the lagoon with shells and soil bulldozed from Mound A and the nearby midden, and after the State of Florida acquired the Crystal River site in 1964, further loss of the mound was prevented.