Ancient Native peoples lived at Crystal River for more than a thousand years, from around AD 50 to AD 1050, creating a village that was also a place for trade, shared projects, and ceremonies. They built mounds over many generations, shaping the landscape into an enduring community. Most tools and fine crafts were made from local resources, but they also obtained copper and quartz crystals through trade from as far away as present-day Ohio and Michigan, exchanging valuable gulf coast shells. Construction of the Main Burial Complex may have begun before people first lived there, and in the first century AD a small village developed as work on Mound G began. After around AD 200, a large influx of people came to the village, leaving dense artifact layers in the Midden area, and during this phase Mounds H and K were built. During the phase beginning around AD 500, work started on Mound A, the largest mound at Crystal River, while sea level dropped, the climate became colder, and rainfall became less frequent. After around AD 500, people began moving away from Crystal River Village to establish another village at Roberts Island just downstream. After AD 800, Crystal River Village saw very little use, even as climate conditions improved. The people who lived there did not disappear suddenly; some moved across the river to build a new community and mounds, while others likely went to smaller settlements on shell islands closer to the Gulf of Mexico.