From 800 AD to 1500 AD, and perhaps earlier, the areas before and around this place were home to Amerindians. By discarding food remains of shell and bone, along with broken pottery and tools, near their palm-thatched huts, they created mounds called shell middens. Using this village debris as fill, they built a large central temple mound that served as the foundation for the houses of their leaders and as a stage for religious ceremonies watched from the plaza below by assembled villagers. For unknown reasons, the ritual buildings were regularly burned or torn down, then the people covered the mound with another layer of shell midden, topped it with a cap of earth, and erected new buildings, causing the temple mound to grow in size and elevation. Other mounds in the complex also appear to have been intentionally formed into particular shapes, though the reason for their construction is unknown. Archaeological research indicates the temple mound was used until at least 1500 AD and was the largest of the many located around Tampa Bay.