similar to the Utina but did not speak the Timucua language and were more closely aligned with the Ais of the Atlantic coast. Early history and European contact The area had been populated for thousands of years. An archaeological culture known as the St. Johns culture emerged around 500 BC, and was still extant at the time of contact with the Europeans. At some point after the 8th century, Mississippian culture models, common throughout what is now the eastern United States, began to proliferate in Florida, and Mississippian-style chiefdoms emerged. Archaeologists have uncovered two clusters of St. Johns-related sites along the river dating to the late prehistoric period. These correspond closely with the Utina and Saturiwa chiefdoms described by the Europeans, suggesting they were long established. The Agua Dulce built burial mounds and left large shell middens, among the largest found in the United States. They grew crops, but were not as dependent on agriculture as were tribes to the north; those living on the lagoons along the coast may not have practiced agriculture at all. The Acuera, one of the peoples noted by the French as part of Chief Utina's alliance, encountered the conquistador Hernando de Soto's expedition in 1539. De Soto stole corn from the Acuera while camped out in the nearby town of Ocale. However, extensive contact with Europeans did not occur until 1564, when the French Huguenots from the recently established Fort Caroline in present-day Jacksonville first visited the area. The French noted that at this time all the villages along the middle St. Johns, as well as some farther into the interior such as those of the Acuera, were part of a chiefdom ruled by a young leader named Utina. Though only 25 years old, Utina had sovereignty over forty other chiefs and their villages, and was one of the most powerful figures in northern Florida. The exact nature of Utina's chiefdom is unclear. He may have been the paramount head of an integrated chiefdom, or he may have been simply the leading chief in a confederacy of smaller chiefdoms. In any case he was treated as a powerful leader by the French and Spanish. At this time the Utina appear to have been at war with two other powerful chiefdoms: the Saturiwa to the north and the Potano to the west. The French had forged a treaty of friendship with Chief Saturiwa, in whose