It has been identified as the site of a Spanish mission to the Timucua people of the region, dating to the first half of the 17th century.

Found within the historical territory of the Timucua people known as the Northern Utina, it is thought to be the Mission San Martín de Timucua, also known as San Martín de Ayacuto, which was founded in the important Northern Utina village of Ayacuto in 1608.

[2] In 1988, 1,341 auger holes were drilled at 10 m intervals over a 30 acres (12 ha) area that included the 1986 test excavation site.

Artifacts and other materials recovered from the auger tests suggested the presence of a church building, missionary residence (convento), cemetery, plaza and native village.

[6] The definition of the Suwannee Valley culture (formerly called the "Indian Pond complex") came into focus as the result of studying artifacts recovered from pre-Columbian levels at Fig Springs.

A minor component of the Suwannee Valley ceramic assemblage has been named "Fig Springs Incised".

The archaeologists identified the site as likely to be that of San Martín de Timucua, which is known to have been founded in 1608 at Ayacuto (or Ayaocuto).

An earlier identification of the site as Santa Catalina de Afuerica, which is known to have existed in the area between 1675 and 1685, is less likely based on the evidence of the sherds.

[10] The brother of the chief of Timucua Province ("Northern Utina") visited St. Augustin in 1597 and asked for a missionary to be assigned to the chiefdom.

That September Friar Baltazar López was sent to Timucua for three months, presumably to the town that became the site of San Martín.

[11] In 1607 Fray Martin Prieto visited Timucua repeatedly, arriving in the chief town of the province that became known as San Martín on May 1, 1608.

The mission church (perhaps the first of two) was an open-air structure with a plank wall on the east end, and the other sides left open.

Saunders interprets Weisman's description to represent a small sanctuary enclosed by vertical boards and fronted by an open atrio, with a clay floor, that served as the nave of the church.

Saunders holds that, aside from an early chapel, the available evidence supports more than one narrative of the history of church structures at the mission site.

The third model is an aisled church, with interior posts supporting a wider roof than was feasible with an open nave.

[20] The investigators initially proposed the presence of small shelters over family or kin-group graves as an explanation for the artifacts and clay fragments.

[26] Six of the burials formed a group, oriented north-south parallel to each other and evenly spaced, with the skulls between 39 and 59 cm deep.

A 30 to 35 year old male was buried with his skull in direct contact with the left radius of the older child.

[28] Twelve of the individuals showed periosteal reactions, the growth of new bone in response to injury or chronic irritation.

[29] Other skeletal pathologies found included osteoporosis, Schmorl's nodes (vertebral disc extrusions), and osteomas, benign bone tumors.

This rate is low compared to other Native American populations of the Spanish mission period that practiced maize agriculture, as the residents of Fig Springs were reported to do.