Nets were woven with a standard mesh size; nets with different mesh sizes were used seasonally to catch the most abundant and useful fish available. Because the Timucua didn't use money, though, a shaman would be given such items as baskets or turkeys. The Penn Museum respectfully acknowledges that it is situated on Lenapehoking, the ancestral and spiritual homeland of the Unami Lenape. They were one of the first tribes in South Florida and they settled near Biscayne Bay in the present-day Miami area. This change may have resulted from the people's migration from the interior to the coastal region, or may reflect trade and cultural influences. Chumash Tribe Facts: The Chumash Name The first recorded contact between the Calusa and Europeans was in 1513, when Juan Ponce de Len landed on the west coast of Florida in May, probably at the mouth of the Caloosahatchee River, after his earlier discovery of Florida in April. Mudlarker Finds Bronze Age Shoe on a UK Riverbank Dated 2,800 Years Old! Around A.D. 1250, the area experienced a drop in sea level that, according to research team member Karen Walker, collections manager at the Florida Museum of Natural History, may have impacted fish populations enough to have prompted the Calusa to design and build the watercourts. In several cases where the waterlogged objects dried and disintegrated into unrecognizable forms, the paintings and photographs provide the only surviving record (see Fig. We could not anticipate the extraordinary preservation of organic materials down below the water table, Marquardt noted. Known as the "Shell Indians", the Calusa are . New Moai Statue Found on Chiles Easter Island Excites Researchers. Such hierarchy and inequality are generally characteristics of societies that practice agriculture, he observed. Pottery distinct from the Glades tradition developed in the region around AD 500, marking the beginning of the Caloosahatchee culture. They also claimed authority over the tribes of the east coast, north to about Cape Canaveral. A new study says Florida's Calusa tribe built fish enclosures to amass surplus food, allowing its society to flourish and build structures such as the king's manor on Mound Key . (1993). There is evidence that the people intensively exploited Charlotte Harbor aquatic resources before 3500 BC. This is still a popular sport today. Reagan restored the Tribes to federal recognition by signing Public Law 98-481. The Calusas as Shell Indians The Calusas are considered to be the first "shell collectors." Shells were discarded into huge heaps. What formation processes resulted in the complex of mounds and other features there? Engineering the courts required an intimate understanding of daily and seasonal tides, hydrology and the biology of various fish species, said Thompson. Hernando de Escalante Fontaneda, an early chronicler of the Calusa, described "sorcerers in the shape of the devil, with some horns on their heads," who ran through the town yelling like animals for four months at a time. Seeing the work of the Calusa in these materials first-hand were really exciting moments for us.. They believed that people had three souls-in a person's eye, shadow, and their reflection in the water. Known as the first shell collectors, the Calusa used shells as tools, utensils, building materials, vessels for domestic and ceremonial use and for personal adornment. The Calusas were one of the few North American Indian tribes who were ruled by a hereditary king. When the Spanish explored the coast of Florida, they soon became the targets of the Calusa, and this tribe is said to have been the first one that the explorers wrote home about. Ancient Origins 2013 - 2023Disclaimer- Terms of Publication - Privacy Policy & Cookies - Advertising Policy -Submissions - We Give Back - Contact us. 2014-05-02 14:51:47. They were a fierce, independent tribe that lived in southwest Florida as early as 2,000 years ago. 4 . Many smaller tribes were constantly watching for these marauding warriors. The men wore deerskin breechcloths. Calusa means "fierce people," and they were described as a fierce, war-like people. These Indians were so unfriendly that this was one of the first tribes that Spanish explorers wrote home about in 1513. By contrast, at an inland site, Platt Island, mammals (primarily deer) accounted for more than 60 percent of the energy from animal meat, while fish provided just under 20 percent. [4], Between 500 and 1000, the undecorated, sand-tempered pottery that had been common in the area was replaced by "Belle Glade Plain" pottery. In April of that year he made landfall and, calling this new territory La Florida, claimed it for the Spanish Crown. Artist's conception of town chief at the Calusa town of Tampa (present day Pineland) (Art by Merald Clark.) Soon after the discoveries, Donald funded archaeological mapping of . This page was last edited on 21 February 2023, at 15:27. Eventually, in the 18th century, slave raids by English from the north, aided by Creek Indians, destroyed what was left of the already declining Calusa population. One illustration of the sophistication of the Calusa can be found in eyewitness accounts of an event in 1566. He struck an uneasy peace with their leader Caluus, or Carlos. AtAncient Origins, we believe that one of the most important fields of knowledge we can pursue as human beings is our beginnings. It is based on the Creek and Mikasuki (languages of the present-day Seminole and Miccosukee nations) ethnonym for the people who had lived around the Caloosahatchee River (also from the Creek language). The Calusa artifacts discovered on Marco Island date from 300 AD to 1500 AD, prior to European contact in Florida. The courtyard was drained and cleared, exposing house posts, fishing nets, shell tools, bowls and drinking vessels, weapons, canoes, pottery, and extraordinary wooden masks and animal figureheads (Fig. "Florida Indians of Past and Present", in Carson, Ruby Leach and, Goggin, John M., and William C. Sturtevant. The Calusa believed that the three souls were the pupil of a person's eye, his shadow, and his reflection. [15], The Calusa wore little clothing. Archaeologists have long pondered how the Calusa could have grown to a population of some 20,000 and dominated such a vast region without relying on agriculture. The first phase of work included the creation of a detailed topographic map of the island using LiDAR, which gave archaeologists information about its structures and geography. One is left only to imagine how lifelike these wooden figureheads must have appeared when used on ceremonial occasions. ed. Despite having no real agriculture, they developed a dense, sedentary, complex society, with all the good & bad that entails. Unlike most Florida Indian tribes . Carlos was succeeded by his cousin (and brother-in-law) Felipe, who was in turn succeeded by another cousin of Carlos, Pedro. They built massive mounds of shells and sand, dug large canals, engineered sophisticated fish corrals, held elaborate ceremonies, created remarkable works of art, such as intricately carved wooden masks and traversed the waters in canoes made from hollowed-out logs. they did speacial dances. People commonly occupied both fresh and saltwater wetlands. Cushings excavations took place along the coast. As noted in an early 1566 acecount, Pedro Menendez de Aviles, a Jesuit missionary in charge of an early and unsuccessful attempt to convert the tribe to Christianity, was welcomed by the principal leader of the Callus with a large meal consisting only of many kinds of boiled, roasted, and raw fish (Goggin and Sturtevant 1964). Undecorated pottery belonging to the early Glades culture appeared in the region around 500 BC. Mound Key, an island west of Fort Myers, was the center of this large Calusa Empire. Many of them are trying to do this on the Internet. One ritual was witnessed in which a large procession of masked men came down from a mound accompanied by hundreds of singing women (Goggin and Sturtevant 1964). Certain ceremonies were performed to seal the alliance (and perhaps also as a display of the might of the Calusa), and was witnessed by over 4000 people. Darcie A. Macmahon and Dr. William H. Marquardt, an expert on the Calusa, have written a fascinating book that brings to life a group of people who disappeared from Florida in the 1700s. The Calusa Indians were originally called the "Calos" which means "Fierce People". One of the most notable traditions of the Calusa was their use of shell mounds. The people who constructed Fort San Antn de Carlos had to adapt to Mound Keys unique conditions, researchers said. Franciscan friar Fray Lopez, director of the unsuccessful 1697 mission attempt, described the Calusa temples as very tall and wide, with a mound in the middle and a structure on the mound enclosed with reed mats and containing benches around the walls. Fish bones and scales recovered from one of the watercourts indicate the Calusa were capturing schooling species such as mullet, pinfish and herring. There are probably people of Calusa descent still alive today. The best information about the Calusa comes from the Memoir of Hernando de Escalante Fontaneda, one of these survivors. Study guides. [1], Early Spanish and French sources referred to the tribe, its chief town, and its chief as Calos, Calus, Caalus, and Carlos. Florida Museum artifact photos by Jeff Gage. THE CALUSA INDIANS OF SOUTHWEST FLORIDA. Ancient Chinese Earthquake Detector Invented 2,000 Years Ago Really Worked! Penn Museum, 1991 Web. The Calusa knew of the Spanish before this landing, however, as they had taken in Native American refugees from the Spanish subjugation of Cuba. The architectural remains of the kings house were relatively easy to find, but difficult to interpret at first, Marquardt said. The "nobles" resisted conversion in part because their power and position were intimately tied to the belief system; they were intermediaries between the gods and the people. The immensity of the kings house, as well as the huge shell mounds and the canals required large amounts of labor and mechanisms to mobilize and to organize that labor that he thinks are indicative of a lower class that worked at the behest of the Calusas elites. Among most tribes in Florida for which there is documentation, the women wore skirts made of what was later called Spanish moss. Prior surface surveys had revealed Spanish ceramics, beads and other artifacts, but the location of the fort hadnt been determined. Since it seems to be working, many people still believe in the legend. /* 728x15 link ad */ In 1954 a dugout canoe was found during excavation for a middle school in Marathon, Florida. He was also attacked by the Calusa. It is why we were ashamed of Bernie Madoff. Though questions about the Calusa and the use of some of these artifacts remain unanswered, early eyewitness accounts and ethnohistorical research, together with new archaeological developments in Florida, enhance our understanding of the cultural context within which these objects were made and used. Calusa society developed from that of archaic peoples of the Everglades region. This article first appeared in the magazines fall 2020 issue. Radiocarbon dating of organic materials associated with the watercourts indicates they were built between A.D. 1300 and 1400, toward the end of a second phase of construction on the kings house. Diseases would ravage their population and force . [2], Paleo-Indians entered what is now Florida at least 12,000 years ago. Be notified when an answer is posted. These deposits were carefully water-screened using a series of nested screens in order to capture even the finest organic materials. Was this German silver mine really defended by two Roman forts and a line of "spike defenses? At first, there must have been an uneasy tolerance of one another, as the Spanish built their fort, Marquardt explained. The Beast with an insatiable Hunger for Human Flesh, Film Footage Provides Intimate View of HMS Gloucester Shipwreck, Top 8 Legendary Parties - Iconic Celebrations in Ancient History, The Spanish Inquisition: The Truth Behind the Black Legend (Part II), The Spanish Inquisition: The Truth behind the Dark Legend (Part I), Bloodthirsty Buddhists: The Sohei Warrior Monks of Feudal Japan, Caesars Savage Human Skewers Unearthed In German Fort, The Red Taj Mahal and the Dutch Hessings of India. [9] There is also evidence that as early as 2,000 years ago, the Calusa cultivated a gourd of the species Cucurbita pepo and the bottle gourd, which were used for net floats and dippers. Before the arrival of Europeans in the Americas, Indigenous peoples who lived in the same region developed similar cultural traits based on their shared natural environment. Fontaneda was shipwrecked on the east coast of Florida, likely in the Florida Keys, about 1550, when he was thirteen years old. It is believed that Calusa translated to mean "Fierce People". The missionaries recognized that having a Calusa man cut his hair upon converting to Christianity (and European style) would be a great sacrifice. They believed in three superior beings, one controlled the weather, the others ruled the welfare of the tribe and warfare. Fowler Williams, .Lucy"The Calusa Indians: Maritime Peoples of Florida in the Age of Columbus" Expedition Magazine 33.2 (1991): n. pag. Many people lived in large villages with purpose-built earthwork mounds, such as those at Horr's Island. In 1517 Francisco Hernndez de Crdoba landed in southwest Florida on his return voyage from discovering the Yucatn. Uniquely, it was powered by fishing, not farming. Dominican missionaries reached the Calusa domain in 1549 but withdrew because of the hostility of the tribe. For me, the work has been absolutely fantastic and since we began it has been one discovery after another, said Thompson. The University Museum has an exceptional collection of artifacts from the Calusa site at Key Marco, Florida. ln 2017, funded by the National Science Foundation, the research team began a systematic investigation of these structures, the largest of which is about 36,000 square feet, with a surrounding berm of shell and sediment that stood about three feet high. (Cushing was an anthropologist with the Bureau of American Ethnology, and was well known for his pioneering work at Zuni Pueblo.) Spanish admiral Pedro Menndez de Avils (1519-1574) by Francisco de Paula Mart (1762-1827) ( Public Domain ). Lucy Fowler Williams is Keeper of Collections for the American Section. During Menndez de Avils's visit in 1566, the chief's wife was described as wearing pearls, precious stones and gold beads around her neck. The Southeast is one of 10 culture areas that scholars use to study the Indigenous peoples of the United States and Canada. Some of these masks had moving parts that used pull strings and hinges so that a person could alter the look of a mask while wearing it. Florida of the Indians. Furthermore, new diseases such as smallpox and measles were introduced into the area by European explorers. Those excavations revealed rarely preserved objects of wood, such as masks, figureheads, bowls, and tools, which survived because of the wet environment. After death only the last one remained with the body to be buried with it. From the time of European contact until their ultimate demise from conflict and illness around 1770, the Calusa successfully resisted, albeit with considerable bloodshed, intermittent efforts by Spanish missionaries to convert them to Christianity. Fruit and roots were gathered, and deer, bear, and raccoon were probably eaten as well. The Calusa king, or head chief, was an absolute ruler. Granberry has provided an inventory of phonemes to the sounds of the Calusa language.[22][21]. [7], The Calusa diet at settlements along the coast and estuaries consisted primarily of fish, in particular pinfish (Lagodon rhomboides), pigfish (redmouth grunt), (Orthopristis chrysoptera) and hardhead catfish (Ariopsis felis). Archaeological techniques were not very well defined in Cushings day, and though he took detailed notes of his findings, information on the stratigraphy of the site was not recorded. The Calusa people's diet consisted mainly of fish and shellfish from the Gulf of Mexico and its many waterways. The Calusa was a powerful, complex society who lived on the shores of the southwest Florida coast. Archaeology, 57(5), 4650. (*) denotes earlier century Calusa language records. The chief lived in the main village at the mouth of the Miami River. Honestly, we have explored a very small sample of Mound Key and other nearby island sites., ln the next couple of years, Thompson added, Id like to return to Mound Key to look more closely at the fort and its structures to really delve into Calusa-Spanish interactions.. Rogel also stated that the chief's name was Caalus, and that the Spanish had changed it to Carlos. See answer (1) Best Answer. All his subjects had to obey his commands. Marquardt, Thompson and other University of Georgia colleagues and students began fieldwork at Mound Key in 2013, funded by the National Geographic Society. Tabby was an Old World concrete consisting of lime from burned shells mixed with sand, ash, water and broken shells. Fontaneda lived with various tribes in southern Florida for the next seventeen years before being found by the Menendez de Avils expedition. It appears that the answer is their watercourts, which were discovered back in the 1890s. Their main waterway was the Calooshahatchee River, which means River of the Calusa. Copy. [14], The Calusa lived in large, communal houses which were two stories high. "They had an established religion. As Cushing noted and as more recent studies have revealed, they dug extensive waterways or canals (sometimes as large as 4 feet deep, 20 feet wide, and 3 miles long) that crossed Key Marco and the rest of the region. While the Calusa managed to survive that encounter, the 250 years that followed brought intermittent contact with other conquistadors, Christians missionaries, and in later years, English and French explorer-traders who vied for the territory, often with the help of native allies. Rituals were believed to link the Calusa to their spirit world ( Art by Merald Clark. Historically located in northwest Florida, the Apalachee were allied with the Spanish, but maintained their autonomy through political and social traditions. It seems a sad demise for such a powerful . In 1711, the Spanish helped evacuate 270 Indians, including many Calusa, from the Florida Keys to Cuba (where almost 200 soon died). A dozen words for which translations were recorded and 50 or 60 place names form the entire known corpus of the language. Marquardt quotes a statement from the 1570s that "the Bay of Carlos in the Indian language is called Escampaba, for the cacique of this town, who afterward called himself Carlos in devotion to the Emperor" (Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor). 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The Calusa also believed that three supernatural beings ruled the universe. google_ad_width = 728; The Calusa and their legacy: South Florida people and their environments. Although many others survived the shipwreck, only Fontaneda was spared by the tribe in whose territory they landed. They are a tribe. Could we find unequivocal architectural evidence that Mound Key was the Calusa capital town, as had long been suggested? [2] The Tequesta tribe had only a few survivors by . The Calusa may have been the only ancient people in North America who established a kingdom without practicing agriculture. Salvaged goods and survivors from wrecked Spanish ships reached the Calusa during the 1540s and 1550s. [7] The contemporary archeologists MacMahon and Marquardt suggest this statement may have been a misunderstanding of a requirement to marry a "clan-sister". The fort is the only Spanish structure built atop a shell mound in Florida. From the time of European contact until their ultimate demise from conflict and illness around 1770, the Calusa successfully resisted, albeit with considerable bloodshed, intermittent efforts by Spanish missionaries to convert them to Christianity. Many smaller tribes were constantly watching for these marauding warriors. The next day 80 "shielded" canoes attacked the Spanish ships, but the battle was inconclusive. Typical Women's Work. Native Americans enjoyed a wide variety of entertainment in the form of sports, games, music, dance, and festivals. How was the Calusa Indian nation organized? The Calusa built their entire way of life around the ocean and estuaries of the Gulf Coast, creating a vast empire by learning to manipulate their environment. The Calusa leader, Calus (called Carlos II by the Spaniards), agrees to accept a Jesuit missionary among his people, but the Calusa refuse to . One of the causes of this was the raids conducted by rival tribes from Georgia and South Carolina. Senquene succeeded his brother (name unknown), and was in turn succeeded by his son Carlos. For more than 200 years, South Florida's Indians resisted Spanish domination. As for the southern region, my focus was on the Calusa Indians from the south-western Florida peninsula area. They had three specific deities that they believed their cacique interpreted for. Figuring out how to shore up the walls of wooden buildings using a very early kind of tabby architecture is impressive and represents creative thinking and ingenuity in an unfamiliar and challenging setting, said Marquardt. Along the southwest Gulf coast lived the Calusa (Caloosa) Indians. The fishing nets they used to catch food were made from palm tree fibers. During the Calusa's reign the Florida coastline extended roughly 60 miles further into the Gulf of Mexico. South Florida Archaeology and Ethnography, South Florida Archaeology & Ethnography Collection. For a long time, societies that relied on fishing, hunting and gathering were assumed to be less advanced, said Marquardt. The chief's house was described as having two big windows, suggesting that it had walls. While there is no evidence that the Calusa had institutionalized slavery, studies show they would use captives for work or even sacrifice. Seeking Native American Spirituality: Read This First! It has also been stated that the Spanish were brought into a large temple, where they saw carved and painted wooden masks covering its walls. The Calusa gathered a variety of wild berries, fruits, nuts, roots and other plant parts. This now makes three southwest Florida sites with wet-site preservation of such items as wood, cordage and netting: the Pineland Site Complex, Key Marco and now Mound Key.. [8], Some authors have argued that the Calusa cultivated maize and Zamia integrifolia (coontie) for food. The ancestors of the Calusa are said to have survived by hunting prehistoric animals such as woolly mammoths and giant tortoises, and collecting fruits and other edible plants. The Calusa Tribe had a large population and were well-organized. The temple mounds, built by what must have been a well-organized work force, measured up to 30 feet high and were often topped with buildings of wood and thatch entered only by the elite. Directly beneath the chief was the nobility. A new tribe that entered Florida either from the islands or the north at the start of the Christian Era, the Calusa dominated South Florida with their statute, skills, and brutality. The National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. Photo by Alina Zienowicz . 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