In the winter of 1896, Frank Hamilton Cushing began archaeological excavations in southwest Florida. Their sophistication and fierceness enabled them to resist Spanish domination for some 200 years. What formation processes resulted in the complex of mounds and other features there? Are the Misty Peaks of the Azores Remnants of the Legendary Atlantis? Conversion would have destroyed the source of their authority and legitimacy. 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. In 1569, just three years after the Spanish fort was built, the Calusa attacked a Spanish supply ship, prompting more violence. Marquardt, William H. (2004). The men of the Calusa are recorded to have been powerfully built, and let their hair grow long. When Pedro Menndez de Avils visited the capital in 1566, he described the chief's house as large enough to hold 2,000 without crowding, indicating it also served as the council house. Escampaba may be related to a place named Stapaba, which was identified in the area on an early 16th-century map. Fish bones and scales recovered from one of the watercourts indicate the Calusa were capturing schooling species such as mullet, pinfish and herring. Little is known about Calusa religion. The Spanish careened one of their ships, and Calusas offered to trade with them. Be notified when an answer is posted. For me, the work has been absolutely fantastic and since we began it has been one discovery after another, said Thompson. Upon learning that the Spaniards did not intend to provide food, clothing, and other gifts, the Calusa rebelled, tenaciously holding to their own beliefs and practices. Return to our menu of Native American cultures The Calusa king Caalus, perched high on his throne in his grand house, watched as Pedro Menendez de Aviles, the first governor of La Florida, arrived with his entourage. The Calusa kingdom had an estimated 20,000 people and ranks among the most politically complex groups of hunter-gatherers of the historic world. Man in Peru Caught Out Drinking With an 800-year-old Mummy! [2] The Tequesta tribe had only a few survivors by . The Calusa people were an important tribe of Florida. Gainesville: University of Florida Press: Florida Museum of Natural History, 1991. 10 Innovative Medieval Weapons: You Would Not Want To Be At The Sharp End Of These! They left 1,700 behind. Their territory was bounded in northwest Florida by the Aucilla and Ochlockonee rivers, and . Historically located in northwest Florida, the Apalachee were allied with the Spanish, but maintained their autonomy through political and social traditions. Such hierarchy and inequality are generally characteristics of societies that practice agriculture, he observed. 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. Historical documents indicate that by the mid-1700s, the dwindling Calusa population had fled to Cuba, or the Florida Keys. What was the calusa Indians religion? Calusa Protective Spell-Tampa This piece of folklore came from my co-worker, who grew up in Tampa, Florida. The first Spanish explorers found that these Indians were not very friendly. Researchers have previously hypothesized the watercourts were designed to hold fish, but this was the first attempt to study the structures systematically, including when they were built and how that timing correlates with other Calusa construction projects, Marquardt said. By around 5000 BC, people started living in villages near wetlands. Then, two things happened: either Chaos or Gaia created the universe as we know it, or Ouranos and Tethys gave birth to the first beings. Some of the survivors were sent to Cuba by the Spanish, while others may have merged with other Floridian Indians and eventually joined the Seminole tribe. The Legend of the Calusa Many people believe that the Calusa made a trip to Cuba in their canoes and traded with the Mayans. Reagan restored the Tribes to federal recognition by signing Public Law 98-481. This tribe of Indians controlled most of Southwest Florida and created an elaborate network of canals, homes, and government. By about 500 BC, the Archaic culture, which had been fairly uniform across Florida, began to devolve into more distinct regional cultures. The process of shaping the boat was achieved by burning the middle and subsequently chopping and removing the charred center, using robust shell tools. Among most tribes in Florida for which there is documentation, the women wore skirts made of what was later called Spanish moss. In 1521 Ponce de Len returned to southwest Florida to plant a colony, but the Calusa drove the Spanish out, mortally wounding Ponce de Len. (1993). Photo source: Moving to Tampa, Florida Center for Instructional Technology, College of Education, University of South Florida, 2002. Tribute was offered in the form of prestige goods, such as feathers, mats, deerskins, food, and metals and captives recovered from Spanish shipwrecks (Hudson 1976). Little is known about Calusa religion. At first, there must have been an uneasy tolerance of one another, as the Spanish built their fort, Marquardt explained. In April of that year he made landfall and, calling this new territory La Florida, claimed it for the Spanish Crown. 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. Many people lived in large villages with purpose-built earthwork mounds, such as those at Horr's Island. The story of the Calusa during the Spanish occupation of La Florida is a complicated one, said Thompson. [1], Early Spanish and French sources referred to the tribe, its chief town, and its chief as Calos, Calus, Caalus, and Carlos. Along the southwest Gulf coast lived the Calusa (Caloosa) Indians. At least three of the animal figureheads were found in close association with wooden humanlike masks which Cushing understood to represent the human form of that animal. After each meal, these shells were put to good use as building material and tools. Favored sites were likely occupied for multiple generations. 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. [20][21], A few vocabulary examples from Granberry's work are listed below:[22]. The Calusa: "The Shell Indians". Illustrated here, the deer, pelican, wolf, alligator, and sea turtle reveal extraordinary realism, delicacy, and gracefulness of formartistic qualities characteristic of Mississippian Period and earlier ceramic, stone, and wood sculpture excavated in the area and at sites further north (Figs. [2], Juan Rogel, a Jesuit missionary to the Calusa in the late 1560s, noted the chief's name as Carlos, but wrote that the name of the kingdom was Escampaba, with an alternate spelling of Escampaha. The Calusas were one of the few North American Indian tribes who were ruled by a hereditary king. 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.. Since the soft limestone that surrounded them was unfitting for tool and weapon production, they decided to use shells, wood, fish teeth, and bone for tools. Milanich, J. T. (2004). Perhaps a dancer wore the mask and carried the figurehead of the particular animal he was emulating (Cushing 1896). These small fish were supplemented by larger bony fish, sharks and rays, mollusks, crustaceans, ducks, sea turtles and land turtles, and land animals. [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. However, no evidence of plant food was found at the Wightman site. At Mound Key, the Spaniards used primitive tabby as a mortar to stabilize the posts in the walls of their wooden structures. The Calusa are said to have been a socially complex and politically powerful tribe, and most of southern Florida was controlled by them. By bringing together top experts and authors, this archaeology website explores lost civilizations, examines sacred writings, tours ancient places, investigates ancient discoveries and questions mysterious happenings. Archaeological and historical documentation reveal that Calusa society was highly structured, with individuals living in fixed settlements surrounding a large central town. (904) 665-0064. The chief is said to have entertained the governor in a building so large that it could hold 2000 people in it. On Key Marco, among numerous mounds and ridges of earth and shell, he discovered a courtyard submerged in mud and bound by walls of conch shells. If a Calusa killed such an animal, the soul would migrate to a lesser animal and eventually be reduced to nothing.[18]. By the 1700s though, the Tequesta people had disappeared. The fishing nets they used to catch food were made from palm tree fibers. Little is known about Calusa religion. Mudlarker Finds Bronze Age Shoe on a UK Riverbank Dated 2,800 Years Old! Florida's climate had reached current conditions and the sea had risen close to its present level by about 3000 BC. However, archeological digs on Sanibel Island and Useppa Island have revealed evidence that the Calusa did in fact consume wild plants such as cabbage palm, prickly pear, hog plum, acorns, wild papaya, and chili peppers. At the time of European contact in the 16th and 17th centuries, the historic Calusa were the people of the Caloosahatchee culture. Hostilities erupted, and the Spanish soldiers killed Carlos, his successor Felipe, and several of the "nobles" before they abandoned their fort and mission in 1569. We seek to retell the story of our beginnings. (Public Domain ). [Online]Available at: http://floridahistory.org/indians.htm, Marquardt, W. H., 2014. Calusa beliefs included a trinity of governing spirits. The Penn Museum respectfully acknowledges that it is situated on Lenapehoking, the ancestral and spiritual homeland of the Unami Lenape. 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. Ravaged by new infectious diseases introduced to the Americas by European contact and by the slaving raids, the surviving Calusa retreated south and east. Rituals were believed to link the Calusa to their spirit world (Art by Merald Clark.) No Zamia pollen has been found at any site associated with the Calusas, nor does Zamia grow in the wetlands that made up most of the Calusa environment. Many of them are trying to do this on the Internet. Archaeological and historical evidence indicates the Calusas primary source of food was the sea, and virtually all evidence suggests they did not practice agriculture. In. It's one of Florida's most popular destinations for its turquoise coast and laid-back vibe. 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..
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