The chief's house was described as having two big windows, suggesting that it had walls. Although his primary interest is in the ancient civilizations of the Near East, he is also interested in other geographical regions, as well as other time periods. Read More. Many of them are trying to do this on the Internet. The Calusa were one of the few tribes known to be shell collectors. Widmer cites George Murdock's estimate that only some 20 percent of the Calusa diet consisted of wild plants that they gathered. Image by Pat Payne for American Archaeology. The Calusa were a Native American tribe that inhabited the southwest coast of 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. Tabby was later used by the English in their American colonies and in Southern plantations. Office: Old St. Luke's Hospital. The first Spanish explorers found that these Indians were not very friendly. How was the Calusa Indian nation organized? The explorers soon became the targets of the Calusa attacks. Marquardt and Victor Thompson of the University of Georgia are co-directing research at Mound Key, which has a complex arrangement of shell midden mounds, canals, watercourts and other features. The pelican, wolf, and deer figureheads mentioned here (Figs. By the 1700s though, the Tequesta people had disappeared. This class was supported by commoners, who provided them with food and other material goods. The Calusa knew of the Spanish before this landing, however, as they had taken in Native American refugees from the Spanish subjugation of Cuba. Mound Key Archaeological State Park is a shell midden mound in the Estero Bay that is estimated to have been inhabited over 2,000 years ago. Historic sources reveal that they were a warlike people who economically and politically dominated most of southern Florida (Fig. 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). While estimates vary, their population probably numbered between 4,000 and 10,000. The Calusa persisted for another century in isolation, but eventually succumbed to slave raids by Creek Indians from the north and exposure to diseases they brought.
"The Calusa: A Stratified, Nonagricultural Society (With Notes on Sibling Marriage)." They also cored sediments on and off the island to help describe and date environmental changes during the sites occupation. 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.. Copy. Were theonlyPop Archaeology site combining scientific research with out-of-the-box perspectives. 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. Could we find unequivocal architectural evidence that Mound Key was the Calusa capital town, as had long been suggested? 6 Advanced Ancient Inventions Beyond Modern Understanding, Built to Last: The Secret that Enabled Roman Roads to Withstand the Passage of Time, More than a Dozen Mysterious Prehistoric Tunnels in Cornwall, England, Mystify Researchers, 4,700-Year-Old Tavern Serves Up Surprises in Ancient Lagash, Iraq, Library in Stone: The Ica Stones of Professor Cabrera Part I, Two Sides to Every Story: The North American Martyrs Shrines and Indigenous/ Roman Catholic Relations, The Origins of the Faeries: Encoded in our Cultures Part I, Curse of the Buried Pearl: The Hunt for Ancient Treasures Part I, The Enigma of the Shugborough Inscription, Chinese Votive Sword Found in Georgia suggests Pre-Columbian Chinese travel to North America, First humans in Florida lived alongside giant animals, Rare coin hoard worth $1m discovered by treasure hunters off the coast of Florida, Juan Ponce de Len and his Search for the Fountain of Youth, http://www.sanibelhistory.org/calusa_history.htm, Archaeologists Verify Location of Elusive Spanish Fort at Florida's Mound Key, Ingeniously Engineered Watercourts Fueled Floridas Calusa Kingdom, Grand Ceremonial House of the King of the Calusa People Has Been Located in Florida. Julian Granberry has suggested that the Calusa language was related to the Tunica language of the lower Mississippi River Valley. One of Cushings crew members, Wells M. Sawyer, was an artist and photographer; he painted lifelikewatercolors and took field photos of many of the specimens as they came from the mud. They believed in three superior beings, one controlled the weather, the others ruled the welfare of the tribe and warfare. [19], Little is known of the language of the Calusa. In his second voyage, Ponce de Leon received a poisoned arrow that hounded his tight and he died in Cuba the same year in 1521.His decease is attributed to Calusa people. It was reputed in local legend to be the seat of the god Wotan and to be haunted. ( Public Domain ), Featured image: Calusa people fishing. Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de Len landed on the east coast of Florida and . Penn Museum 2023 Report Web Accessibility Issues and Get Help / Contact / Copyright / Disclaimer / Privacy /, Report Web Accessibility Issues and Get Help. The Calusa believed that their cacique was not only the leader of their tribe, but also their spiritual leader. "Florida Indians of Past and Present", in Carson, Ruby Leach and, Goggin, John M., and William C. Sturtevant. A variety of carving tools were also recovered. They built many villages at the mouth of the Miami River and along the coastal islands. The Calusa used the canals to travel by canoe from their villages and ceremonial centers to coastal trading posts. This tribe of Indians controlled most of Southwest Florida and created an elaborate network of canals, homes, and government. The researchers used ground penetrating radar and LiDAR to locate and map the forts structures, which they then partially excavated. 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. The first people to live on the island were the Calusa Native Americans, who were known as a fierce people. The chief had many wives: one principal wife and others given to him by surrounding villages. [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).
The walls were covered entirely with masks colored red, white, and black (Hann 1991). Tabby was an Old World concrete consisting of lime from burned shells mixed with sand, ash, water and broken shells. See answer (1) Best Answer. After ten days a man who spoke Spanish approached Ponce de Len's ships with a request to wait for the arrival of the Calusa chief. Cultivated gourds were used as net floats, and sinkers and net weights were made from mollusk shells. The Calusa Domain. The Calusa Indians did not farm like the other Indian tribes in Florida. The site of the excavation appears to be linked with Calusa ceremonialism and was one location at which wooden carvings, probably used in ritual, were housed. google_ad_client = "pub-8872632675285158";
The watercolors illustrate the blue, black, gray, and brownish-red pigments found on many of the wooden specimens. Calusa Protective Spell-Tampa This piece of folklore came from my co-worker, who grew up in Tampa, Florida. In April of that year he made landfall and, calling this new territory La Florida, claimed it for the Spanish Crown. What was the Calusa religion? Their immune systems lacked antibodies to fight off European diseases. The best information about the Calusa comes from the Memoir of Hernando de Escalante Fontaneda, one of these survivors. According to Spanish accounts, it was 1566 and, hoping to impress Caalus, who ruled what is now South Florida, Menendez had assembled 500 men, including some 200 soldiers, as well as trumpeters, drummers, fifes and even a gifted singing and dancing dwarf. Tracking the Calusa: A Retrospective. Each human had three souls, present in his shadow, his reflection in water and in the pupil of his eye. They had a reputation from being a fierce, war-like people, especially among European explorers and smaller tribes. We seek to retell the story of our beginnings. Native American art,