The most powerful ruler governed the physical world, the second most powerful ruled human governments, and the last helped in wars, choosing which side would win. You could hire a shaman and pay for his services. They believed in three superior beings, one controlled the weather, the others ruled the welfare of the tribe and warfare. In 1513 Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de Leon sailed northwest from the island of Hispaniola (now Haiti and the Dominican Republic) with a three-year royal contract to discover rich lands thought to lie in that direction. Our open community is dedicated to digging into the origins of our species on planet earth, and question wherever the discoveries might take us. 4-8). Furthermore, new diseases such as smallpox and measles were introduced into the area by European explorers. Among most tribes in Florida for which there is documentation, the women wore skirts made of what was later called Spanish moss. American Archaeology cover, featuring Florida Museum illustration by Merald Clark. 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. Although he did not know much about the history of the Calusa Indians, what he did know was the legend in Tampa that the Calusa Indians cast a spell to keep them safe. Would you like to help support our organization's work with endangered American Indian languages? Study guides. Each human had three souls, present in his shadow, his reflection in water and in the pupil of his eye. [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 archaeologists recovered seeds, wood, palm-fiber cordage that likely came from Calusa fishing nets and even fish scales from the waterlogged levels. 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. "They had an established religion. They determined that the enclosures, which were built on a foundation of oyster shells, walled off portions of the estuary, serving as traps and short-term holding pens for fish before they were eaten, smoked, or dried for later consumption. This is still a popular sport today. 5,8,4) traveled this year, in an unprecedented loan of the Key Marco material, to the National Gallery of Art where they were exhibited as part of the Columbian Quincentenary exhibition, Circa 1492: Art in the Age of Exploration. These figureheads will be on display in Philadelphia through 1992 in the Main Entrance of The University Museum. The Calusa king initially allied himself with Menendez, hoping to gain an advantage over his rivals elsewhere in the Florida peninsula.. Although we cannot be sure what values the masks and animal figureheads held for the Calusa, they may have been markers of clan affiliation, and the animals represented most likely played important roles in Calusa mythology and religion. The first people to live on the island were the Calusa Native Americans, who were known as a fierce people. They were descendants of Paleo-Indians who inhabited Southwest Florida approximately 12,000 years ago. By about 500 BC, the Archaic culture, which had been fairly uniform across Florida, began to devolve into more distinct regional cultures. Instead, they fished for food on the coast, bays, rivers, and waterways. 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. The men and boys of the tribe made nets from palm tree webbing to catch mullet, pinfish, pigfish, and catfish. We do not fully understand the complexities of what happened to them. The fishing nets they used to catch food were made from palm tree fibers. There is an eyewitness account from 1566 of a "king's house" on Mound Key that was large enough for "2,000 people to stand inside. The Calusa Indians, a poorly understood group of bygone Native Americans D Donna Jean Calusa Indians European Explorers University Of South Florida Gulf Coast Florida Spirit World Mexica South Florida People & Environments: The Calusa Domain: Calusa beliefs included a trinity of governing spirits. The Calusa and their legacy: South Florida people and their environments. These massive, rectangular structures built of shell and sediment enclose large areas on both sides of the mouth of Mound Keys great canal, a marine highway nearly 2,000 feet long and about 100 feet wide that bisects the island. [3] Some Archaic artifacts have been found in the region later occupied by the Calusa, including one site classified as early Archaic, and dated prior to 5000 BC. Seeking Native American Spirituality: Read This First! What did the Calusa tribe believe in? Five friars who stayed in the chief's house in 1697 complained that the roof let in the rain, sun and dew. Montauk
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. Expedition Magazine. THE CALUSA INDIANS OF SOUTHWEST FLORIDA. What language did the Calusa speak? In several cases where the waterlogged objects dried and disintegrated into unrecognizable forms, the paintings and photographs provide the only surviving record (see Fig. They are attacked by Spain, which in 1566 had established St. Augustine in the north. The Calusa were a Native American tribe that inhabited the southwest coast of Florida. The canals were maintained until the mid-1700s, when the tribe disappeared from . The process of shaping the boat was achieved by burning the middle and subsequently chopping and removing the charred center, using robust shell tools.
They believed that people had three souls-in a person's eye, shadow, and their reflection in the water. 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. Circumstantial evidence, primarily from Hernando de Escalante Fontaneda, suggests that all of the peoples of southern Florida and the Tampa Bay area, including the Tequesta, Mayaimi, and Tocobaga, as well as the Calusa, spoke dialects of a common language. 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 men wore deerskin breechcloths. 8, 9). They had the highest population density of South Florida; estimates of total population at the time of European contact range from 10,000 to several times that, but these are speculative. They were occupying this land and engaging in commerce, culture, religion, politics and family life . Join CJ as he discusses: The origins of the Calusa Their physical description Their society, hierarchy, and religion Marquardt notes that the Calusa turned down the offer of agricultural tools from the Spanish, saying that they had no need for them. Mudlarker Finds Bronze Age Shoe on a UK Riverbank Dated 2,800 Years Old! The soul in the eye's pupil stayed with the body after death, and the Calusa would consult with that soul at the graveside. [1], Early Spanish and French sources referred to the tribe, its chief town, and its chief as Calos, Calus, Caalus, and Carlos. Tamara Jager Stewart is the assistant editor of American Archaelogy and the Conservancys Southwest region projects director. Unlike other Indian tribes, the Calusa did not make many. They built many villages at the mouth of the Miami River and along the coastal islands. They had lived in the region since the 3rd century BCE (the late Archaic period of the continent ), and remained for roughly 2,000 years, [1] By the 1800s, most had died as a result of settlement battles, slavery, and disease. [24][25], In 1566 Pedro Menndez de Avils, founder of St. Augustine, made contact with the Calusa. In a feat of organized labor that was also suggestive of their expansive trade network, the Calusa appear to have brought pine wood to the island from elsewhere in Florida to build the dwelling. By around 5000 BC, people started living in villages near wetlands. A team has uncovered the foundations of a large dwelling and this is As Greek mythology goes, the universe was once a big soup of nothingness. There was little change in the pottery tradition after this. [20][21], A few vocabulary examples from Granberry's work are listed below:[22]. Marquardt, Thompson and other University of Georgia colleagues and students began fieldwork at Mound Key in 2013, funded by the National Geographic Society. The chief's house was described as having two big windows, suggesting that it had walls. The Spanish departed and returned to Puerto Rico. The Calusa have long fascinated archaeologists because they were a fisher-gatherer-hunter society that attained unusual social complexity, said William Marquardt, curator emeritus of South Florida Archaeology and Ethnography at the Florida Museum of Natural History. In the wake of conflict and European-borne disease, the Calusa were extinguished by the second half of the 18th century. It was not conserved and is in poor shape, but it is displayed at the nature center in Marathon. Hence, the Calusa are sometimes called the Shell People / Indians. The Jews are not a race. Reagan restored the Tribes to federal recognition by signing Public Law 98-481. By 880, a complex society had developed with high population densities. [4], Between 500 and 1000, the undecorated, sand-tempered pottery that had been common in the area was replaced by "Belle Glade Plain" pottery. Man in Peru Caught Out Drinking With an 800-year-old Mummy! There are probably people of Calusa descent still alive today. To date no one has found a Calusa dugout canoe, but it is speculated that such vessels would have been constructed from cypress or pine, as used by other Florida tribes. Florida Museum of Natural History Florida and Georgia archaeologists have discovered the location of Fort San Antn de Carlos, home of one of the first Jesuit missions in North America. His status was reflected by his personal adornments, which included a golden headdress and beaded leg bands (Coggin and Sturtevant 1964). Different tribes had different names for the sport including . 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