ARCHAEOLOGICAL ANALYSIS Uncovering the past in Southwest Florida
Lee County was the epicenter of the Calusa nation while Jesus walked the earth a half a world away
BY STEPHANIE WESTENDORF Florida Weekly Correspondent
Florida's history can hide in plain sight.

FLORIDA MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY Masks dating thousands of years ago give us a small glimpse on a very large and powerful nation of indians that strolled through our backyards.

The Smith burial mound

along the Calusa

Heritage Trail is clearly marked by a sign along the path. Yet, skulls and bones are nowhere to be seen. Florida laws protect ancient human remains and at Smith Mound, they remain hidden behind a fence and vegetation. My guide tells me we just passed what may have once been a moat that surrounded the 1,100-year-old burial site. While the trail typically teems with the natural wildlife of South Florida, things seem quieter and more still around this place. Kara Sweeney, regional director of the Florida Public Archaeology Network and my trail guide, says, "A lot people have said this site is haunted." One woman said she felt "a very strong vibe" here.

A 3,700-foot walkway makes up the Calusa Heritage Trail in Pineland, in northern Pine Island. It is run by the Randell Research Center, whose new waterfront office is now located in Matlacha. The Research Center, a program of the Florida Museum of Natural History at the University of Florida, opened in 1994 after the Randell family donated more than 50 acres to the school. It operates to maintain the Pineland site and teach the community about local history and archaeology.

PHOTO STEPHANIE WESTENDORF Artifacts (shell tools) are measured and recorded at the Mound House by archaeologist Corbett Torrence and an FGCU intern.

Sweeney says she hopes people don't get the wrong impression from the title "research center." While it may imply the site is private or strictly for scientists, she says, all people are welcome to visit and even volunteer there. She lectures at local schools and hosts field trips at the Pineland site.

"Right now we're trying to find creative ways to bring people out." This includes showing movies like "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and kid-friendly flicks like "The Goonies," during the next month's "Movies on the Mounds."

The Florida Public Archaeology Network, which shares an office with the Randell Research Center, operates to teach and involve the public in archaeology. The Network also works with local governments to encourage archaeological preservation.

PHOTO STEPHANIE WESTENDORF According to archaeologist Corbett Torrence, lightning welk shells the only shell that open to the left. Its beads were found in abundance locally and were extensively traded by Native Americans. They have been found as far north as Vermont.

Sweeney says while federal law mandates archaeology involvement before major construction projects are started, state and local laws do not always require it. That means ancient sites can be destroyed during construction without even being examined first by a trained archaeologist.

It's hot and sticky but the mosquitoes and fire ants are largely absent today. There is even a slight breeze. The ground we are standing on has been inhabited for about 2,000 years. The site was excavated in the 1890s and again in the 1980s. Over time, archaeologists concluded the site was a major center for the Calusa Native Americans.

Mound Key, located in Estero Bay, is thought to have been the capital of the Calusa, once the most powerful people in South Florida.

"Mound Key would be like Washington D.C. and this would be New York," Sweeney said.

According to David Southall, curator of education at the Collier County Museum, the Calusa, at their height, controlled 11 cities with populations of a thousand each. Their extensive trading network stretched across Florida, where several other tribes paid tribute to the Calusa.

They had a standing army ready to dispatch when needed and were even able to hold off the Spanish, who Southall said were never able to defeat the Calusa.

By the 1700s, the Calusa had succumbed to disease and forced slavery imposed by other tribes with firearms.

We reach a mound overlooking Pine Island Sound. An osprey flies by and I can just make out a sailboat in the distance. The view of the water and Useppa Island, which has an archeological history dating back 12,000 years, seem picturesque to some. This same mound was the site of an early 20th century house, until it burned down in the 1920s.

Walking on the trail's boardwalks, we run into a papaya tree, which was an important food source for the Calusa. Unlike many other Native American cultures, the Calusa were not an agricultural society. Using palmetto-fishing nets weighed down with cockle or scallop shells, the Calusa relied on fishing and some hunting to survive.

We later came across a piece of ancient pottery that Sweeney guessed was from a later Calusa time period. She placed it carefully back on the spot where she picked it up. Since the trail is state property, visitors are discouraged from taking or misplacing artifacts. Sweeney said such removal can mix up archaeologists trying to piece together ancient cultures and customs.

About 30 miles away, archaeologists Theresa Schober and Corbett Torrence, work to decipher clues about the Calusa at the Mound House in Fort Myers Beach. Here shell mounds date from 1,200 to 2,000 years old. Following Calusa settlement, the site was occupied by Cuban fisherman and, later, by people who inhabited the house, which dates to the early 1900s.

"Every single major cultural time period for the last 2,000 years is represented at this site," Torrence said.

Schober, director of the Mound House, sits in the makeshift offices across from the house, which is under renovation. She packs up a box of tools used by the Calusa, which will be shipped off for analysis. Inside the lab, Schober, Torrence, college interns, and volunteers work to brush off, measure, and record the artifacts.

In the next couple of years, Schober said the site will have pathways and signs to educate people about the various inhabitants of the site. The house will be restored to the 1920s era and feature exhibits and a small museum.

Next fall, an underground exhibit will open in the house where a 1950s swimming pool once was. To make the exhibit, the pool was removed to allow for archaeologists and volunteers to excavate the area an additional five to seven feet. Before 2002, there had never been an excavation at the site.

"I can remember because I counted every single one of them, that we found 13,498 pieces of pottery alone," Schober said.

This does not include bone tools, shell tools, animal remains, botanical samples, and even stone tools, which are extremely rare to find this far south in Florida.

When complete, the exhibit will literally be inside a mound and will show how mounds were constructed, what different layers were made of, and the timeline of the mound.

While people may ask why the ancient past has relevance today, to Torrence and Schober, there is no question about it.

"We get to see how different cultures adapted to different cultural situations... inevitably by understanding long term cultural traditions we have a better frame reference to look at ourselves and evaluate current culture," Torrence said.

For example, after studying this and similar sites, Torrence found a correlation between height and authority that applies even today.

"The most expensive room in a high rise is the room at the top or, if you go into a courthouse, a judge is elevated on a platform," Schober said. "A jury's elevated too, but they're never elevated to the same level as the judge...We demonstrate respect for positions of authority by elevating people."

Numerous studies correlate height and power. Nearly all of the United States presidential candidates who won the popular vote were taller than their opponents.

At the time of European contact, the Calusa capital and home of the chief was thought to be Mound Key. Coincidentally, Schober said Mound Key also has the highest mounds in this area.

Schober said there are other relationships connecting past and present. Without agriculture, the Calusa were able to sustain themselves on local resources and extensive trading.

Torrence hypothesized the Calusa may have had an early form of aquaculture in enclosed bodies of water between shell ridges on Mound Key. Schober said that for the Calusa at the site, dependence on the estuary was even greater than ours today because if they over fished, "they're not going to Publix to get their dinner, and we lose sight of that."

Meanwhile, at the Craighead Archaeological Lab in Collier County, lab director Jack Thompson and other seasoned volunteers examine and record artifacts from several years' worth of excavations.

While Thompson and all the other lab workers are volunteers, he says they operate scientifically, producing reports that are peer-reviewed and accepted among the scientific community. His background is in engineering, but he has had countless experiences in archaeology.

Thompson worked at a dig at the famous Cahokia site, the largest prehistoric mound site in North America. He laughs as he recalls coming home after a dig in St. Louis.

"My wife made me come in the basement door, strip naked, and put all my clothes into the washing machine before she'd let me in the house," he said. "There's nothing dirtier than black midden dirt."

It's not all about the artifacts

Southall, of the Collier museum, said that while 100 years ago archaeology was mainly "artifact driven", things have changed in the last 50 years or so. Now it's about seeing the larger meaning behind the artifacts - the culture. Local archaeologists and volunteers reiterate this concept.

Sweeney said while it's common for artifacts to get media attention, getting the public involved or doing a tour at a site usually does not.

"All of our volunteers and interns are taught that they never say the word 'treasure'," Schober said. "I think people have the impression that these sites are loaded with material and what they really are places where people lived for a while and left...and even today when you move you pack everything that is useful to you. So what we find are the things that people chose to leave behind." The people of our past: Who were the Calusa?

Southall explains that the Calusa were warlike and collected tribute from practically all nearby tribes. However, they were also a cooperative society with sophisticated canals and extensive trading. According to archaeological evidence, around 2000 B.C., the Calusa became more hierarchical and the chief had more power than before.

Torrence says their chiefdom was "like a mafia".

"You've got these big extended families that attempt to accumulate wealth because, 'I can give you protection,' and if you don't give them protection, they're going to kick your butt," he said. At the same time, religion was a large part of their culture. Sweeney said they probably did not worship their ancestors, but spoke to them on special occasions. They most likely had festivals around the start of certain seasons, like rainy season. A lot of the Calusa also believed in the idea of having three souls, she said.

The Calusa used the natural resources around them, not just for food but also for healing and protection. For example, they used dog fennel to repel mosquitoes and sweet bay magnolia leaves to cure colds.

There are no known surviving Calusa, although Sweeney said some Seminole and Miccosukee believe that they are descendants. However, she noted that the Seminole arrived into Florida around 150 years ago, long after the Calusa's decline. ¦ FAQ's with local Archaeologists and Experts

Why is it important to preserve the past? "The past belongs to all of us. Whether we live here or we're just visiting here - this is the American past. The public, with their cooperation, we learn so much more; they can help teach us and they can help protect sites."

- Kara Sweeney, Regional Director of Florida

Public Archaeology Network

What are some important points to remember about archaeology? "Don't dig unless you have to - there's no need to. Leave it like it is for the next generation. Why disturb it?"

- Jack Thompson, Director of the Craighead

Lab at the Collier County Museum

What's your favorite part about the job? "Making it happen. The Mound House was bought by the town in 2000. They knew it was significant and they wanted to preserve it...that has been the exciting thing - actually going out and finding the places and getting people excited enough to want to fund the project and give people enough information so they could adopt the vision of what it's going to be. We're going to realize that vision right now on the ground in the next year."

- -Theresa Schober, Director of the Mound

House

What are some challenges in local archaeology? "They don't have a lot of policies or laws about it. Like Lee County is pretty good but Fort Myers doesn't have specific regulations about archaeology even though the people involved in the planning at the city level are aware of it. Each area does have a regulation board...but there aren't really enough regulations, frankly. I'm one of very few archaeologists around here because there aren't laws."

- Kara Sweeney

What You Should Know Florida Law protects all human remains. If you find an unmarked human burial, you must contact the district medical examiner immediately. If the remains are more than 75 years old, the state archaeologist is notified. According to Sweeney, Florida law maintains that anything found beneath the mean water line belongs to the state. So if you dive and find something in the river, it's actually the state's to keep. If you find an artifact you can bring it to a local archaeologist to find out what it is. The Craighead Lab in Collier County helps about 20 people a year who come in with objects for them to identify. There are several ways to get involved in local archaeology even when there are no active digs. Dig season is during the winter in Florida and lab work is conducted in summer. Contact a local museum, archaeologist, or the Florida Public Archaeology Network. For more information, visit www.flpublicarchaeology.org.