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( Public Domain ). 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. 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. By about 500 BC, the Archaic culture, which had been fairly uniform across Florida, began to devolve into more distinct regional cultures. 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. The Calusa case also illustrates remarkably sophisticated engagements with, and long-term large-scale management of, coastal and estuarine environments.. At the time of European contact in the 16th and 17th centuries, the historic Calusa were the people of the Caloosahatchee culture. Wiki User. The Calusa wove nets from palm-fiber cord. 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 walls were covered entirely with masks colored red, white, and black (Hann 1991). "Calusa". In 1763, Spain ceded Florida to England and surviving Calusas were taken to Cuba. 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.. The Calusa men were tall and well built with long hair. Many people lived in large villages with purpose-built earthwork mounds, such as those at Horr's Island. Later periods in the Caloosahatchee culture are defined in the archaeological record by the appearance of pottery from other traditions. The Calusa artifacts discovered on Marco Island date from 300 AD to 1500 AD, prior to European contact in Florida. Soon after the discoveries, Donald funded archaeological mapping of . Because of their reliance on shellfish, they accumulated large shell middens during this period. The Calusa people were an important tribe of Florida. 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. The Calusa resisted physical encroachment and spiritual conversion by the Spanish and their missionaries for almost 200 years. The Spanish reported that the chief was expected to take his sister as one of his wives. Rogel also stated that the chief's name was Caalus, and that the Spanish had changed it to Carlos. Openings in the berms likely allowed the Calusa to drive fish into the enclosures for short-term storage, and then they closed those openings with nets and wooden gates. This class was supported by commoners, who provided them with food and other material goods. Reagan restored the Tribes to federal recognition by signing Public Law 98-481. Their language was never recorded. While estimates vary, their population probably numbered between 4,000 and 10,000. Fish bones and scales recovered from one of the watercourts indicate the Calusa were capturing schooling species such as mullet, pinfish and herring. The Calusa Domain. Could we find unequivocal architectural evidence that Mound Key was the Calusa capital town, as had long been suggested? 3). [26], For more than a century after the Avils adventure, there was little contact between the Spanish and Calusa. [13][11] Artifacts of wood that have been found include bowls, ear ornaments, masks, plaques, "ornamental standards", and a finely carved deer head. The Calusa Tribe had a large population and were well-organized. The Calusa, who had no immunity against such illnesses, were wiped out in large numbers. 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. Dominican missionaries reached the Calusa domain in 1549 but withdrew because of the hostility of the tribe. Calusa v. Iroquois: Religious Beliefs. 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. The archaeologists were surprised to discover the Spanish used a primitive shell concrete known as tabby to stabilize the wall posts of their wooden structures. Soon 20 war canoes attacked the Spanish, who drove off the Calusa, killing or capturing several of them. The Apalachee Tribe was among the most advanced and powerful Native American people in Florida. The Calusas were one of the few North American Indian tribes who were ruled by a hereditary king. However, they would suffer the same fate as many of the other Native American tribes. The Carolinan colonists supplied firearms to the Creek and Yemasee, but the Calusa, who had isolated themselves from Europeans, had none. Their sophistication and fierceness enabled them to resist Spanish domination for some 200 years. Diseases would ravage their population and force . Join CJ as he discusses: The origins of the Calusa Their physical description Their society, hierarchy, and religion Ancient Chinese Earthquake Detector Invented 2,000 Years Ago Really Worked! By 880, a complex society had developed with high population densities. They believed in three superior beings, one controlled the weather, the others ruled the welfare of the tribe and warfare.
Florida Museum artifact photos by Jeff Gage. 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. Mound Key, an island west of Fort Myers, was the center of this large Calusa Empire. The Calusa used wooden dugout canoes to aid them in fishing and for transport. 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. Marquardt, William H. (2004). Fontaneda was shipwrecked on the east coast of Florida, likely in the Florida Keys, about 1550, when he was thirteen years old. Calusa Protective Spell-Tampa This piece of folklore came from my co-worker, who grew up in Tampa, Florida. Prior surface surveys had revealed Spanish ceramics, beads and other artifacts, but the location of the fort hadnt been determined.
While thousands of Calusa people were enslaved, about 270 people, including Calusa nobles, escaped to the Keys where, after the last raid by the Creeks on May 17, 1760, the surviving 60-70. The mission was closed after only a few months. [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. Many Calusa are said to have been captured and sold as slaves. 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. Large earthen mounds and ridges, accessed by canals, are believed to have been associated with Calusa ritual. The Calusa may have been the only ancient people in North America who established a kingdom without practicing agriculture. 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The Calusa painted their bodies on a regular basis, but there was no report of tattooing among them. 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. The Calusa used the canals to travel by canoe from their villages and ceremonial centers to coastal trading posts. 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. Among most tribes in Florida for which there is documentation, the women wore skirts made of what was later called Spanish moss. Our open community is dedicated to digging into the origins of our species on planet earth, and question wherever the discoveries might take us. At the time of first European contact, the Caloosahatchee culture region formed the core of the Calusa domain. The Calusa people's diet consisted mainly of fish and shellfish from the Gulf of Mexico and its many waterways. Native Americans of the California Coast: The Chumash By Damian Bacich The Chumash are a widespread group of California native people who lived along the southern California coast and the Santa Barbara Channel Islands. They were occupying this land and engaging in commerce, culture, religion, politics and family life . Since it seems to be working, many people still believe in the legend. [24][25], In 1566 Pedro Menndez de Avils, founder of St. Augustine, made contact with the Calusa. A Calusa alligator head carved out of wood, excavated at Key Marco in 1895, on display at the Florida Museum of Natural History. 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 two forms together may have indicated his transformation (Figs. Spanish admiral Pedro Menndez de Avils (1519-1574) by Francisco de Paula Mart (1762-1827) ( Public Domain ). The Calusa tribe once numbered around 50,000 people, and Tampa was one of their largest towns. What was the calusa Indians religion? Although the Calusa came to an end, some remains of their achievements can still be seen today. Artist's conception of town chief at the Calusa town of Tampa (present day Pineland) (Art by Merald Clark.) The 2017 excavations were really exciting for a number of reasons, Thompson said. Rituals were believed to link the Calusa to their spirit world (Art by Merald Clark.) 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. 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. The Calusa remained committed to their belief system despite Spanish attempts to convert them to Catholicism. For me, the work has been absolutely fantastic and since we began it has been one discovery after another, said Thompson. 2014-05-02 14:51:47. He had a council which may have included one or more head priests and one or two high-ranking individuals involved in political and religious decision-making. 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. Milanich, Jerald. "The Calusa: A Stratified, Nonagricultural Society (With Notes on Sibling Marriage)." The men were responsible for work away from the home, like hunting and raiding. The Calusa believed that the three souls were the pupil of a person's eye, his shadow, and his reflection. There are probably people of Calusa descent still alive today. One example of a shell mound can be found at a site known as Mound Key at Estero Bay in Lee County. The Calusa made bone and shell gauges that they used in net weaving. Mollusk shells and shark teeth were used for grating, cutting, carving and engraving. google_ad_height = 15;
Schell, Rolfe F. 1,000 years on Mound Key; the story of the Caloosa Indians on . Salvaged goods and survivors from wrecked Spanish ships reached the Calusa during the 1540s and 1550s. google_ad_client = "pub-8872632675285158";
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. 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. Native Americans enjoyed a wide variety of entertainment in the form of sports, games, music, dance, and festivals. Each human had three souls, present in his shadow, his reflection in water and in the pupil of his eye. At the time of the excavations Cushing did not know the name or precise age of the Indians whose world he had discovered. The story of the Calusa during the Spanish occupation of La Florida is a complicated one, said Thompson. But our work over the past 35 years has shown the Calusa developed a politically complex society with sophisticated architecture, religion, a military, specialists, long-distance trade and social ranking all without being farmers.. As for the southern region, my focus was on the Calusa Indians from the south-western Florida peninsula area. 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. [20][21], A few vocabulary examples from Granberry's work are listed below:[22]. Lucy Fowler Williams is Keeper of Collections for the American Section. If a Calusa killed such an animal, the soul would migrate to a lesser animal and eventually be reduced to nothing.[18]. New Evidence Shows Humans Were Using Bows and Arrows in 52,000 BC. 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 Calusa kingdom had an estimated 20,000 people and ranks among the most politically complex groups of hunter-gatherers of the historic world. They had three specific deities that they believed their cacique interpreted for. 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They had a reputation from being a fierce, war-like people, especially among European explorers and smaller tribes. The process of shaping the boat was achieved by burning the middle and subsequently chopping and removing the charred center, using robust shell tools. The archaeologists recovered seeds, wood, palm-fiber cordage that likely came from Calusa fishing nets and even fish scales from the waterlogged levels. Cushings excavations brought to light at least 23 wooden masks and figureheads. "Chapter 10. The soul in the eye's pupil stayed with the body after death, and the Calusa would consult with that soul at the graveside. Credit: Florida Museum of Natural History ). 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. [19], Little is known of the language of the Calusa. The leaders included the paramount chief, or "king"; a military leader (capitn general in Spanish); and a chief priest. 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. 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. -written by Glenn Emery. We seek to retell the story of our beginnings. It's also possible that a few were absorbed into the Seminole tribe. The CalusaPeople of the Estuary. At Mound Key, the Spaniards used primitive tabby as a mortar to stabilize the posts in the walls of their wooden structures. 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. According to these accounts, the Calusa had a head chief named Carlos who lived in Calos and received tribute from surrounding villages. Previous indigenous cultures had lived in the area for thousands of years. Did the Calusa farm? Many smaller tribes were constantly watching for these marauding warriors. Uniquely, it was powered by fishing, not farming. Escampaba may be related to a place named Stapaba, which was identified in the area on an early 16th-century map. Five friars who stayed in the chief's house in 1697 complained that the roof let in the rain, sun and dew. Marquardt notes that the Calusa turned down the offer of agricultural tools from the Spanish, saying that they had no need for them. Senquene succeeded his brother (name unknown), and was in turn succeeded by his son Carlos. Fruit and roots were gathered, and deer, bear, and raccoon were probably eaten as well. [Online]Available at: https://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/sflarch/research/calusa-domain/, floridahistory.org, 2016. 01 Mar 2023