Previous indigenous cultures had lived in the area for thousands of years. For more than 200 years, South Florida's Indians resisted Spanish domination. Historically located in northwest Florida, the Apalachee were allied with the Spanish, but maintained their autonomy through political and social traditions. The people who constructed Fort San Antn de Carlos had to adapt to Mound Keys unique conditions, researchers said. 10 Innovative Medieval Weapons: You Would Not Want To Be At The Sharp End Of These! Undecorated pottery belonging to the early Glades culture appeared in the region around 500 BC. They were one of the first tribes in South Florida and they settled near Biscayne Bay in the present-day Miami area. The shell mounds are an example of these remains. In R. D. Fogelson (Ed.). Their language was never recorded. Archaeologists have long pondered how the Calusa could have grown to a population of some 20,000 and dominated such a vast region without relying on agriculture. Calusa society developed from that of archaic peoples of the Everglades region. Though eschewing agriculture once. Many smaller tribes were constantly watching for these marauding warriors. For the purposes of this research project I will compare and contrast three specific categories for each tribe in order to show how they were either similar or different from one another. Would you like to help support our organization's work with endangered American Indian languages? Well-preserved nets, net floats, and hooks were found at Key Marco, in the territory of the neighboring Muspa tribe. Their sophistication and fierceness enabled them to resist Spanish domination for some 200 years. All his subjects had to obey his commands. 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. Hence, the Calusa are sometimes called the Shell People / Indians. 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. It has also been stated that the Spanish were brought into a large temple, where they saw carved and painted wooden masks covering its walls. Cushings excavations brought to light at least 23 wooden masks and figureheads. As for the southern region, my focus was on the Calusa Indians from the south-western Florida peninsula area. The men were responsible for work away from the home, like hunting and raiding. Copy. Perhaps a dancer wore the mask and carried the figurehead of the particular animal he was emulating (Cushing 1896). The Spanish founded a mission on Biscayne Bay in 1743 to serve survivors from several tribes, including the Calusa, who had gathered there and in the Florida Keys. This change may have resulted from the people's migration from the interior to the coastal region, or may reflect trade and cultural influences. The Penn Museum respectfully acknowledges that it is situated on Lenapehoking, the ancestral and spiritual homeland of the Unami Lenape. What formation processes resulted in the complex of mounds and other features there? It is likely there are descendants of the Calusa living among the Native American people of Florida and in Cuba today., In terms of Mound Key, much more can be learned about the Spanish fort and mission, the relations between the Calusa and the Spaniards and the earlier, pre-contact occupations of the island, Marquardt said. Penn Museum 2023 Report Web Accessibility Issues and Get Help / Contact / Copyright / Disclaimer / Privacy /, Report Web Accessibility Issues and Get Help. Their territory ranged from Tampa Bay south to the Ten Thousand Islands and as far east as Lake Okeechobee. Warriors killed all the adult men. The Calusa (said to mean fierce people ) are a Native American tribe that once inhabited the southwestern coast of Florida. This was made with clay containing spicules from freshwater sponges (Spongilla), and it first appeared inland in sites around Lake Okeechobee. 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Some of the "Spanish Indians" (often of mixed Spanish-Indian heritage) who worked at the fishing camps likely were descended from Calusa.[29]. //-->. At the top of the hierarchy was the chief, who had control over the life and death of his subjects, and was believed to have the ability to communicate with the spirits. We could not anticipate the extraordinary preservation of organic materials down below the water table, Marquardt noted. When combined with historical and archaeological documentation, Cushings finds from Key Marco teach us about the Calusa Indians around the time of contact. [15], The Calusa wore little clothing. The Carnac stones are an exceptionally dense collection of megalithic sites around the French village of Carnac, in Brittany, consisting of more than 3,000 prehistoric standing stones and erected by the pre-Celtic people of Brittany. They were a fierce, independent tribe that lived in southwest Florida as early as 2,000 years ago. ed. /* 728x15 link ad */ Granberry has provided an inventory of phonemes to the sounds of the Calusa language.[22][21]. [24][25], In 1566 Pedro Menndez de Avils, founder of St. Augustine, made contact with the Calusa. 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. 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 Calusas as Shell Indians The Calusas are considered to be the first "shell collectors." Shells were discarded into huge heaps. The Spanish documented four cases of known succession to the position of paramount chief, recording most names in Spanish form. 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. One illustration of the sophistication of the Calusa can be found in eyewitness accounts of an event in 1566. 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. They believed that people had three souls-in a person's eye, shadow, and their reflection in the water. The Calusa men were tall and well built with long hair. Along the southwest Gulf coast lived the Calusa (Caloosa) Indians. google_ad_client = "pub-8872632675285158"; Florida of the Indians. By the early 1600s the Calusa returned to Mound Key and reestablished their capital. The Franciscans established a mission there in the late 17th century, but the Calusa evicted them after a few months time. The Caloosahatchee culture inhabited the Florida west coast from Estero Bay to Charlotte Harbor and inland about halfway to Lake Okeechobee, approximately covering what are now Charlotte and Lee counties. 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. 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. 2013-09-27 21:18:35. 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. Known as the first shell collectors, the Calusa used shells as tools, utensils, building materials, vessels for domestic and ceremonial use and for personal adornment. Calusa means "fierce people," and they were described as a fierce, war-like people. Milanich, Jerald. After the outbreak of war between Spain and England in 1702, slaving raids by Uchise Creek and Yamasee Indians allied with the Province of Carolina began reaching far down the Florida peninsula. 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. American Archaeology cover, featuring Florida Museum illustration by Merald Clark. But Widmer argues that the evidence for maize cultivation by the Calusa depends on the proposition that the Narvez and de Soto expeditions landed in Charlotte Harbor rather than Tampa Bay, which is now generally discounted. The chief's house was described as having two big windows, suggesting that it had walls. [2] The Tequesta tribe had only a few survivors by . 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. (904) 665-0064. In 1987, the Tribe approved a constitution and began to lay the groundwork for a self-sufficiency plan. By interceding with these spirits, it was believed that the chief was ensuring that his people would be well-supplied by the land. Despite having no real agriculture, they developed a dense, sedentary, complex society, with all the good & bad that entails. The first Spanish explorers found that these Indians were not very friendly. They were occupying this land and engaging in commerce, culture, religion, politics and family life . The Jesuit Menendez noted that in the early hours of the morning, Carlos would sit on a stool with his people around him to discuss the ideas presented by the missionaries. Such hierarchy and inequality are generally characteristics of societies that practice agriculture, he observed. What was the Calusa religion? Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2004. Soon after the discoveries, Donald funded archaeological mapping of . South Florida Archaeology and Ethnography, South Florida Archaeology & Ethnography Collection. One is left only to imagine how lifelike these wooden figureheads must have appeared when used on ceremonial occasions. The Calusa case also illustrates remarkably sophisticated engagements with, and long-term large-scale management of, coastal and estuarine environments.. Slaves occupy the lowest level in Calusa society. They were supported by the labor of the majority of the Calusa. Rituals were believed to link the Calusa to their spirit world ( Art by Merald Clark. One of the most notable traditions of the Calusa was their use of shell mounds. [28] Cuban fishing camps (ranchos) operated along the southwest Florida coast from the 18th century into the middle of the 19th century. Cushings knowledge of American Indian culture, and specifically his experiences at Zuni Pueblo, helped him make rapid judgments about objects which in many cases were disintegrating before him. Be notified when an answer is posted. There are probably people of Calusa descent still alive today. The CalusaPeople of the Estuary. "Calusa". Little is known about Calusa religion. [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). Judging from the email I get, there are a lot of people out there trying to learn about traditional Native American religion and spirituality these days. Many of them are trying to do this on the Internet. Historic documents say the Calusa then set fire to Mound Key and fled the island, which also prompted the Spanish to leave. Their main waterway was the Calooshahatchee River, which means River of the Calusa. [1], Early Spanish and French sources referred to the tribe, its chief town, and its chief as Calos, Calus, Caalus, and Carlos. The Spanish left less description on what the Calusa women wore. It was during this time that the team located the Spanish fort Fort San Antn de Carlos, named for the Catholic patron saint of lost things that historic documents said was built near Caalus house in 1566. 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. Fontaneda lived with various tribes in southern Florida for the next seventeen years before being found by the Menendez de Avils expedition. They were descendants of Paleo-Indians who inhabited Southwest Florida approximately 12,000 years ago. He was also attacked by the Calusa. The two forms together may have indicated his transformation (Figs. The mission was closed after only a few months. Artist's conception of town chief at the Calusa town of Tampa (present day Pineland) (Art by Merald Clark.) "Chapter 10. "The Calusa: A Stratified, Nonagricultural Society (With Notes on Sibling Marriage)." At first, there must have been an uneasy tolerance of one another, as the Spanish built their fort, Marquardt explained. 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. Uniquely, it was powered by fishing, not farming. Rituals were believed to link the Calusa to their spirit world (Art by Merald Clark.) Calusa territory reached from Charlotte Harbor to Cape Sable, all of present-day Charlotte, Lee, and Collier counties, and may have included the Florida Keys at times. The capital of the Calusa, and where the rulers administered from, was Mound Key, near present day Estero, Florida. Calusa Tribe. Calusa beliefs included a trinity of governing spirits. Because the Timucua didn't use money, though, a shaman would be given such items as baskets or turkeys. Index of Indigenous languages Native Americans enjoyed a wide variety of entertainment in the form of sports, games, music, dance, and festivals. Said by a Spaniard, Hernando de Escalante Fontaneda, who was a captive among them for many years, to mean "fierce people," but it is perhaps more probable that, since it often appears in the form Carlos, it was, as others assert, adopted by the Calusa chief from the name of the Emperor Charles V, about whose greatness he had learned from Spanish prisoners. 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