Pineland Archeological District

Last updated

Pineland Archeological District
USA Florida location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location Lee County, Florida
Nearest city Pineland
Coordinates 26°40′N82°09′W / 26.66°N 82.15°W / 26.66; -82.15
MPS Archeological Resources of the Caloosahatchee Region MPS
NRHP reference No. 73000583 [1]
Added to NRHPNovember 27, 1973

The Pineland Archeological District (also known as Battey's Landing or Battey Place or the Pineland Site) is a U.S. historic district (designated as such on November 27, 1973) located on Pine Island, near Pineland, Florida, and next to Pine Island Sound. The site was occupied by people of the Caloosahatchee culture, known as the Calusa in historic times, from 500  BCE until after 1700. The site includes shell and sand mounds and other structures and prehistoric canals and artificial lakes. It also includes structures from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Contents

Description

The Pineland Archeological District includes a number of mounds and other features. Close to the shore is Battey's Landing (8LL35), consisting of the Brown Mound Complex, with five mounds, to the northwest, and to the southeast, the Randell Mound Complex, with two mounds. The two complexes are separated by the western end of the Pine Island Canal (8LL34). Southeast of the Randell Mound Complex, close to the shore, is the Old Mound, or Pineland Midden (8LL37). Inland to the south of the canal are the Surf Clam Ridge, the Citrus Ridge, the Smith Mound, or Pineland Burial Mound (8LL36), and the Low Mound (8LL1612). Furthest inland, north of the canal, is Adam's Mound (8LL38). [2] [3] [4] The Pineland site was in use for most of the Caloosahatchee culture period, from about 50 until after 1700. [5] The site also includes historic buildings, such as the Pineland Post Office and the Ruby Gill House. [6]

The Pineland Site Complex is an area designated for the protection of the archaeological and natural resources of the Pineland site, managed by the University of Florida Foundation. In partnership with the Archeological Conservancy, the University of Florida Foundation, Lee County and the Calusa Land Trust, the State of Florida has designated 211 acres (85 ha) as an area of Critical Historical Resources. In 1996, the Randell family gave 53 acres (210,000 m2) of the site to the University of Florida, which the museum now operates as the Randell Research Center. As of 2012, 63 acres (25 ha) had been acquired by the state, and negotiations were underway to buy full ownership or conservation easements on several remaining parcels. [7] The Randell Research Center is a research and educational facility at Pineland operated by the Florida Museum of Natural History. [6]

Battey's Landing

The heart of the Pineland site, Battey's Landing, covered about 100 acres (40 ha) when visited by Frank Hamilton Cushing in 1895, but by 1989 only 20 acres (8.1 ha) remained intact, preserved by landowners Don and Pat Randell. [8] Cushing described the site as extending about .25 miles (0.40 km) inland and about .75 miles (1.21 km) along the shore, with the "high-built" portions (including the courts) covering at least 75 to 80 acres (30 to 32 ha). He reported five "enormous" rectangular courts, enclosed by nine quadrangular foundation terraces. A series of benches, courts and enclosures extended to the south of the main site, diminishing in size. The courts were connected to Pine Island Sound by canals. Cushing described the Pine Island Canal, leading from Pine Island Sound between two "very high shell elevations" to a court that was lower than the others. From the eastern end of the court, a canal 30 feet (9.1 m) wide and 6 feet (1.8 m) deep ran east into the interior of the island. Much of the Battey's Landing site, and in particular, the courts, was being used for agriculture at the time of Cushing's visit. [9]

Other features

Unlike the other mounds at Pineland, which were shell middens, the Smith Mound is a sand mound with thin layers of shell, and was used for burials. The Smith Mound was originally about 300 feet (91 m) long and 30 feet (9.1 m) high. (Cushing gave dimensions for this mound of 375 feet (114 m) long, 150 feet (46 m) wide and 58 feet (18 m) high. [a] ) It was surrounded by a pond fed by a canal which branched from the Pine Island Canal. A path wound around the mound to the summit, which was narrow but flat. Cushing observed potsherds, broken shell ladles, and human bones on the mound. The Smith Mound was constructed around 1000 years ago. Part of the mound was destroyed more than a century ago, and the adjacent pond and canal filled in. Half of the mound and the pond were preserved by its owner, Captain Smith. [9] [11]

History

The Pineland site faces the shallow Pine Island Sound. The people of Pineland were largely dependent on fish and shellfish taken from the Sound for sustenance. Early in the Current Era, during the Roman Warm Period, sea levels were comparable to or higher than current levels. [b] The people of Pineland during this period left linear shell middens parallel to the shore. Several lines of middens formed as people moved back and forth in response to variations in the sea level in the Sound. As the climate shifted into a cooler period, sometimes called the Vandal Minimum, sea levels fell to the point that Pine Island Sound no longer supported a fishery adequate to the needs of the Pineland population.

Sometime during the 9th century, Pineland and other population centers along the west side of Pine Island, such as Josslyn Island and Galt Island, were abandoned in favor of sites with access to deeper water on the barrier islands, such as the Mark Pardo Shellworks Site, and on islands on the west side of Pine Island Sound, such as Useppa. This corresponds to the beginning of the Caloosahatchee IIB period, marked by changes in ceramics. The onset of the Medieval Warm Period brought a rapid return of sea level in Pine Island Sound to former levels, and Pineland was reoccupied in the 10th century. [14]

Starting in the 10th century, the people of Pineland constructed linear mounds in groups, with the mounds oriented perpendicular to the shoreline, in contrast to the earlier middens parallel to the shoreline. These mounds reached heights of up to 7 metres (23 ft) by about 1200, at the end of the Caloosahatchee IIB period. During this period a natural waterway passing between the Brown and Randell mound complexes was altered into the western end of the Pine Island Canal. The Smith Mound was also started in the 11th century. A pronounced cool spell, around 1100, briefly lowered sea levels in Pine Island Sound, and the Pineland site was apparently abandoned from before 1100 until about 1150. The Little Ice Age began around 1200, again lowering sea levels in Pine Island Sound, but never as low as during the Vandal Minimum. [15]

Notes

  1. ↑ Cushing has been said to have used 'hyperbole' in his estimates of the heights of mounds. [10]
  2. ↑ Marquardt and Walker list the Wulfert High sea level, corresponding to the Roman Warm Period (100 BCE - 500), Buck Key Low sea level, corresponding to the Vandal Minimum (500 -850), La Costa High sea level, corresponding to the Medieval Warm Period (850-1200), and Sanibel II Low sea level, corresponding to the Little Ice Age (1200 - 1850). [12] Mitchell-Tapping et al. posit a sea level along the southwest Florida coast about 1.2 metres (3.9 ft) above late 20th century mean sea level (MSL) during the Wulfert High, and about 0.6 metres (2.0 ft) below late 20th century MSL during the Buck Key Low, with smaller excursions during the La Costa High and Sanibel II Low. [13]

Citations

  1. ↑ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. ↑ Payne, Claudine; William H. Marquardt (January 1996). "Pineland, a Gift of the Past to the Future" (PDF). Calusa News. p. 3. Retrieved January 2, 2014.
  3. ↑ Luer, George M. (March 1991). "Historic Resources at the Pineland Site, Lee County, Florida". The Florida Anthropologist. 44 (1): 65. Retrieved January 2, 2014.
  4. ↑ Sampson, Christina Perry; Randee Hunter; Victor D. Thompson (September 2011). "Shallow Geophysics and Archaeology at Pineland" (PDF). Friends of the Randell Research Center. p. 1. Retrieved January 2, 2014.
  5. ↑ Marquardt, William H.; Karen J. Walker (2013). "The Archaeology of Pineland: A Coastal Southwest Florida Site Complex: A.D 50 - 1710" (PDF). Retrieved January 4, 2014.
  6. 1 2 "Randell Research Center". Florida Museum of Natural History. Retrieved January 4, 2014.
  7. ↑ "Pineland Site Complex" (PDF). Florida Department of State. Retrieved January 4, 2014.
  8. ↑ Marquardt, William H. (May 1989). "Return to Battey's Landing" (PDF). Calusa News. p. 1. Retrieved January 3, 2014.
  9. 1 2 Cushing, Frank Hamilton (2000). Exploration of Ancient Key-Dweller Remains on the Gulf Coast of Florida (Reprint ed.). Gainesville, Florida: University Press of Florida. pp. 13–15. ISBN   0-8130-1791-2 . Retrieved January 3, 2014.
  10. ↑ Widmer 2000, p. xii.
  11. ↑ "The Smith Mound at Pineland" (PDF). Friends of the Randell Research Center. December 2013. p. 2. Retrieved January 2, 2014.
  12. ↑ Marquardt & Walker 2012, p. 32.
  13. ↑ Mitchell-Tapping, Hugh J.; Mitchell-Tapping, Aleta M.; Lee, Thomas J.; Williams, Cathy R. "Core Evidence of Sea Level High Stands in Southwestern Florida During the Last 5,000 Years" (PDF). Florida Gulf Coast University. pp. 51–52. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 17, 2010. Retrieved January 8, 2014.
  14. ↑ Marquardt & Walker: 38-39
  15. ↑ Marquardt & Walker: 39–41

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pineland, Florida</span> Census-designated place in Florida, United States

Pineland is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) on Pine Island in Lee County, Florida, United States. The population was 466 at the 2020 census, up from 407 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Calusa</span> Historic Indigenous people in Florida, United States

The Calusa were a Native American people of Florida's southwest coast. Calusa society developed from that of archaic peoples of the Everglades region. Previous indigenous cultures had lived in the area for thousands of years.

Pine Island is the largest island on the Gulf Coast of peninsular Florida in the United States. Located in Lee County, on the Gulf of Mexico coast of southwest Florida, it is also the 118th largest island in the United States. The Intracoastal Waterway passes through Pine Island Sound, to the west of the island. Matlacha Pass runs between Pine Island and the mainland. Pine Island lies west of Cape Coral. For many years, Pine Island was a major commercial fishing community and many of its full-time residents still fish commercially today.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pine Island Sound</span> Coastal body of water in Florida, US

Pine Island Sound is located in Lee County, Florida, lying between Pine Island and the barrier islands of Sanibel Island, Captiva Island, North Captiva Island and Cayo Costa, which separate the Sound from the Gulf of Mexico. The Sound connects to Gasparilla Sound and Charlotte Harbor to the north, and to San Carlos Bay and the Caloosahatchee River to the south. The Sound is conterminous with the Pine Island Sound Aquatic Preserve, which was established in 1970 and consists of 54,000 acres (220 km2) of submerged land. Important habitats in the Sound include mangroves, seagrasses, salt marshes, oyster communities, tidal flats and sponge beds. All animals in and around Pine Island sound, including mollusks, fish, birds and mammals, are affected by periodic outbreaks of red tide. The Sound is relatively shallow in many locations, and boaters are cautioned to utilize up-to-date charts and tide tables.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Weeden Island culture</span> Cultures that existed during the Late Woodland period of the North American Southeast

The Weeden Island cultures are a group of related archaeological cultures that existed during the Late Woodland period of the North American Southeast. The name for this group of cultures was derived from the Weedon Island site in Old Tampa Bay in Pinellas County.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Key Marco</span> Archaeological site in Florida, US

Key Marco was an archaeological site (8CR48) consisting of a large shell works island next to Marco Island, Florida. A small pond on Key Marco, now known as the "Court of the Pile Dwellers" (8CR49), was excavated in 1896 by the Smithsonian Institution's Pepper-Hearst Expedition, led by Frank Hamilton Cushing. Cushing recovered more than 1,000 wooden artifacts from the pond, the largest number of wooden artifacts from any prehistoric archaeological site in the eastern United States. These artifacts are described as some of the finest prehistoric Native American art in North America. The Key Marco materials are principally divided between the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania; the Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution; and the Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida. The original pond was completely excavated and refilled. It is now covered by a housing subdivision. Excavations of small parts of the site were also conducted in 1965 and 1995.

The Belle Glade culture, or Okeechobee culture, is an archaeological culture that existed from as early as 1000 BCE until about 1700 CE in the area surrounding Lake Okeechobee and in the Kissimmee River valley in the Florida Peninsula.

The Caloosahatchee culture is an archaeological culture on the Gulf coast of Southwest Florida that lasted from about 500 to 1750 AD. Its territory consisted of the coast from Estero Bay to Charlotte Harbor and inland about halfway to Lake Okeechobee, approximately covering what are now Charlotte, Lee, and Collier counties. At the time of first European contact, the Caloosahatchee culture region formed the core of the Calusa domain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mound Key Archaeological State Park</span> Archaeological site in Florida, United States

Mound Key Archaeological State Park is a Florida State Park, located in Estero Bay, near the mouth of the Estero River. One hundred and thirteen of the island's one hundred and twenty-five acres are managed by the park system. It is a complex of mounds and accumulated shell, fish bone, and pottery middens that rises more than 30 feet above the waters of the bay.

The Big Mound Key-Boggess Ridge Archeological District is a historic site near Placida, Florida. It is located southeast of Placida, on Big Mound Key. On December 3, 1990, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.

Useppa Island is an island located near the northern end of Pine Island Sound in Lee County, Florida, United States. It has been known for luxury resorts since the late 19th century, and it is currently the home of the private Useppa Island Club. On May 21, 1996, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places, due to its archaeological significance.

Dismal Key is a small island, part of the Ten Thousand Islands archipelago in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida. The island is artificial, constructed by people of the Glades culture. Construction of the island proceeded in stages over some 1,500 years following the end of the Archaic period in Florida. Occupation probably ended a couple of centuries before the arrival of Europeans in Florida. Dismal Key was occupied by several hermits in the 20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Green Mound</span> Archaeological site in Florida, United States

Green Mound is one of the largest Pre-Columbian shell mounds, or shell middens, in the United States. Located in Ponce Inlet, Florida, the peak of the mound is the highest elevation in the small city. While it once stood at forty feet above sea level, a combination of public works projects on the nearby roads and natural erosion have reduced the height of the mound by about 10 feet.

The indigenous people of the Everglades region arrived in the Florida peninsula of what is now the United States approximately 14,000 to 15,000 years ago, probably following large game. The Paleo-Indians found an arid landscape that supported plants and animals adapted to prairie and xeric scrub conditions. Large animals became extinct in Florida around 11,000 years ago.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Safety Harbor culture</span> Archaeological culture practiced by Native Americans living on the central Gulf coast Florida

The Safety Harbor culture was an archaeological culture practiced by Native Americans living on the central Gulf coast of the Florida peninsula, from about 900 CE until after 1700. The Safety Harbor culture is defined by the presence of Safety Harbor ceramics in burial mounds. The culture is named after the Safety Harbor site, located close to the center of the culture area. The Safety Harbor site is the probable location of the chief town of the Tocobaga, the best known of the groups practicing the Safety Harbor culture.

Muspa was the name of a town and a group of indigenous people in southwestern Florida in the early historic period, from first contact with the Spanish until indigenous peoples were gone from Florida, late in the 18th century.

Fort Center is an archaeological site in Glades County, Florida, United States, a few miles northwest of Lake Okeechobee. It was occupied for more than 2,000 years, from 450 BCE until about 1700 CE. The inhabitants of Fort Center may have been cultivating maize centuries before it appeared anywhere else in Florida.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shell works</span> Complex constructions of mollusc shells

Shell works are large and complex assemblages of shell found in southwest Florida. Shell works include mounds and other deposits, with features described as borrow pits, canals, causeways, cisterns, crescents, sunken plazas, ponds, ramps, raised platforms, ridges, rings, walls, and "water courts". The largest shell works were constructed during the Woodland period in southwest Florida, from Charlotte Harbor to the Ten Thousand Islands, including Estero Bay.

The Ortona Prehistoric Village is an archaeological site adjacent to the community of Ortona in northeastern Glades County, Florida, north of the Caloosahatchee River and west of Lake Okeechobee, consisting of mounds, canals and other features. Part of the site is currently in the Glades County-owned Ortona Indian Mound Park, but much remains in private hands. The site has been extensively modified by 20th-century activities, including the construction of a county road and a cemetery, sand mining operations, and improvements to pasture land.

The Roberts Island complex is an archaeological site in Citrus County, Florida, near the Gulf of Mexico, dating from the late Woodland period. It is located on an island in the Crystal River midway between the springs at the head of the river and the mouth of the river on the Gulf of Mexico. The site is a geographically separate unit of the Crystal River Archaeological State Park. The site includes three shell mounds and three middens. Two of the mounds may have had stepped sides. The Roberts Island complex was developed as the Crystal River site declined and most other ceremonial sites in the region were abandoned during the 7th or 8th century.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.