Digging Miami

12. The Miami Circle and Beyond

12 The Miami Circle and Beyond In May 1998, urban archaeology and the community were put to the test when an important archaeological discovery collided with the Miami’s historic preservation ordinance and private property rights. I was driving over the Brickell Bridge and saw a wrecking crane demolishing the vacant Brickell Apartments located on the south bank of the Miami River. The sense of alarm I felt was not over the loss of the 1950 multistory structures but the realization that no archaeologist had been notified to monitor the demolition . The parcel was located within the city’s Miami River Archaeological Conservation Area, which meant there was a legal requirement for an archaeologist to be present. Surprisingly, the developer, Michael Baumman, had never been told by city staff that there was such a requirement, and no conditions for archaeology had been placed on his permits. Nonetheless, he was agreeable to hiring an archaeologist (Scott Lewis) to conduct monitoring during the demolition process. As the concrete building foundations were being ripped from the ground, black-earth midden, shells, and artifacts became exposed across much of the 2-acre lot. The Miami-Dade county archaeologist, John Ricisak, with assistance from the Archaeological and Historical Conservancy, began excavating test units in one area once it had been fully cleared by the demolition crew. When archaeologists dug the second test hole, a peculiar feature was uncovered in the limestone bedrock 50 centimeters below the black-earth midden: a basin that appeared manmade and cut into the bedrock. The feature contained hundreds of prehistoric animal bones, shells, and pottery sherds. The absence of any historic or modern materials could only mean that the feature itself was prehistoric. When additional archaeological testing revealed similar basins and numerous smaller circular holes cut in the bedrock, the project surveyor, T. L. Riggs, observed that the basin locations were not random but were aligned on an arc that he hypothesized was part of a circle. Based on his measurements , Riggs calculated the diameter and circumference of the circle and Part V. Urban Archaeology: A Past with a Future 234 then spray-painted a circular footprint on top the ground. With only a week to go before construction was to begin, the archaeologists mechanically stripped the fill and part of the midden along the circumference of the painted circle. The backhoe bucket was never allowed to reach the bedrock. The remaining soils were dug by hand, revealing a perfect circle measuring 38 feet in diameter and composed of 24 basins. Nothing had ever been seen like this before in Florida—a circle of holes cut into solid rock (fig. 12.1). The mystery of the circle, which became a media sensation, was pondered and debated by scholars. A campaign was waged by the public and preservation groups to save the circle, and in 1999, after considerable controversy and the expenditure of $26,700,000, the 2-acre site was acquired by the state of Florida and Miami-Dade County to be preserved as an archaeological park. Title for the parcel was held by the state of Florida, and in 2009 the park was placed under the management of the Historical Museum of Figure 12.1. Aerial photo of the Miami Circle. Courtesy of the Miami-Dade County Historic Preservation Division. The Miami Circle and Beyond 235 Southern Florida. The parcel opened to the public in 2010, after repairs were completed to the crumbled seawall. Part of the hoopla of the circle was the controversy over its origin and age, which ran a gambit of theories from the ridiculous—an alien landing pad— to the profane: a Stonehenge-like calendar, a council house, a chief’s house, a fish weir, coconut tree planting holes dug by the Brickell family, and, the most deflating theory of them all, a drain field for the Brickell Apartment septic tanks. To determine the site’s function and significance, a systematic survey was conducted across the parcel by Florida’s Division of Historical Resources,1 while intensive testing was conducted at other parts of the site.2 Funds allocated by a Florida historic preservation grant were used to conduct scientific analyses of the site and its artifacts.3 The first line of analysis was the circle itself. A laser-scanned map and measurements of the circle’s features indicated that each basin had been cut and shaped into the limestone bedrock. Grooves were...