Digging Miami

1. Diggers, Scientists, and Antiquarians: History of Archaeological Research

1 Diggers, Scientists, and Antiquarians History of Archaeological Research South Florida is a region generally unfamiliar to American archaeologists. Until the 1980s, relatively few archaeologists conducted research in the area, in part because of several geographic and educational forces. First, the remoteness of the area contributed greatly to the lack of investigations. Before Henry Flagler’s Florida East Coast Railroad arrived in the newly formed city of Miami in 1896, getting there was difficult and usually involved traveling by water. While the railroad brought tourists and settlers, few archaeologists traveled to South Florida. Second, most of Miami-Dade County’s coastal prehistoric sites were quickly destroyed or built over during Miami’s first building boom, which lasted from 1896 until the bust of 1925. (Ironically, many of the sites that had been covered and preserved by fill in the 1920s were uncovered in the 1980s and 1990s during a building boom that spread southward from downtown Miami to Brickell Avenue , uncovering a scientific bonanza of artifacts and information.) Third, although the University of Miami had been established in 1926, courses specializing in Florida archaeology were not offered until recently. South Florida was not the home of a four-year state university until the 1960s. The absence of a state academic institution meant that professional archaeologists , traditionally employed by state colleges, rarely had the opportunity to be employed south of Gainesville (home of the University of Florida). It is no accident that until the 1980s the largest number of prehistoric sites of any of Florida’s counties was recorded in Alachua and Leon Counties, where long-established state universities are located. Until the 1960s archaeological projects often were situated within driving distance of universities . The documentation and preservation of Miami-Dade County’s archaeological resources did not begin in earnest until protective legislation was Digging Miami 2 enacted. The federal Historic Preservation Act of 1966 established guidelines to help preserve and conserve archaeological sites located on federal property, such as Everglades National Park and Biscayne National Park. These standards eventually filtered down to state, county, and municipal levels. The Florida Division of Historical Resources (FDHR) began in 1967 under the authority of Florida Statute 267. However, because of the agency’s small budget, and with an office only in Tallahassee, an additional seven years elapsed before state archaeologists were able to conduct investigations in southeastern Florida. It was not until 1981 that Dade County (so named prior to 1997’s name change to Miami-Dade) passed its own historic preservation ordinance, followed by the city of Miami’s ordinance in 1986. It was only after these local ordinances were in place that archaeological sites received protection and requirements for their documentation if threatened by development. Despite circumstances that discouraged scientific archaeological research in southern Florida prior to protective ordinances, artifacts and information from the area’s prehistoric culture were collected and cataloged by a large number of people, from winter visitors and explorers to scientists and avocational archaeologists. What follows is a summary of those contributions , but undoubtedly, the full story could be a book in itself. Explorers and Surveyors Even though Spanish colonization proceeded vigorously throughout much of the Caribbean and South America during the sixteenth century, the Spanish domination of Florida moved at a slow pace, encountering greater resistance from the Indians and fewer material rewards for the colonizers’ efforts. However, many of the Spanish visitors in early Florida left valuable records that document not only Spanish intentions but also Native American customs. One of the most important witnesses to southern Florida’s Native American cultures was Hernando d’Escalante Fontaneda, who was shipwrecked in the 1540s and rescued by the Pedro Menéndez de Avilés expedition seventeen years later. Fontaneda lived with the Indians during those years and learned their languages and customs. The description of his captivity is one of the most important eyewitness accounts of sixteenth-century Native Americans in southern Florida.1 Gonzalo Solis Meras, the official chronicler of the Menéndez expedition, recorded their encounters with the Tequesta and Calusa Indians. Descrip- Diggers, Scientists, and Antiquarians: History of Archaeological Research 3 tions of Indian religion were also contained in letters written by a Spanish priest, Brother Francisco Villareal, who had attempted, unsuccessfully, to maintain a Jesuit mission at the mouth of the Miami River. Extensive records have been translated into English and are now accessible in books and articles about the...