Florida Native American Heritage Trail - (Page 3) Archaeology and Florida’s Native American Heritage lorida’s native heritage is ancient and expansive. e earliest evidence suggests that people first lived in Florida 12,000 years ago, and some scholars believe these first Floridians may have arrived even earlier. Archaeologists have long believed that these people arrived in Florida on foot, following nowextinct Pleistocene animals such as the mastodon. But ideas about these first Floridians are changing and some scientists have suggested that these people may have traveled by dugout canoe and subsisted on smaller animals, including fish and shellfish. e descendants of these first arrivals flourished here, developing distinctive regional cultures that produced exquisite pottery effigies; complex villages; technologies in bone, shell, wood and stone; and intricate local and long-distance trade networks. Life changed drastically after the arrival of Europeans in the early 16th century. New diseases, missions, warfare and slavery began Ryan Wheeler State Archaeologist and Chief, Florida Bureau of Archaeological Research F to erode the daily lives of these people and significantly altered traditional social, political and ceremonial systems. Despite these hardships, the cultures of many Native American groups persisted for 200 years or longer. In some cases the introduction of European metals inspired an artistic renaissance, with traditional forms interpreted in new media. e introduction of European goods also “The Mullet Run” Harvesting and processing mullet. altered traditional (Image courtesy of Hermann Trappman, Gulfport) relationships within and between neighboring tribes. e native people of Florida left In the twilight of the original behind dugout canoes, burial mounds, cultures of native Florida some and heaps of village refuse known as groups perished, others escaped to midden, as well as temple mounds, neighboring areas earthworks, and artifacts—all distinct in the Southeast traces of their lives. Archaeology is and Caribbean, one way to understand the Native and some joined American experience in Florida. forces with other Oral, written, and living history, Native Americans anthropology, literature, folklore and that moved into the lives of modern Native Americans the region from the also offer avenues to understanding north. Disruption this rich heritage. Florida’s Native of traditional American heritage can be found in ways of living in many places and in many ways. is other parts of the book is a guide to many archaeological American Southeast sites, museums and living history brought the people programs across the state. Visit these now known as places and look for more information Using archaeology to teach about the past at the Mound Creek, Seminole, on the internet and at the library.v House (see page 28). and Miccosukee. (Image courtesy of The Mound House, Fort Myers Beach) 3
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