Everglades City
by Reverend Dr Bob N. Wallace | Everglades Community Church
The most well-known Turtle Mound in Florida is located at the Canaveral National Seashore, near New Smyrna Beach on the Atlantic coast. This prehistoric shell midden, constructed by the Timucua people, is one of the largest in the mainland United States. It rises about 50 feet high and offers stunning views of the surrounding area.
Ottor Mound on Marco Island. Photos by Denise Wauters
However, this site is not in southwest Florida. If you’re interested in shell mounds or middens in southwest Florida, there are several other notable sites, such as the Mound Key Archaeological State Park in Estero Bay, which was an important ceremonial center for the Calusa people. Florida and Georgia archaeologists have discovered the location of Fort San Antón de Carlos, home of one of the first Jesuit missions in North America. The Spanish fort was built in 1566 in the capital of the Calusa, the most powerful Native American tribe in the region, on present-day Mound Key in the center of Estero Bay on Florida’s Gulf Coast. Archaeologists and historians have long suspected that the fort, named for the Catholic patron saint of lost things, was located on Mound Key. Researchers have been searching for concrete evidence in the area since 2013.
“Before our work,” wrote Mary-Lou Watkinson and Halle Marchese for the University of Florida Museum on April 23, 2020, “the only information we had was from Spanish documents, which suggested that the Calusa capital was on Mound Key and that Fort San Antón de Carlos was there, too.”
William Marquardt, curator emeritus of South Florida archaeology and ethnography at the Florida Museum of Natural History, added, “Archaeologists and historians had visited the site and collected pottery from the surface, but until we found physical evidence of the Calusa king’s house and the fort, we could not be absolutely certain.”
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 rise more than 30 feet above the waters of the bay.
A shell mound, also known as a shell midden, is an archaeological feature primarily composed of mollusk shells. These mounds are ancient refuse heaps that also contain other remnants of human activity, such as animal bones, botanical material, and artifacts.
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia tells us that shell mounds are significant because they provide valuable insights into the diets, habits, and living conditions of past societies. The high calcium carbonate content in the shells helps preserve organic materials, making these mounds rich sources of archaeological information.
The earliest evidence of man at Canaveral National Seashore is found in the numerous mounds within its boundaries. More than 14,000 years ago, small nomadic bands of First Natives entered Florida. As time passed, regional cultures evolved in response to local environmental conditions. By the time the Europeans came various distinct First Native groups were distributed throughout Florida. Living in the vicinity of Turtle Mound were the Timucuan people.
In their 2,000 years of occupation along the coast, the Timucuans did little to alter the natural landscape. Their few remaining burial mounds and shell mounds are like an unwritten book about the people who lived here. By protecting it, we are assuring that future generations will learn of the Timucuan people. The large shell mounds hold undisclosed information about their way of life. From 800 to 1400 CE, generation after generation left evidence behind to tell of their lifestyle at Turtle Mound. There has never been a complete excavation of Turtle Mound. By protecting it for the future, we will be able to gain more insight into the Timucuan way of life.
