Prehistoric Inhabitants of the Fort Center Site: Early
he ancient people that once inhabited the area Florida Taround Lake Okeechobee and up the Kissimmee River Valley (Okeechobee Basin) had, until recent years, remained somewhat of a mystery. Many prehistoric sites of the Belle Glade Culture, named after two mounds excavated in Belle Specialist Glade, have been reported in south Florida but only a few have been excavated. Many of these sites are located around the by Dr. Patricia Miller-Shaivitz dominant topographical feature, Lake Okeechobee, an 1,825 square kilometer (704 square miles) freshwater lake located One of the major archaeological sites in the Okeechobee in south-central Florida. The surrounding landscape is flat Basin is Fort Center, named after a Second Seminole War and often covered with water during the rainy season (May (1835-1842) fort built at this ancient location. Occupying through September). This prehistoric culture constructed 944 hectares, Fort Center is located 7 kilometers (4.3 miles), extraordinary earthworks that included mounds, ponds, west of Lake Okeechobee on Fisheating Creek in present-day ditches, embankments, and canals, indicating their adaptation Glades County. The large earthwork sites constructed by the to their watery environment, and they may have influenced the ancient inhabitants may have reinforced social structure, and people living in the adjacent coastal areas. may have been symbols for the surrounding landscape. The
A panorama of the Fort Center site on Fisheating Creek in Glades County. The archaeological site is located in the Fisheating Creek Wildlife Management Area and it is open to the public. Courtesy Chris Davenport.
The Tustenegee 10 of the site into four periods:
Period I several centuries earlier than 450 B.C. Period II A.D. 200 to A.D.600-800 Period III A.D. 600-800 to A.D.1200-1400 Period IV A.D. 1200-1400 to A.D. 1700
During the first period the site appears to have had one or more single family dwellings on house mounds. There was no evidence of class differentiation. The second period was the focus of Sears’ research. During this time, activity at Fort Center was ceremonial in nature, and the site consisted of the following features: a pond, a platform with carved wooden animals, and a small brown platform that included a bathtub-shaped pit, a living complex, and low earth wall. The brown platform served as a morgue, where the dead were macerated and then bundled for internment on the platform in the pond. The charnel platform collapsed after a portion of it burned, causing the structure with the remains of approximately 300 individuals to rest on the bottom of the pond. The collapse of the platform led to an earth building program. During this operation some of the human remains from the pond and other skeletionized individuals were placed in a mound with the fill being deposited over the area. The third and fourth periods are relatively similar to each other. In the third period there are minimal changes; for example, attached linear garden plots emerge and there is a focus of this article is the people of the Fort Center site, and in shift in pottery style. In the fourth period there is evidence particular their physical and health characteristics. of Spanish contact with the presence of Spanish artifacts and The Fort Center site was excavated over several field items containing metal. seasons from 1966 to 1971 by Dr. William H. Sears and field Sears concluded that the site represented a high-status teams from Florida Atlantic University, Colgate University, community. However, he did not specify whether all of the and the University of Florida. According to Sears, the first individuals whose remains were recovered actually resided occupation of the site was some centuries prior to 450 B.C. and there throughout their lifetimes or were brought there for continued until Spanish contact. Sears divided the occupation mortuary care because of their high status.
11 Fall 2013 Studying the Human Remains The recovered (human remains) specimens were studied both marks were observed on one specimen, but macerating tools metrically and morphologically, and consist of a sample from commonly in use may not have regularly scored the surface the site. In particular, specimens were evaluated for age, sex, of the bones if, for example, the fingernails of the morticians stature, and disease. The purpose of the study was to see if were employed for this task, as described elsewhere for the the Fort Center population was indeed an elite population historic Choctaw. compared to other prehistoric Florida population samples. The analysis of the dental pathology suggested gum In spite of the difficulties involved working with the problems and a low incidence of caries. The low incidence fragmentary remains from Fort Center, it was possible to obtain of caries suggests that the people of Fort Center practiced a selected information on physical characteristics and health. mixed subsistence economy. The sample consisted mainly of mature adults aged twenty- Hematlogic disease is a good indicator of health status, as one to fifty years; this disproportionate representation may it reflects poor nutrition, other diseases, and parasites. A small reflect differential preservation, burial and/or archaeological number of Fort Center crania indicated that these individuals recovery. Females outnumbered males in the youngest adult suffered from severe chronic iron-deficiency anemia from age category, but this trend was reversed in later years. bacterial and parasitic infections and/or iron-deficient diets. Osteometrically, the Fort Center population was generally Evidence of skeletal trauma may provide inferences about similar to the other prehistoric Florida samples available for physical activities and stresses. Traumatic injuries at Fort comparison. The Fort Center population was somewhat more Center include both skull and long-bone fractures. Several gracile but approximately as tall as other populations, with the bones of the spine and extremities display osteoarthritic exception of one other population. changes. In terms of skeletal pathology, specimens displayed It would be impossible to discuss the Fort Center site anomalies in growth and development, trauma, inflammatory without mentioning the presence or non presence of corn response, and hematological disorders. These conditions were cultivation. Sears believed that pollen found at the site during not unique to this site, but have been reported from other the second cultural period (A.D. 209 to A.D. 600) indicated Florida sites as well. that the inhabitants were involved in corn cultivation. If Generalized bone inflammation was observed in several Sears was correct, Fort Center would be one of the earliest individuals, suggesting an infectious origin, and one individual examples of agriculture in the eastern United States. The major displayed lesions typical of treponemal disease (syphilis). questions surrounding this issue still exist, for example, how These lesions have been reported in other Florida sites. Taken the knowledge to grow corn arrived first in Florida before together, this evidence for treponemal disease in the Florida other areas. The controversy ranges from acceptance of Sears’ peninsula spans several centuries. findings, for example by McGown, based on the presence of Some of the pseudopathological alterations on bones may corn pollen in the pigment on an artifact and in coprolites, to the reflect the mortuary maceration processes suggested by Sears, non acceptance by Thompson, et al. based on microbotanical for example, defleshing of skeletons prior to curation. These and macrobotanical data as well as radiocarbon dates.
An artisit’s depiction of the ancient Fort Center site showing some of its mounds, Fisheating Creek, and the other earthworks. Image Courtesy Florida Division of Historical Resources.
The Tustenegee 12 A 1940s aerial view of Fort Center. Some of the scarring from the earthworks can still be seen. Courtesy Palm Beach County. At upper right is a drawing of the site plan of Fort Center. Courtesy Florida Anthropolgical Society.
Conclusion Bibliography From the analysis of the human remains from Fort Center the Periodicals following can be concluded. The Fort Center population might Bullen, A.K. “Paleoepidemiology and Distribution of have enjoyed superior health, compared to other populations Prehistoric Treponemiasis (Syphilis) in Florida,” The in the region, because of a better diet and freedom from the Florida Anthropologist 25 (1972) :133-175. typical round of arduous physical activities. The gracility Iscan, Mehmet Yasar and Patricia Miller-Shaivitz. “A Review of their long bones does suggest lower levels of strenuous of Physical Anthropology in the Florida Anthropologist,” The physical activity. The outstanding feature of the inhabitants Florida Anthropologist 36 (1983) :39-49. was their involvement with ceremonialism, and therefore “Prehistoric Syphilis in Florida,” Journal of the Florida they must have occupied a high social status. Given the small Medical Association 72 (1985) :109-113. sample size and the disarticulated and commingled nature of Isler, Robert, J. Schoen, and M.Y. Iscan. “Dental Pathology of the skeletal remains, these conclusions must be tentative at a Prehistoric Human Population in Florida,” Florida Scientist best. Further research at other major and minor sites in the 48 (1985) :139-146. Okeechobee Basin is essential for a better understanding of Thompson, Victor D. and Thomas J. Pluckhahn. the lives of the prehistoric inhabitants of this rich and complex “Monumentalization and Ritual Landscapes at Fort Center in region. the Lake Okeechobee Basin of South Florida,” Journal
13 Fall 2013 of Anthropological Archaeology 31(1) (2012) :49-65. Museum of Canada, Ottowa, 1984. Thompson, Victor D., K.J. Gremillion and T.J. Pluckhahan. Sears, William H. Fort Center: An Archaeological Site in the “Challenging the Evidence for Prehistoric Wetland Maize Lake Okeechobee Basin. Gainesville, FL: University Agriculture at Fort Center, Florida,” Archaeology 78(1) Presses of Florida, 1982. (2013) :181-193. Snow, Clyde E. Indian Burials from St. Petersburg, Florida. Wheeler, Ryan. “The Riviera Complex: An East Okeechobee Contributions of the Florida State Museum, Social Sciences Archaeological Area Settlement,” The Florida No.8. Gainesville, 1962. Anthropologist 45 (1992) :5-7. Swanton, J.R. The Indians of the Southeastern United States. Books Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin No. 137. Kidwell, Clara Sue and C. Roberts. The Choctaws. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1946. Bloomington: University of Indiana Press, 1980. McGoun, William E. Prehistoric Peoples of South Florida. Other Tuscaloosa, AL: The University of Alabama Press, 1993. Shaivitz, Patricia Miller. Physical and Health Characteristics Milanich, Jerald T. Archaeology of Precolumbian Florida. of the Indians from the Fort Center Site. M.A. Thesis, Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida. 1994. Department of Anthropology, Florida Atlantic University, Miller-Shaivitz, Patricia and M.Y. Iscan. “The Prehistoric Boca Raton, 1986. People of Fort Center: Physical and Health Characteristics.” In What Mean These Bones? Studies in Southeastern Bioarchaeology, edited by M.L. Powell and P.S. Bridges, 131-147. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1991. Dr. Patricia Miller-Shaivitz is retired from teaching and lives Patterson, D.K. , Jr. A Diachronic Study of Dental in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. She holds a doctorate degree Paleopathology and Attritional Status of Prehistoric in anthropology from the University of South Florida. Ontario Pre-Iroquois and Iroquois Populations. National
To learn more about the ancient inhabitants of Fort Center and the People of the Water, visit the Richard and Pat Johnson Palm Beach County History Museum to see the special exhibit, “People of the Water: The Belle Glade Culture,” on display through June 28, 2014.
The Johnson History Museum is open Tuesday-Friday, 10:00 am-5:00 pm.
Location: 300 North Dixie Highway, West Palm Beach, FL 33401 | 561-832-4164 | www.historicalsocietypbc.org
Web site: www.historicalsocietypbc.org
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