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A Glimpse of South Florida's Prehistoric Art

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A Glimpse of South Florida's Prehistoric Art The Florida State Museum Eagle: A Glimpse of South Florida's Prehistoric Art Alice Gmes Schwe/1111 For many years the Florida State Museum has used as B.C.' Another suggestion as the source of the Basin its S)'mbol a carved wood eagle effigy post which had been a population is a possible migmtion of peoples from nonhem donation 10 the museum in 1926 (Figure I). A replica of this South America through the Antillcs.5 Whether settled from eagle post stands today in the museum lobby and is one of the nonh or south. there is evidence of established human the first exhibits the museum visitor sees as he enters the occupation (>f the southwestern Florida coast before 1000 door. B.C.. and funher evidence that Fon Center was being used The chance discovery of the eagle post is credited to a as a year-round living site by 500 B.C.6 Pollen samples have local resident of Lakcpon. Florida. who uneanhed the been tested to prove that by 450 B.C .. crops of maize were figu re near a then-unexplored Indian mound in Glades being grown in large circular plots. 7 and it has been County, in south central Florida. The eagle post was unique. sugge.sted that the move inland from the coast may have Lacking similar figures for stylistic comparison. the effigy been prompted by the desire to cultivate maize. since the was attributed 10 the Calusa Indians and given a tentative coastal regions were unsuitable for fanning .8 date of A.D. 1600. 1 Prehistoric wood anifacts are very rare. The Fon Center mound had been mentioned in military and the pre.~ervation of this particular piece is due to the survey repons as early as the 1850s.• but it wasn ·1 until fou r feet of muck that covered it and protected the wood 1964. that Dr. William Hulse Sears of the Florida State from the atmosphere and cenain disintegration. Museum conducted an excavation of the site. This panicular The eagle and post measure 5 feet 2 inches in height. area was selected for study because it appeared to have had The eagle figure alone measures 2 feet. Although carved a long history of occupation. and the mounds and eanh­ from the hc"nwood of yellow pine which is a light-colored works. typical of the Okeechobee Basin. indicated cere­ wood. centuries of being submerged in the water and muck monial activity. Not the least of the reasons was the have left the effigy post a dark brown. Softer pans of the "possibility for (finding) preserved wood material" sig­ wood have worn away. leaving the grain raised in relief, a nalled by the discovery of the eagle eftigy post fony years condition caused by time and erosion. One can assume that earl ier. 10 the original figure had a smoothly carved exterior and. in Sears· excavations at Fon Ccnrer rcvc.alcd a large the custom of other prehistoric works of the area. was agricultural and ceremonial complex exhibiting evidence of probably painted. The wings of the eagle are panially over 2.000 years of occupation.'' The sizeable dimensions extended in a menacing and protective manner. The head is of the agricultural and ceremonial areas may be an indica- bent forward in the alen pose of a sentry. 2 After many 1ion that the site served as a religious center for more than centuries. the tnlent of the unknown anist is still apparent. the immediate surrounding area." Although the dates of the The eagle post was not the firs t piece of prehistoric agricultural plots were much earlier. the ceremonial com• carved wood 10 be found in south Florida. In 1895, several plcx was constructed and in use between the years A.O. extremely well.preserved wood articles were excavated at 1- 500. 11,e complex consisted of two eanhen platfonn the Gulf Coast site of Key Marco in Collier County. The mounds and a man-made pond situated between them." animal fonns were easily recognizable and . in some cases. The mound to the east of the pond was fai rly low and the original paint was still visible . As in Glades County. the provided an elevated base for five or six wooden Jiving remarkable state of preservation was due 10 the layers of structures. possibly for priests or other members of the muck that had covered them. religion. 14 The west side mound was higher and evidently Glades County is approximately 80 miles from Key served as a base for a chamel house in which bodies of the Marco. and Indian mounds exist in both locations as they do deceased were stripped of Hesh and the bones assembled in in many areas of Florida (Figure 2). The Glades County bundles. These bone bundles were eventually placed on a Indian mound, where the eagle was discovered. is located large wood monuary platfom, built over the pond, and it is on a high dry hammock on Fisheating Creek. four miles estimated that there were approximately 300 l>undlc l>urials west of Lake Okeechobee. The creek provides a convenient on the platform at the time of its collapse in A.D. 500." link between the lake and inland areas. as imponant a factor Some of the bundles were retrieved from the water and 10 today's hunters and fishennen as it must have b<..>en to buried in a mound near the JX>nd. but the remaining bundles prehistoric Indians. During the Indian Removal of the and platfonn had been submerged in the muck of the pond mid-1800s.3 the hammock served as the site of an early bottom for almost 2.000 years. •• U.S. Am1y post. reflected in the name. Fort Center. 2.000 For the an historian. it is the monuary platfonn that years ago. however. the hammock and surrounding area provides the greatest interest (Figure 3). Constructed in the were inhabited by Indians of the Belle Glade Culture. The center of the pond. the wood platfonn was supponed by foundations of the Bel le Glade tradition were perhaps large bird and animal effigy posts set around its perimeter. established by peoples who had moved down the Gulf Coast Smaller figures on posts added 10 the foundations of the of Florida and into the Okeechobee Basin as early as 1000 platfonn, and other, even smaller. figures provided added symbolism or decoration. The similarity of the effigy posts days. the Nonh American Indian did n0t Jh-e in a vacuum on the platform and the Florida State Museum eagle post and there is evidence of trade in south Florida with connected the museum eagle to the monuary pla1fonn and amazingly distant places. To the nonh, simultaneous with moved the date of the eagle back 1000 years. the growth of the ceremonial complex at Fon Center, was The majority of sculptures on the monuary platform the florescence of the Hopewell cult. centered around Ohio were of birds. The larger carved images, without the posts. and Illinois . Associated with this nonhem cult were eanh ranged in size from three to five feet. 17 Recognizable works , mounds and an extensive trading of cercmonia\ figures included eagles. hawks. foxes. dogs. cats (which objects. Some Hopewell-related items have been unearthed probably represented bobcats or panthers) and a possible at Fon Center. leading one to wonder how much the bear. O.lmos1 all the smaller figures were of birds. with the Hopewell an style. reaching south Florida through trade. exception of one panther and two oner sculptures. one of might have influenced the an style of Fon Center. Hopewell which is still exceptional for a graceful fluidity of line sculptures. usually created in stone, arc very realistic but (Figure 4). The Indians of Fon Center were well acquainted static in style as compared to the fluidity of the south Florida with the mannerisms and mobility of the creatures around figures. A similarity between the two regions is the prepon­ them and were able 10 translate this knowledge expen.ly into derance of bird figures in their an. although the Hopewell their wood sculptures. birds and animals are always ponrayed with a small. round. As in the museum eagle. pine was used as the carving "beady"' e)'C (Figure 7). medium for all the wood figures. In creating their sculp-, Closer to home. trade with nonhem Florida sites. tures. the Indian anists had taken into consideration the indicated by regional ponery sherds, seems to have had linle natural shape of the wood pieces. using the knots and influence on the Fon Center style. 'M!cden Island pottery. branches to their advantage. The carving of hard wood coming into prominence as the ceremonial activity at Fon would have been a lengthy process since they lacked any Center declined. 11 lacks the fluid quality of the more hard stone deposits fo r implements in south Florida; much southern regions. and figures also usually exhibit a small. of the sculpting was done using shell tools with the finer round eye (Figure 8). carving done by using small sharks' teeth knives. Thus , In tracing prehistoric Indian an styles. it is often finding wood pieces that naturally conformed to the image valuable 10 research early historic records as 10 the beliefs to be carved was a practical and time-saving device. Final and customs of the existing Nonh American Indians at the smoothing and polishing of the sculptures was accom­ time of first European contact. Sixteenth century accounts plished by rubbing the wood with rough fibers or fine sand. of the Spanish missionary priests living in south Florida The most apparent stylistic characteristic in the Fon refer 10 an Indian idol who "ate human eyes.
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