Archaeological and Historical Conservancy

The Cuban missile crisis celebrated its 50th anniversary on November 20, 2012. For two days preceding the anniversary a reunion was held of veterans of the four Nike Hercules missile bases constructed in south Florida to counter the Russian nukes in Cuba. The main event was a tour of Section C, a base built on an agricultural holdout in Everglades National Park known as the Hole in the Donut. The hole was finally absorbed into the park, and through the efforts of one veteran, Charles Carter, the base was preserved as a historic site and listed in the National Register of Historic Places, with park rangers assigned to interpret it. AHC staff Bob Carr and Tim Harrington became acquainted with Carter while working on The Everglades , a cultural history of the park recently published by Arcadia. Carter offered the use of his archive of photographs for the last chapter in the book which concludes with the Cold War era. He also invited the authors to attend the reunion as his guests, from wh...

By Robert S. Carr Gabinete de Arqueología, La Habana, Cuba Thursday, March 30, 9:00am Since 1998, several major discoveries have been made in South Florida, including the “Miami Circle”. This site represents the first evidence found of a prehistoric Tequesta structure cut into the limestone bedrock. The subsequent discovery of eleven similar features in 2005-2014, on the opposite bank of the Miami River confirmed that the ancient town of Tequesta was an elevated village on top of piers rising above the banks of the Miami River. A discovery of postholes on the New River in Fort Lauderdale in February 2017 provides evidence of a similar village pattern, where thousands of well preserved faunal bones and seeds also were discovered. Southern Florida encompassed at least five prehistoric canals. These canals are the longest prehistoric canals outside of Mexico. The AHC recovered radiocarbon samples from two of the canals. Overall, these discoveries demonstrate a stratif...