Archaeological and Historical Conservancy

Egmont Key, which has lost half its area to sea-level rise, was the site of a forced relocation of the Seminole people by the U.S. Army. A few more feet of water would flood 16,000 archaeological sites across Florida. JESSICA LEIGH HESTER MIAMI—When Hurricane Irma sprinted toward Miami-Dade County, Jeff Ransom couldn’t sleep. He wasn’t just worried about gusts shattering windows, or sheets of rain drowning the highway—that’s far from unusual near his home in Broward County, where extreme weather verges on routine, and patches of US-1 are regularly submerged. Ransom, the county archaeologist, was preoccupied with an oak tree and its 350-year-old roots. If the tree capsized with enough intensity, he worried, the flailing roots could dislodge human remains. On a blazing blue morning in early November, weeks after the storm, we trek to the site of the Tequesta Native American burial mound that kept Ransom awake. “All night long, I was just thinking about that oak tree flipping...

The Archaeological and Historical Conservancy played a major role in the discovery and preservation of the Miami Circle, providing an opportunity for archaeologists and archaeological technicians to uncover the Circle, and donating over $40,000 to the project cost. We also directed the analysis of over 143,000 objects that were recovered from the Circle, many now featured at an exhibition at the Historical Museum of Southern Florida in Miami. The Miami Circle was discovered in September of 1998 during routine archaeological monitoring on a proposed condominium site at the mouth of the Miami River. Miami Circle Showing Circular Posthole Pattern Then Miami-Dade County Historic Preservation Director Robert Carr supervised the excavation of several test units which revealed basins cut in the bedrock, each filled with black dirt midden. Surveyor Ted Riggs recognized that the basins formed an arc, and hypothesized that it might be part of a circle. In September 1998, a 40 foot diamete...

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...

Digging Miami Robert S. Carr Hardcover ISBN 13: 978-0-8130-4206-0 Pubdate: 9/30/2012  Details: 320 pages, 6.125 x 9.25 Hardcover: $ 25.00 ( contact ) "A wonderful, moving narrative of the archaeology of greater Miami."--Paul George, editor of Tequesta "Amazing. In spite of the intense urban development of Southeast Florida, valuable archaeological contexts are still present and continually being discovered."--Randolph Widmer, University of Houston The pace of change of Miami since its incorporation in 1896 is staggering. The seaside land that once was home to several thousand Tequesta is now congested with roads and millions of people while skyscrapers and artificial lights dominate the landscape. Ironically, Miami's development both continually erases monuments and traces of indigenous people and historic pioneers yet also leads to the discovery of archaeological treasures that have lain undis...

Last year AHC archaeologists found a Caribbean Monk Seal tooth in Palm Beach. Several newspapers echoed the news, including Archaeology Magazine . Another tooth has been found in Tequesta site on the bank of the New River, Fort Lauderdale, showing the dispersal of the extincted Neomonachus tropicalis in prehistoric South Florida.