A fictional reconstruction of how one mound might have come to be, then onward to the actual log from an investigation of two Florida mounds that have long since been destroyed by civilization.
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It was a chance happening. Two small bands from warring tribes hoping to find and kill a deer to take back to their campgrounds, came face to face at the turn of the worn animal trail. The meeting was swift, violent and ended with all three of the Eastern tribe dead and one of the Western tribe dead as well.
The battle, if it can be described as that, started with the discharge of a single arrow from the East. It struck its target and a young man fell dead. Why did no more arrows fly? Because moving through the underbrush with an arrow in place on the bow was next to impossible and the hunters depended upon stealth to gain an advantageous position on the deer. The lead hunter from the East was the only one who was carrying his bow ready for the kill. What was surprising was the instant fury from the Western hunters. They simply charged forward and with crude knives and bludgeon sticks drawn, overpowered the startled Indian tribe from the East.
Now the four victims lay on the ground.
The runner made his way back to camp to announce the battle and to seek council from the tribal elders. Quickly it was decided to move the camp to the site of battle and begin the process of burial.
Since the camp was composed of assembles of families who had few possession, movement to another location required nothing more than gathering the few clay bowls, digging, cutting and grinding tools, skins and small food reserves onto larger skins, folding them into packets and carrying them through the brush.
At the death scene, the warriors had already begun preparation for the new camp and the burial site. A small clearing among the scrub palmetto was chosen. There were few plants to remove and the sandy soil made it easy to simply pull them up and pile them to the side. Some gathering of fire wood also was in order. In their activities, they discovered the burrow of a gopher turtle. With luck they would have a meal provided by the contents of the burrow.
When the tribe arrived they quickly arranged their possessions and sat about building a fire. Protected in one of the skins were the smoldering embers of yesterday's fire. With care the glow was encouraged to spread to the dry tinder that was husbanded in the lee of a palm and finally the fire grew until it was self-sustaining.
One of the women was led to the burrow of the turtle and using green palm fronds that had been set asmolder at the fire-side, she pushed them into the sandy pit. More green fronds were forced into the hole. Now on each side, a youth with a pine root club stood awaiting the exit of who knew what. A rabbit first appeared. It stood just at the opening, quite still and before it had a chance to respond, was struck dead by the young warrior. It appeared this would be the only thing emerging from the burrow today. No snakes, no possums, coons, rats; nothing else. Then slowly and deliberately, the builder of the burrow emerged. A large gopher turtle weighing perhaps 15 pounds. As soon as he reached a spot where the Indians could grasp his shell he was dragged from the hole and quickly flipped on his back.
The fire was spread to reveal hot coals and the turtle was placed shell side down on the coals. Meanwhile the rabbit was dressed and made ready for cooking as well.
From one of the skins was drawn a carefully wrapped clay bottle which contained water. The bottle was oddly shaped like a bird. The body of the bottle being about one foot across and essentially round. The neck of the bird had what appeared to be wattles not unlike those on a turkey and the head which had a single opening representing the beak had bulging eyes. The bottle had been fired with white decorations and the heat of the fire and the wood charcoal of the firing was evident from the black areas on one side of the bottle. The bottle was for practical as well as ceremonial use. Now it was used in the cooking process, later in the burial ceremony.
The turtles head and legs which had once been withdrawn into the shell came forth as the heat from the fire became intense. It struggled briefly and then relaxed. As the turtle cooked, small amounts of water were added to the exposed underside of the shell to ensure that the meat did not burn. The rabbit on a pine spit was held over the fire as well.
While the meal was being prepared the burial of the warriors was underway. The carefully cleared area which would soon become a mound was scrapped clean with large conch shells. These shells curved in shape made it easy to dig in the soft sand.
The bodies of the fallen warriors were arranged in a circle, face down. Heads to the center. Arms folded with the head resting on one of the arms as if in a cradle. In the center, area above the head, small tributes were placed. Since the Northern tribesmen had no representatives, tributes were paid for them as well. The arrow that had just this morning been the cause of the fight and had resulted in the death of one of the warriors was placed in the center. Pottery pieces of many shapes; cups, bowls, pipes, water bottles, rope and ties as well as decorative items were added.
The fire was only a few feet away and when the mound was completed its ashes would be a part of the debris that remained. Some twenty feet away, other members of the tribe had begun the process of digging the sand to be used for the mound. Conch shells were used as digging tools. A quantity of sand Ashoveled@ up by the shell was place on a deer skin and after some ten or so scoops were piled on, two warriors would pick up the skin by the legs and carry it to the growing mound. First the feet of the warriors were covered, then as the process continued, the torso, the head and finally the tributes.
Stopping only to eat, the Indians continued the burial ceremony. It was known that the mound should be at least five feet high and the sand well packed. The process had to be completed before decay began, something which happens quickly in the hot and humid area of Sarasota Bay. Otherwise, wild animals would dig into the mound.
It is estimated that mound building continued for some weeks with the Indians searching wide for food as they lived atop the growing mound. This is evidenced by the necessary movement of the fire as the mound grew. Also, as the source of the sand for the mound came from deeper strata of the marsh like surroundings, the color changed and layers of light and dark sand were added. It is not apparent whether this was by design or by happen chance of the source of sand.
Finally the mound was complete. Was it because the tribe determined that the bodies were now adequately protected, or was it because food was now no longer easily available? They moved on, never to return. However other Indians hunting in the area discovered the mound and used it as a camp site. Whenever a tribesman or woman died, they were interred in a manner not unlike that used by the previous visitors. Accordingly the mound grew to some ten or so feet in height.
The mound was used for nesting mammals and other animals. This is evidenced by the finding of prehistoric eggs which were in a fine state of preservation. Had the Indians known of their presence, they would have been eaten, therefore, one can surmise that they were carefully hidden by the laying female. But why here? The mound represented a protected area that would be warmed by the sun, not unlike dunes on a beach in which turtles lay their eggs.
With time, plants became established on the mound seeking the advantage of moisture, fertility and light. Roots penetrated deep into the mound but stopped where the mound builders began the structure, as both the depth and the density of the soil discourage going further. The borrow pit which was located only a few feet away was often filled by the tropical rains which discouraged plant growth and it remains barren to this day.
One walking through the scrub would probably not be aware of the mound unless coming withing a few feet of it as the pines, oaks, palmetto scrub and other palms completely protected it. Only by chance would one find the mound. Or, as the area was settled by whites, when roads were built, livestock raised and crops planted are mounds such as this discovered.
Some will say twenty thousand years or so passed, it could have been much longer, as the hot, humid Florida peninsula's climate consumes traces of man and animals. Fossil remains are few as it requires a combination of temperate preservation and a calcareous environment, or else a cataclysmic enshrouding as evidenced in the Nebraska sites at Agate Springs and Ashfall.
Much confusion is associated with the history of Indians (better termed Native Americans) or perhaps considering migration from time-to-time and place-to-place, prehistoric man. Ashley Montagu wrote a primmer for those interested in anthropology, Man; His First Million Years. Probably the greatest contribution by Montagu is his map of the ages which permits understanding of the time spans over which man has evolved. In addition, Newsweek published a summary of recent theories of the settlement of the Americas, in the April 26, 1999 issue. It appears that no one bothered to look further than to the first evidence of man's presence in America and thus overlooked the complete saga of civilization of the "New World" and accepted the European point of view. It is unfortunate that today's scholars either don't use or don't have access to the wealth of information that has accumulated over the past one-hundred years or so.
As example, in June of 1973, it was reported in a number of newspapers that the skull of "the oldest man find in the eastern United States and the best verified in North America" (Commercial Appeal, Memphis, Thursday, June 14, 1973). The skull found by Wilburn Cochrell a Florida archeologist was purported to be 10,000 years old and was found in Warm Mineral Springs an area South of Sarasota, Florida. This discovery followed much later, the discovery of a mineralized skeleton of a man in n the bank of a newly dug drainage ditch near the head waters of Phillippi Creek in Manatee County, Florida by James E. Moore. (JEM is the source of the two archeological reports which follow.) It is interesting that with today's technology, the precise dating of the "Phillippi Creek" man's fossilized remains could be determined. If only they hadn't been lost by the Peabody Museum or the American Museum of Natural History, in New York City, that was to be the "resting" place.
While it is usually written that man moved from place to place in search of food, it is just as likely that the families of man moved to avoid pestilence. One need only to encounter the "no-see-ums" of our mid-west or mosquitos of the Missouri valley of Lewis and Clark fame (Clark wrote in his journals that the mosquitos were the worst he had ever seen.) to appreciate the magnitude of the problem. Indians were reported to cover themselves with bear grease as protection against the onslaught. Poor folks in the South devised a "mini-explosion" to clear the air of flying insects (By tossing a pinch of flour into the air and igniting it with a match, glowing coal, &c., a realistic version of a grain-dust explosion is created.) So it is just as likely that our First Americans moved either to the South or to the arid Southwest to avoid pestilence.
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