One of the
reasons I started making palm masks was the original history behind them. Each
Native American tribe that lived in Florida had a distinct artistic style and
most have been preserved in nearby museums.
The Calusa
were featured in Sunday’s “Special to the News Press” with the accompanying photos
from Sanibel Historical Village on Sanibel Island. Curator Theresa Schober
proudly watches over the displays that visually interpret the life and
experiences of the Calusa Indians on a day to celebrate their contributions to
Florida.
Schober has been an
archaeologist and cultural resource consultant in south Florida since 1998.
Most of the Calusa artifacts come from archaeological digs. If you are
interested in more information visit www.sanibelmuseum.org
or call 239-472-4648.
The Calusa
Indians did not farm like the other Indian tribes in Florida. Instead, they
fished for food on the coast, bays, rivers, and waterways. The men and boys of
the tribe made nets from palm tree webbing to catch mullet, pinfish,
pigfish, and catfish.
The Calusa
are considered to be the first "shell collectors." Shells were
discarded into huge heaps. Unlike other Indian tribes, the Calusa did not make
many pottery items. They used the shells for tools, utensils, jewelry, and
ornaments for their shrines. Shell spears were made for fishing and hunting.
Shell mounds
can still be found today in many parts of southern Florida. Environmentalists
and conservation groups protect many of these remaining shell mounds. One such site is Mound Key at Estero Bay in Lee County (Theresa Schober has been
instrumental in restoring Mound Key).
The mound’s construction is made entirely
of shells and clay. This site is believed to be the chief town of the Calusa,
where the leader of the tribe, Chief Carlos lived.
Archaeologists
like Schober have excavated many of these mounds to learn more about these
extinct people. Artifacts such as shell tools, weapons, and ornaments are on
display in many Florida history museums and in the Sanibel Historical Village’s
Calusa room.
What happened
to these fierce sailing Indians? The Calusa tribe died out in the late 1700s.
Enemy Indian tribes from Georgia and South Carolina began raiding the Calusa
territory. Many Calusa were captured and sold as slaves.
In addition,
diseases such as smallpox and measles were brought into the area from the
Spanish and French explorers and these diseases wiped out entire villages. It
is believed that the few remaining Calusa Indians left for Cuba when the
Spanish turned Florida over to the British in 1763.
The Seminoles were
not originally a single tribe. They were an alliance of Northern Florida and
Southern Georgia natives that banded together in the 1700's to fight the
European invaders, including people from the Creek, Miccosukee, Hitchiti and
Oconee tribes. Later the alliance became even closer, and today the Seminoles
are a united sovereign nation, even though their people speak two languages and
have different cultural backgrounds.
The Seminole
Nation has five different reservations in Florida, but all of them are governed
by the same tribe. Big Cypress Indian Reservation is the largest, but the
Hollywood Reservation is where the seat of the Seminole government is located.
There were
many tribes over the ages in Florida. If you’d like to find out more, here is a
library link to discover what books have been written for each tribe.
