# Miscellaneous Papers Relating to Anthropology/The Aborigines of Florida

THE ABORIGINES OF FLORIDA.
By S. T. Walker.
In comparison with their number and size, the shell-heaps of Florida contain but few relics of the people who constructed them. Besides the ashes of their fires, the refuse of their feasts, and the fragments of their utensils, we find but little to aid us in our researches into their civilization or condition. The shell-heaps are so vast in size that it is only when the sea has swept away their slopes or when the lime burner has attacked their sides that we get an insight into the mysteries of their interior, and even then there is little to be obtained and but few uncertain data given upon which to base a calculation. By far the greater mass of these heaps is composed of shells, bones of mammals and birds, ashes, charcoal, and thin layers of soil. Scattered throughout the heap however there are quantities of broken pottery and near the top, a few objects of stone, and numerous implements of bone or shell.
The accompanying diagram represents a section of a shell-heap at Cedar Keys, Fla., formed by cutting through the center of a mound to open a street. This may be considered a fair representation of the interior of all shell-heaps with the exception of the unusually thick stratum of soil near the center of the mass. From this it will be seen that the pottery is pretty uniformly distributed throughout the heap from the bottom to the top and is generally in small fragments, most probably pieces of pots and utensils accidentally broken during the ordinary culinary ​operations of their owners. I have never known a whole vessel to be found in a shell-heap. An examination of this pottery, then, it seems would give us a pretty correct idea of the progress of the aborigines in the art of pottery during a period of time corresponding with that of the age of the shell-heaps.
An inquiry therefore into this progress among the builders of the shell heaps necessarily involves a question of time, and is by far the most difficult part of the subject.
In the section of the shell-heap given in the illustration, it will be seen that a stratum of soil six inches in thickness has accumulated since the completion of the mound, and that a similar stratum nearly two feet in thickness occupies a position near the center of the mass, indicating a cessation in the growth of the heap, when it had reached a height of seven feet, for a period of time sufficient for the accumulation of this two feet of soil on the surface of the shell. After this the accumulation of shell begins again, and when it had acquired a depth of three feet it ceased again and this time forever.
Now, we know pretty well how long a period has elapsed since the aborigines ceased to inhabit this region, and although it is possible that there has been no addition to this heap for seventy-five or one hundred years, we know positively that there has been none for the last fifty years. It requires then at least fifty years to accumulate six inches of soil on a shell-heap, and consequently we may be justified in supposing a period of two hundred years to have been necessary for the formation of the central stratum of soil in this mound.
A comparison of the pottery immediately above and below this stratum of soil representing a period of two hundred years ought to give us some idea of the rate of progression made in the arts. And a critical comparison of the different styles of pottery with each other in different portions of the heap should give us a rude idea of the age of the shell-heaps. The object of the present ​paper is to present the reader with a description of the relics and pottery found in each stratum of the shell-heap, beginning at the foundation and ending at the top, and from a comparison of the various styles which mark the march of progress and improvement, to hazard a conjecture as to the time which elapsed from the beginning of the shell-heaps up to the advent of the European.
In all the large shell-heaps examined hitherto I have invariably found pottery in the lowest stratum of shell, and, in many instances, in the soil beneath the foundations, which I regard as conclusive evidence that the aborigines were acquainted with the art of fabricating earthenware pots long before they began these vast accumulations of shell. The art however was in its rudest state. The fragments are thick, heavy, and coarse, the composing clay often containing a mixture of coarse sand or small pebbles. The utensils were of large size and rudely fashioned, as shown by the curves of the fragments, and they were destitute of all attempt at ornament. The rims were plain, and were not thickened or re-enforced to increase their strength. This style is found generally for about three or four feet in height, and may be said to represent the first stage. Above this a gradual change is perceptible, the two styles overlapping, so that it is difficult to say where one begins and the other ends.
The second stage however as we ascend, soon becomes plainly marked. The walls of the utensils become thinner. The rims are turned outward and slightly thickened. Dots and straight lines are cut into the sides of the vessel by way of ornament, and the thickened rims are sometimes "pinched" like pie-crust with the fingers. During this stage the savage artist first began to mold his wares in rush baskets, which were subsequently burned away, leaving the vessel curiously checked as though it had been pressed while wet with coarse cloth. The use of sand or gravel is totally abandoned during this stage, and the quality of the pottery is in every way improved. Implements of shell and bone are sometimes found, but they are generally few in number and rude in manufacture.
This brings us to a portion of the shell-heap corresponding in position with the two-feet stratum of soil shown in the diagram, and that stratum marks the transition period between the middle and modern styles of Indian pottery. Immediately below this layer of soil we find the curved line introduced in ornamental designs on the utensils, and a few fragments of the rims of pots show that ears began to be attached to them for the convenience of suspension, and that the thickness of the ware was reduced by the employment of better materials. Immediately over the stratum of soil all the fragments show improvement on those below. New patterns are introduced, and we begin to find fragments of dishes, bowls, cups, as well as those of jars and pots, many of them of elegant design and of a superior quality of ware. Stone axes, arrow-heads, bone and shell implements are of frequent occurrence.
​As we approach the top, marks of improvement are numerous. All the larger pots are furnished with numerous ears, through which strings might be run for suspension. Vessels are sometimes furnished with handles, and all the finer wares are elaborately ornamented with zigzag lines, curves, dots, and, in rare cases, with figures of men and animals. The finest wares are invariably found on or near the surface, and among them we find the first attempt at coloring their work.
We thus observe that from the testimony of the pottery the age of the shell-heaps is divided into three distinct periods, which may be styled the ancient, the middle, and the modern, which are further divided by two periods of transition, the latter of which is marked by the stratum of soil representing a period of two hundred years. Assuming that the march of improvement was uniform, and seeing that a period of over two hundred years was occupied in a transition from the middle period to the modern, I think we might be safe in attributing a period of at least two hundred years to each of the five eras mentioned above. This would give one thou s a Lid years for the age of the oldest shell-heaps.
I might properly extend this time much beyond these figures, as there are many shell-heaps which were abandoned fully as long as this upon which there is no accumulation of soil, or at best but little, so it would seem that I have adopted the smallest period of time necessary to a correct calculation, still these calculations may be far from the truth. There are so many possibilities to be encountered that the question of age is lost among them. The growth of a shell-heap depended, of course, upon the number of people living in the vicinity, whether their residence was continuous or occasional, the abundance or scarcity of shell-fish, and many other accidents too numerous to mention. Layers of soil in different portions of the same heap show that portions of the mass ceased to grow for long periods of time, while thick strata of clean shell indicate the rapid and continuous growth of other portions. Future investigations may throw more light on this subject at present involved in doubt and mystery.
The key to the whole matter is a critical study of ancient pottery. That the aborigines of Florida reached the state of advancement in which they were found by the Europeans by slow and painful steps is evident to the most superficial observer. That they did advance is equally plain. According to the estimate of time made in this paper it was three hundred years before they thought of ornamenting moist clay with lines and dots, and five hundred years before they thought of making ears to pots. Dishes and bowls were not thought of for eight hundred years, and cups with handles for nearly one thousand. Still they progressed, and who can say what point their civilization might have reached had the discovery by Columbus been delayed another thousand years!