Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-04-09
Information Buried in Huge
Mounds of Shells at Edge
| of Tampa Bay.
EXCAVATION is PLANNED
| BY ETHNOLOGY BUREAU
Stirling Tells of Discoveries in
Month of Exploration in Area
| Once Habitat of Calusa.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

{ BY THOMAS R. HENRY.
The strange culture of a vanished
people, buried in literal mountains of
oyster and clam shells, is to be exca-
Waited by the Bureau of American
Ethnology.
Mathew W. Stirling, chief of the
bureau, returned yesterday from Florida
after month of exploratory work
among the shell mounds of the Calusa
indians, the warlike tribe who met the
t1rst Spanish explorers in North
America and were slaughtered by the
gunpoWder of the newcomers. Probably
Jess is known about them, Mr.. Stirling
says, than about any other notable
Indian group.
The exploration of the shell mounds
expected to yield many details as to
their daily lives-what thew ate and
pow much, how long they lived in one
place and their kitchen utensils. Some
pf these mounds are about SO feet high
Pnd hardly can be distinguished from
natural hills. They are built up almost
entirely from the shellfish and bones
ot animals eaten by the people.
Hills Rise in Terraces.
First. as Mr. Stirling reconstructs the
picture, there would be a little Indian
village at the edge of Tampa Bay. AS
the people consumed Shellhsh they
would dump the SheelS IN one place
just back of the village. In the course
pt few years small hillock would
pc formed. 1t would appeal to the
INDIANS as better place to live than
exactly sea level, SO they would level
PIT the top and build houses on it.
phey would continue to dump their
Shells back of their new homes until
another hill was erected higher than
the first. Then they would move up
70 the more elevated location and re-
peat the process.
The result was that these artificial
nils rise in terraces from the waters
edge and have an abrupt descent on
the opposite side. Kitchen articles
broken pots, ETC., were thrown away
with the bones and shells and can be
found by digging under the surface.
assuming that the eaters of the she'll
ISh mad ordinary human appetites and
checking against geological evidence. it
VIII be possible to tell how many per-
sons are represented by a mound and
now long 1t required to build it.
Huge Sand Mound is Found.
Inc most interesting site found by
MI. Stirling was at Palmo Solo, where
was once the largest shell mound on
Tampa Bay. These have been quarried
Tor so years for shells for road building
and line making SO it now is only about
40 feet high. 1t evidently required a
large settlement to construct such a
mound.
Exploring the neighborhood, Stirling
hound different type of mound about
a half mile inland, evidently built arti-
dically of sand, circular in shape. about
13 feet high and $50 feet in diameter.
Running for 800 yards from the sand
mound toward the old shell mound was
a sand wall 5 feet high and about 10
aet wide. half mile inland is fresh
water lake and a canal runs from the
mound to the lake. This mysterious
arrangement had purpose, he believes,
ana this is one of the problems the
bureau will try to solve.
The sand mound, according to Stir
ling, was burial mound. On the sum-
init at one time stood a mortuary
temple, notable in the religious rites.
Fhe temple was large structure
with platform about feet high in
side. Here the bodies of the dead were
laid out during the year. Once a year
there was a great ceremony when all
these bodies were buried at once in the
sand mound.
This particular mound, Stirling be-
4ieveS, was built up in several layers,
possibly representing different culture
periods. He found evidence that Palmo
Solo was almost exactly on the dividing
line between the Calusa people and the
'Timucos, who represented a different
sort of culture.
4 Human Sacrifice May Be Revealed.
TT &c 1ilyolry he I1al;a1,ae that 4I,o ,.roo
tice of human sacrifices will be revealed.
indians farther West, related to the
CaluSaS, were accustomed, when
prominent person died. to kill a dozen
or more others and lay their bodies
beside him on the platform in the
mortuary temple. They were not buried
together, however. The evidence indi-
Gates that before burial the bodies were
stripped of flesh and sometimes the
bones were disarticulated, sorted out,
and bound together in bundles.
Mr.. Stirling plans, he said, to inaug-
hrate systematic research, to extend
pver a period of years., covering all
Florida. The bureau will try to piece
together the chronology and sequence of
the archaeological sites as a basis for
more detailed study.
1t is known that the Calusa were
fierce fighters, who went about almost
naked, but with their bodies ornately
tattoed. They wasted no effort on max
ing friends with the Spaniards and
eventually were dispersed.
Test Excavations Made.
Mr.. Stirling made test excavations at
approximately 10 sites in the Tampa
Bay region and recovered considerable
archaeological material which will be
used as guide to further excavations.
The Calusas, he said, evidently had
built UP no material culture comparable
( to that of the Southwest Indians, but
did make excellent pottery.
The Florida excavations will be taken
up in earnest, Stirling said, after series
of studies in the field planned by men,
berS of the staff this Summer. He will
study Indian sites on the North Platte
River in Kansas and Nebraska. DR..
Frank Roberts plans further study of
Pueblo Indian sites in Colorado and
Northern New Mexico, and DR.. j. P.
Harrington will investigate the Hupi