1665-32 Pre-1915 Somewhat similar treatment was accorded the only other known major burial mound on the Bay - at Surfside,
on the barrier complex (Willey, 1949).
Nevertheless, going on what we have, latest findings indicate a human settlement in existence sce ome 15
miles north of the Bay, dated as early as 1100 B.C. (Mowers and Williams, 1972; Bullen, 197 ),
ma
be that human activities affecting the Bay began at about the same time.
This for early
nitial formation dadate,
the j.*a .r ,
interestingly enough, occurs at roughly the time Wanless (1969) postulates --..E.''':.;
but it tuy be that i (
northern Bay island barrier complex. However, it also appears that these human settlements actually on or
very near thwillybeopushedwere
backnot
withafurther research.until around 300-400 A.D. (Bullen, 1974);
these dates
Over 140 prehistoric sites have been discovered in Dade County alone, but less than a dozen of these
Bay itself,
a little from
are located on or very near the Bay. Most of these last are actually distance the other the Ba, its
such as those at Arch Creek, Little River, Surfside, and Uleta River (Figure 1).
two largest
ones, w
developed
r years,
located
dalmost the B
One
Te-
questa,
Pt , nPresentdowntownMiam , nthe north bankofthe MiamiRiveraboutwherethe presentDupont
Plaza Hotel stands. The other can be considered in resentuch the
SurfsideighNostfor
of.ithewas
prehistoricnsettlemer.tsCreek, i
on or
and 93rd
in Streetscand onnc Bay Drive,oin p
on or near the Bay indicate occupant, from about 500 A.D. almost to Spanish times, and one or two settle-
ments continued up to the 18th century. and gather-g �
The peoplewhoimarineepthese roducts. hunting, fishing,Tosege Indiansgwholsettledand
verylived
nearbtheBayadaptedtotheir imme-
dia of both landmeand epene p
people (Willey, but with time the
ditto environment by depending more and more on shellfish and other marine resources for their livelihood.
Settlements were at first very small, consisting at most of 100 eo le (Wille; 1949),
there was at least one substantial village - Tequesta, probably including 1
numbers of people and their adaptations to the estuarine environment increased. By the time the Spaniards
arrived in the 16th century,aThe
several hundred inhabitants - and possibly up to four others on Biscayne Bay (Swanton, 1922: 333).
utilization of marine resources must have advanced considerably, for one Spanish source mentions that the
Tequesta Indians hunted the sea cow and went whaling (Lopez de Velasco, 1571-74).
the
The paucity and type of archeological remains, and the lack of written documents,
make The fir normally
difficult problem of estimating prehistoric populations virtually unresolvable at pts
European documents relating to human settlement on the Bay do not occur until well into the 16th century,
maywell have affected south Florida) could easily have reduced to small fraction any large by which time the introduction of Old World diseases and Spanish labor deportations to the Greater Antilles
(which �
popula-
tions which might have existed along the Bay.
area
Nonetheless, the available evidence indicates thate n
g inathe ehBayuarea (n prehistoric ic7times
5;
was never lsAs of 4he), 1560'snand 1570's,a
Lopez de Velasco, 1571-74), only one Indian village (Tequesta) undeniably known to have been located on
Biscayne Bay itself, or very near its shores. Though the Spaniards established a short lived mission
there, garrisoned by about 30 soldiers (McNicoll, 1941), no estimate of the number of inhabitants has yet
been found; but the village could not have contained more than a few hundred people.
iron-
It would seem that the relationships of these soimitiv the case,with
itatthe
teeBay
aisararea's
Bnatural
Indiansofthe
ment were intimate. But lest it be assumed, popula-
tion
century were living an idyllic life of plenty, it should be mentioned that the balance between p p
tion and resources was precarious. The first Spanish missionarywrote
ina1in 568e(McNicoll, 1941:
15) that
there were severe food shortages of several months' duration, implying
in the 1500 undern was malco ions
there was barely enough to go around. A slight increase in population the local'sapparentlypopulacewassuf-
mino-
ficient to cause quite a strain on local food resources. In fact, by 1743,
madic, and the settlement at Tequesta was then only inhabited during the summermon ; in winter,tevery-
one v
went to the Keys (Chardon, 1975). Whether this seminomadism prevailed
insprrehito ttsrecetmins, but hiter lir
it was an adaptation to limited resources after Spanish times, isnot
YlP I
exist in the 1700's, until the Indiand abandoned the Biscayne Bay area in the 1760's.
The environmental impact of prehistoric peoples up to about 1600 A.D. is also difficult to evaluate
at this time, but, aside from some possible biotic changes, it could not have been great. Surprising
Indians and the
though it may be, there seems to have been virtually
rno contact ct between
tfthe
tBiscayneaBay ( diann, 1d7t;
agricultural peoples in the West Indies until just por
tSturtevant, 1960), nor much interchange with agricultural Indians in the northern parts a ofnd Florida. The
Tequesta Indians remained nonagricultural,
ltheir
ir llivelihood
n tbabased
e tong huonting,
fifishing,
thoughathe possible
eh economy drivewould havemeahad relatively the
use of fire hto oweverforestudiesve have suggestedto athatllightningtcouldfhave beental cover.responsibleEven for thesis a
modevel-
opote point, d pine and palmetto over much of the
devel-
opment of fire resistant tree though indpart ethe yprehumanivegetation was of the climax type (i.e., hammock).
landscape (Hofstetter, 1974), 8
Further research on this topic is needed.
237
t