Subsistence Strategies and Small Island Adaptations: New Evidence from the Florida Keys

Summary

Archaeological research on prehistoric settlements in the Florida Keys has been largely sporadic and diffuse. To help improve our understanding of when the Keys were settled and their relationship to Calusa and other groups regionally, we revisited the well-known site of 8MO17 on Upper Matecumbe Key in the central Florida Keys and conducted preliminary subsurface investigation. Preliminary results from the newly established Matecumbe Chiefdom Project have revealed dense, stratified midden deposits dominated by vertebrates, with smaller quantities of invertebrates. These data have allowed us to evaluate the similarities and differences to other groups in southern Florida. Our research provides initial insight into the historical trajectories of subsistence practices for groups that ultimately paid tribute to the Calusa in the sixteenth century. This work and our ongoing research seek to illuminate the Matecumbe or Keys Indians and their place in the social geography of southern Florida.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Recent Considerations of Coastal Subsistence Practices in the Southeastern USA

Keywords

Spatial Coverage