Considering Architecture and Urbanism at Mound Key, the Capital of the Calusa during the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Archaeology/Architecture", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

In 1566, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés arrived at Mound Key, the capital of the Calusa kingdom. What he saw there was unlike anything else he would encounter in La Florida, a capital teaming with people and complex architecture that was essentially a terraformed anthropogenic island constructed mostly of mollusk shells situated in the middle of Estero Bay. At 51 hectares in area, the Calusa literally raised this landscape from the sea and built a complex canal system to the capital’s interior. The capital and its outlying towns did not practice large scale agriculture, but rather relied upon harvesting and management of aquatic resources. Here I consider the history of public architecture, its collective works, economy, and demographic change to evaluate the dynamic urban quality of the capital from its inception into the seventeenth century, and how this greater Indigenous history of architecture impacted the trajectory of Spanish colonialism.   

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2023   •
• Archaeology/Architecture

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow