ARCHEOLOGICAL PROJECTS STIRLING 385 



ondary mound. One hundred and twenty-five burials had been made 

 in the pit, all of these being at a uniform depth. On the other hand 

 the burials throughout the secondary mound were scattered at all 

 levels in the mound structure. 



The general excellence of the pottery and the complete absence 

 of artifacts of European manufacture indicate that the mound is 

 prehistoric. An interesting feature is the fact that this is the south- 

 ernmost location at which high-grade pottery has been found of the 

 type conunon on the northwest coast of Florida. Although there 

 were clearly two separate structures within the mound, no difference 

 could be noted in the types of pottery found in each. 



CANAVERAL PENINSULA, BREVARD COUNTY 



Historical summary. — This part of Florida when first discovered 

 and later explored by the Spanish was inhabited by a tribe 

 of Indians known as the Surruque or Curruque, who were of 

 the Timucuan family and were the southernmost band of this 

 stock on the Florida east coast. Menendez, the founder of 

 St. Augustine, held a council in 1566 at or near Cape Canaveral, 

 which was attended by no less than 1,500 of these Indians. In 

 1598 the Spanish governor sent a punitive expedition against the 

 Surruque because of the murder of Spanish sailors cast away on this 

 coast. Whether the accusation was true or false, 60 of the Surruque 

 were killed and 54 were taken into slavery. Between 1613 and 1617 a 

 severe epidemic raged among the Timucuan tribes, reducing the 

 population by nearly one-half, and it is safe to assume that the Sur- 

 ruque too suffered greatly. The Surruque joined in the uprising of 

 1656 against the Spanish Friars, which was put down by the authori- 

 ties with great severity so that they again suffered heavy casualties. 

 Following this we hear of another plague in 1672, and the mission 

 records show a dreadful mortality among the tribes of this region. 

 In 1704 the Surruque were involved in the fighting between the Span- 

 ish troops on the one hand and the English, aided by their Creek 

 allies, on the other, and it appears that they suffered about equally 

 from both. The last mention of any of the Timucuan tribes of this 

 region appears in 1728, when their number is described as reduced to a 

 few miserable villages. After this date they are no longer mentioned 

 in the early records. The recorded history of the Surruque left us 

 by the early explorers of Florida is a brief catalog of repeated dis- 

 asters ending with their final disappearance slightly more than 100 

 years after their first contact with Europeans. It was for the purpose 

 of supplementing these scanty historical records that excavation was 

 undertaken in this territory. The shell heaps where the Surruque 

 lived were once abundant but are gradually being destroyed for road- 



