CALKINS ON FLORIDA SHELL MOUNDS. 225 



Some Notes of Personal Investigation Among the Shell Mounds of 



Florida. 



BY W. W. CALKINS. 



(Read February 28tli, 1S78 ) 



It is only within a few years past that the riorida mounds have 

 attracted the attention of archaeologists. Works or remains of a similar 

 character were known to be abundant all along the Atlantic coast. 

 These for many years hardly excited more than passing attention, being 

 known as '' shell heaps,"" and their origin referred to accidental agencies 

 of tides, winds and waves, which were supposed to have piled them up 

 in the same manner as the sand dunes of the coa*t were formed. The 

 ordinary observer naturally regarded them in this light, and " passed by 

 on the other side." But the man of thought— the inquisitive mind— the 

 archa?ologist— ever impatient to delve amid the ruins of the past and 

 seek for the solution of questions aifecting the origin of all things, ani- 

 mate and inanimate, paused in wonder. He beheld the large size and 

 extent of the mounds, and found that they were composed largely of 

 edible species of shells — the Ostrea Fir^rijiica being most abundant ; fur- 

 thermore, that many shells were broken, and that no two valves would 

 match. Thus much being ascertained, we may be sure that further 

 observation lifted the veil of mystery, and dissipated long cherished 

 opinions as to the origin of the "• heaps." I will summarize some of the 

 results. 



In many instances the mounds are situated at a distance inland, re- 

 mote from living oyster beds or other abundant shells. In them are 

 found evidences of man, consisting of relics of pottery, flint, bones of 

 men, and certain species of mammals. Needles and awls of bone, ves- 

 sels made of the large Pyrula or Conch, and ornaments manufactured 

 from shells, also exist. Excavatians have revealed all these in more or 

 less abundance. Human skeletons of the mound-builders age are not 

 uncommon, though generally too far decayed for removal. The latest 

 were exhumed by Lieut. A. W. Yogdes, at Tampa, Fla., in 1876, and by 

 tlie author at Cedar Keys, Fla., in 1877. These lay at five and seven feet 

 below the surface, near the center of the mounds, and with the heads 

 toward the east. Lieut. Vogdes found an abundance of human tibia 

 broken or calcined, which were associated with tlie bones of the bear, 

 raccoon, etc., and situated near or in ihe ancient fireplaces, where were 

 also charcoal and calcined shells. It is worthy of note that while stone 

 axes and flints are common in the North, very few are found in Florida, 

 and these were probably imported or obtained in trade with northern 

 tribes, by giving, perhaps, the large marine shells — such as the Cassis 

 found in a mound near Davenport, Iowa, and now in the Museum of the 

 Academy. It is evident, then, that these shell mounds are artificial, the 

 work of man. Indeed, the fact is so well established that I need not dis- 

 cuss it. But we find in Florida two classes of mounds— those of the 

 interior and those on the sea coast. The former are made up almost 

 exclusively of fresh water shells, generally of three species, Paludina, 



