6 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 76 



natives ever built houses on it these constructions had long ago dis- 

 appeared. From its nature one could not expect from this mound a 

 collection of size. 



The smaller mounds west of the largest were also tested by trial 

 holes but they gave no better promise of a collection. These mounds 

 were small and their shape can be readily traced by their contours. 

 Some of them seemed to be composed wholly of shells, others of earth, 

 and still others of both, combined and stratified. No extensive exca- 

 vations were undertaken on any of these, but they were left for 

 future work after several trial pits had been made. There was one 

 low mound some distance from the main cluster which belongs to the 

 same group but is somewhat exceptional. A trench (pi. 4, A-D) in it 

 revealed fragments of human crania, skeletons, and shards. These 

 were good evidences of a cemetery and the work on it continued until 

 over a third of the mound had been opened. The more the excava- 

 tions were continued the more the evidences increased and supported 

 the first impression that this was a cemetery of the prehistoric inhabi- 

 tants of Weeden Island and a promising mound to open. 



It is doubtful whether the mounds at Weeden Island were as densely 

 forested in prehistoric times as at present (pi. 3). Some of the trees 

 that now grow on them are only a few years old, but there is a huge 

 live oak in the midst of the cluster that may have sprouted four or 

 five centuries ago. At present, palmettos (Sabal palmetto), generally 

 encumbered with Spanish moss {Tillandsia iisneoides) and other para- 

 sites, the Saw Palmetto (Screnoa serrulata), the pine and other trees 

 occur everywhere on the island and in places their abundance war- 

 rants the term jungles. The mangrove is ubiquitous, especially at the 

 water's edge. 



One of the interesting features in the key landscape near Weeden 

 Island is the presence of so-called pseudo-atolls.' The cause which 

 gave these islands their characteristic form is not definitely known 

 although several theories have been suggested. Judged from its gen- 

 eral form (fig. i), it would appear that Weeden Island itself is a 

 matured pseudo-atoll. 



An important food supply of the aborigines and one that pro- 

 foundly affected the culture of the ancient inhabitants on Weeden 

 Island were the banks of shellfish providing an abundance of mollus- 

 can food in the neighboring bayous and keys. This animal, almost 

 inexhaustible along the Florida coast, was the main food of the 

 Indians. In shallow water near Weeden Island there are manv 



' A very good example of pseudo-atoll is found in Moreno Bay, Jamaica. 



