U6 



NATUBAL SCIENCE NEWS. 



The Shell Heaps of Florida. 



The Florida Shell Heaps are the 

 most wonderful evidences of the ac- 

 cumulations of years to be found on 

 the American continent. There 

 may be equal, or greater masses 

 of shells on the peninsula of Jutland 

 and adjacent territory, but it is to be 

 doubted; while the size of individ- 

 ual piles is larger in our country. 



These evidences of the work of 

 the prehistoric man, have caused 

 much speculation, and many, and 

 various are the theories of scien- 

 tists as to their formation. Some 

 theorists have aduanced the idea 

 that the peculiar mounds were the 

 direct work of the sea, and have 

 tried to prove that geologic ages 

 have alone been ^responsible for 

 their formation. These scientists 

 are not without points in their fav- 

 or; but it is thought that the large 

 majority of observers are inclined 

 to the belief that the mounds are 

 the effects of the early human inhab- 

 itants of the countries where the ac- 

 cumulations are found. 



In the old world many writers 

 are inclined to think that the for- 

 mation there, were the results of a 

 people who existed at the time 

 when the extinct cave bear flourish- 

 ed; while it is generally acknowl- 

 edged that the neolithic period was 

 coeval with the growth of these 

 heaps. The shell heaps of Denmark, 

 together with with formations of the 

 Atlantic * coast of North America, 



* There are shell heaps reported from 

 the Gulf Coast of Florida but the writer 

 has not examined them. 



are known as kitchen middens, lit- 

 erally 'kitchen sweepings' and their 

 European human producers, were, 

 according to Sir John Lubback, of 

 the later stone age, and belong to 

 the same general race or class of 

 the human family, as the inhabit- 

 ers of the lake dwelling, of Swit- 

 zerland, and the stockaded islands, 

 or "crannogs" of the British Isles. 

 This idea is probaly correct, as 

 viewed by observers in our country; 

 for the mounds were evidently 

 made by inhabitants of the stone 

 age, and the animal remains indi- 

 cate the neolithic era. Still there 

 are so many theories in regard to 

 racial matters, and the classifica- 

 tion of the earlier peoples of this 

 continent and the old world is so 

 varied, that no determination can 

 be arrived at. 



No part of our country is more 

 interesting to the student than the 

 state of Florida. This interest 

 does not attach from the fossil re- 

 mains, which are very few in many 



parts, and are scarce worthy of 

 rank in comparison with some other 

 sections of the Union. The main 

 interest accrues from the fact that 

 the land is largely of comparitively 

 recent formation. Perhaps it 

 would be more proper to say that 

 the peninsula is of special interest 

 to physical geographers, rather 

 than to geologists. 



The state is largely flat, and in 

 many parts there are vast sections 

 still in process of formation. This 

 is a condition involving the exten- 

 sive region known as the Ever- 

 glades, that portion lying to the 

 north, east and south of the little 

 known lake Okeechobee. Yet, ev- 

 en on the eastern border of the vast 

 swamp, and on a narrow strip sep- 

 arating the Everglades form the At- 

 lantic, are found long piles of shells, 

 kitchen middens. Thus giving ev- 

 idence, that these formations, 

 whether from human cause, or 

 otherwise, long antedated any ev- 

 idence of land in the interior In 

 truth it is fair to say. that the shell 

 heaps of the ocean coast were ac- 

 cumulating while yet the entire low 

 interior or Everglades, south of the 

 twenty-sevenfh parallel, was a huge 

 lake. Some writers have asserted 

 that the entire low interior was once 

 salt water, and that the present 

 coast was the earliest formation in 

 the region, surrounding the water 

 like an atoll in the formation of an 

 island of coral foundation. " This 

 theory is not improbable, for it has 

 been ably demonstrated that a 

 large part of the foundation of the 

 lower part of the peninsula is a 

 conglomerate. 



The shell heaps found on the 

 Atlantic sea-board from Canada to 

 Florida, and erroneously accredited 

 to the Indians, are, so far as I am 

 able to learn, generally found near 

 the waters edge and if of any size, 

 are nearly, or quite, always in a 

 parallel line with the ocean or salt 

 water lagoon. 



Many that I examined gave ev- 

 idence of great age, while some of 

 them led me to think that a portion 

 of the heap was at least of recent 

 formation, and the conclusion was 

 arrived at, that these mounds, per- 

 haps a thousand years, or more, 

 old, since first began, were not 

 rarely used at later dates as burial 

 places of the dead. These mounds, 

 probably began centuries before 

 the recent tribes of so-called Ind- 

 ians occupied the region, were fin- 

 ally used as sepulchres by succeed- 

 ing tribes. These differences in 

 the apparent age of the mounds a- 

 gree with the various theories re- 

 garding their formation. These 



theories, together with observations 

 from careful .research, will be pre- 

 sented to the readers. 



In several quarters in Florida 

 the shell heaps are so symmetrical 

 in form that the idea prevails that 

 they were built by the earliei 

 Spanish settlers for defensive or 

 offensive purposes. The only ev- 

 idence that seems at all corrobora- 

 tive of this theory, is a cannon ball 

 of ten pounds, or so, which was 

 discovered imbedded in the mass at 

 Lake Worth. The idea of the 

 construction of forts is in no wise 

 tenable, and the equally preposter- 

 ous belief that the natives erected 

 the barriers for defense is not 

 worth consideration, for there was 

 small chance of attack by water. 

 Moreover it would seem idle that 

 people of that age. who were oniy 

 armed with bows and clubs, shoidd 

 build fortifications. 



Nevertheless, certain of these 

 walls or ridges have forms which 

 indicate some purpose by their 

 builders, or perhaps, remodlers. 

 One nearly symmetrical mound on 

 the banks of Indian river, situated 

 slightly north of Micco, Brevard 

 county, is shaped much like an 

 alligator, with a wall around the 

 entire space; the depression in the 

 inside of the foot, or what you may 

 call it, being quite level and with 

 a well at one end, as if intended for 

 the space. This fortress or for- 

 mation is known as 'Alligator 

 Mound. ' 



Another theory, and probably 

 the correct one, as it is the belief 

 of the best anthropologists and 

 archaeologists in America, as well 

 as the leading thinkers of the old 

 world, is that the aborigines of the 

 coast have for ages gathered on 

 the shores and held 'tribal clam- 

 bakes.' Certain sections were se- 

 lected in accordance with possible 

 religious rites, perhaps, or more 

 likely as a matter of convenience 

 and where the oysters were thick- 

 est. And there the noble redman 

 or, perhaps, the prehistoric mound 

 builders, congregated seasonally, 

 leaving the empty shells in vast 

 heaps, and sometimes in the reg- 

 ulation forms, to mark the place 

 where they had feasted. 



Probably the best mounds for 

 observation arc !.hose situated on 

 the Indian river, Florida. This 

 lagoon, or river, so-called, is of 

 salt water, and is separated from 

 the Atlantic by a narrow strip of 

 land from forty rods to several 

 miles wide. Next the ocean the 

 shell heaps are worn away by the 

 action of the big rollers which lev- 

 el all within reach. But on the 



