Researchers describe infrastructure for large-scale fish capture and storage by Native Americans in southwest Florida. The Calusa were a politically complex fisher-gatherer-hunter society that lived in southwest Florida in the 16th century. Several Calusa archaeological sites contain subrectangular constructs built from shell and other sediments around a central flooded area known as watercourts, the purpose of which remains unclear. Victor Thompson and colleagues performed detailed field studies of watercourts found at the Calusa capital of Mound Key, Florida. Each watercourt had an opening in the wall facing the settlement's central canal, which the authors believe was the location of gates made from perishable materials. The authors found fish scales in sediments from the courts corresponding to the period when it would have been in use. Scales were not found in sediments from the surrounding bay, outside of Mound Key. Excavations of the edges of one watercourt revealed material evidence of earlier fishing-related activity, such as drying and smoking racks. The results suggest that the watercourts were used to store live surplus fish for later processing and that surplus fish production might have supported the centralized political authority of Calusa rulers, according to the authors.
Article #19-21708: "Ancient engineering of fish capture and storage in southwest Florida," by Victor D. Thompson et al.
MEDIA CONTACT: Victor D. Thompson, University of Georgia, Athens, GA; tel: 850-776-2745; e-mail: vdthom@uga.edu
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences