Anthropology
Related: About this forumA major archaeological discovery was made in Florida. Was it kept 'under wraps'?
BY ANDRES VIGLUCCI
UPDATED FEBRUARY 09, 2023 10:05 AM
- video at link -
For the past year and a half, with scant public attention, squads of archaeologists digging at the Miami River site of a planned Related Group residential tower complex have unearthed remarkable finds, consisting of thousands of fragmentary prehistoric tools and artifacts, rare and well-preserved animal and plant remnants, vestiges of ancient structures and human remains including some relics dating back to the earliest days of civilization on the planet.
Independent scientists say the findings, which include 7,000-year-old spearheads, are clear and abundant evidence of a continuous indigenous settlement in the area stretching much farther back in time than previously thought. The discovery, they say, may be the most significant in a series of archaeological finds made at the mouth of the Miami River in the past 25 years that include the Miami Circle National Historic Landmark, thought to be around 2,000 years old.
There are artifacts going back sequentially over those thousands of years, said William Pestle, an archaeologist and chairman of the anthropology department at the University of Miami, who is not involved in the excavation at the Related site but is familiar with the discoveries there. This is like a continuous record, which is powerful and cool.
Youre going back to the time of the emergence of the first cities in Mesopotamia. Its thousands of years before the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. By any measure, this is an early manifestation of human activity. This is legitimately old.
Read more at: https://www.macon.com/news/nation-world/article272283848.html
Hugh_Lebowski
(33,643 posts)It seems to me that'd be hugely significant.
What's the evidence it's being kept 'under wraps', and who are the interests involved in doing so?
rpannier
(24,572 posts)The article cites 1999 when an archeological find stopped condos
Judi Lynn
(162,379 posts)The developers were damned determined to get their building going, pushing hard, raising hell.
hadEnuf
(2,702 posts)He'll probably try and send his political storm troopers to the area with flamethrower to burn any possible books or writings.
Vdizzle
(389 posts)So finding 7000 year old remains and artifacts would be inconvenient to the big grift.
Judi Lynn
(162,379 posts)They would probably claim people were trying to destroy their faith by misleading everyone, and spitting in God's face! Gotta perteck God's word!
AmBlue
(3,440 posts)The developer is jumping through legal hurdles and doing the minimum required archeological excavations, but is also keeping it quiet in an effort to "make it go away," so they can build and sell their condos. They are not sharing publicly what they are finding and sounds like the local historical experts are upset with how the site is being handled.
wnylib
(24,389 posts)hunter gatherers. More like what anthropologists would call a culture or society. They reserve the term civilization for extensive building, divisions of labor by class, a system of writing, etc.
Hugh_Lebowski
(33,643 posts)Not saying it's not important at all if not a civilization ... but an actual civilization there at that time would be a hugely important find.
Was just kinda trying to weigh out just much of a travesty against history and science ... this might be.
Thanks for the info
Ms. Toad
(35,517 posts)a bioarchaeologist and University of Miami referred to it as a city.
https://www.miamicondoinvestments.com/miami-news/significant-archaeological-find-in-miami-from-a-7000-year-old-settlement-at-new-construction-site
Here's a more detailed article.
The finds also demonstrate that the Tequesta village on the river, the tribes principal settlement, was far more extensive than previously believed, they say. Spanish accounts put the settlement only on the rivers north bank. But the finds at the Related site, just steps from the Miami Circle, indicate that at its peak hundreds of years ago the Tequesta town spread along both banks of the river.
It may have been home to perhaps 6,000 people, though no one has yet attempted a formal estimate, said Traci Ardren, an anthropologist and archaeologist at UM who is an expert on New World prehistoric cultures.
https://www.nny360.com/news/prehistoric-tools-ancient-relics-unearthed-on-the-miami-river/article_0a80cff3-d0dc-5835-8b57-78fde9b88a2e.html#:~:text=People%20are%20seen%20working%20an,the%20Tequesta%20Native%20American%20tribe.
Judi Lynn
(162,379 posts)stopdiggin
(12,821 posts)archeologists themselves are often fairly circumspect about finds, ongoing digs, etc. In an effort ward off problems presented by the public, the media, religious and social advocates ... And sometimes just plain old vandals
In the same way that LE and forensics don't want the unaware tramping through a crime scene - the archeologists would clearly prefer that Mr. and Mrs WallyWorld, or 'amateur anthropologist' are not coming around to 'take a look' - and taking home a few 'trinkets.'
AmBlue
(3,440 posts)I am a third generation Floridian, grew up in a suburb of Miami, and this is the first I am learning of this! Thank you for posting this article, Judi Lynn. I actually used to work just a couple blocks away from where this is happening. I dont live there now, but it's hard to understand how the locals and city officials there have not managed to raise the hue and cry sufficiently to inform the public and the world of the historical significance of this find.
It sounds like the urgency is mounting and the City of Miami needs to act NOW, or this important record of human history will be paved over by the developer to put up a condo and parking lot.
Judi Lynn
(162,379 posts)People living far from Miami were focused on Miami almost daily while the right-wing reactionary Cuban "exiles" fought against the Clinton administration, with protests daily, even threats against anyone who would dare try to go pick up the kid to return him to his dad, after Janet Reno got the orders for them to let him go home!
Suddenly this story came up while some of us living far from Florida were watching Miami in the news every day, and we found out because Miami was in the news continually at that time! The developers were threatening to get underway regardless of the circle, etc., no matter how critically important it is for the world to know.
Isn't it sad how fast European-descended materialists have moved to destroy EVERYTHING of value which wouldn't make money for them once they had power over the hemisphere? Nothing seems to survive it it stands between them and their most profitable satisfaction. No respect for life at all.
Hateful, stupid brutes. So sad to learn they are still determined to control this situation, even now.
If I'm not mistaken, they only wanted to put up more huge buildings, anyway. They'd probably build them as cheaply and dangerously as the crap residential buildings which collapsed a few years ago due to shoddy materials and planning.
wnylib
(24,389 posts)and archaeological finds. Developers do not want to hold up projects for archaeological research. If they have the right political contacts, they don't have to.
BaronChocula
(2,517 posts)He turned the clock back thousands of years in Florida.
onetexan
(13,896 posts)Baitball Blogger
(48,034 posts)republianmushroom
(17,630 posts)Farmer-Rick
(11,401 posts)Though with 6,000 people that's a city sized population for 7,000 years ago.
That's amazing. But there is a threat that it will all be buried in concrete. Capitalism and it's relentless destruction of everything but profit for a handful of people.
jgo
(982 posts)in the Amazon valley, near Monte Grande, that have recently been dated older than 5,000 years and before Egyptian pyramids (if, big if, I am recalling correctly). Some objects were previously dated at 3,000 years old, and the recent finds at over 5,000, again if I am recalling correctly. It seems like there are a lot of important future archaeological finds waiting to be discovered in the Americas.
Judi Lynn
(162,379 posts)Technology has been advancing at an unparalleled pace, gaining by leaps and bounds now. Breakthroughs seem imminent in so many areas.
It almost can make you look forward to each day now, rather than dreading it! There's a shocking amount of discovery ahead, I'm absolutely certain.
Thanks for the reference to spiral pyramids. I'm surely looking forward to learning about that!
Did we think, as kids, that there would actually be pyramids across the globe, that they all didn't belong in Egypt?
It could all be a horrible prank, however, since the Good Book tells us the earth is only 6,000 years old, the fundies tell us, and they know plenty!