Caloosahatchee culture
Caloosahatchee culture is a term for a south-west on the coast of present-day Florida on the Gulf of Mexico -based prehistoric Native American culture. They can be detected up to 1750 AD, for the period of about 500. The settlements reached the banks of the Estero Bay through to Charlotte Harbor. The inland was also inhabited up to half of the way to Lake Okeechobee and comprises about today's administrative units of counties and Charlotte Lee. At the time of first contact with Europeans, the range of the Caloosahatchee culture formed the core of the sphere of influence of the Calusa.
It was found in the cultural region of artifacts that are the Archaic period, partly also of the early period arachischen assignable. There is evidence that the region was used to Charlotte Harbour before 3500 BC intensively for fishing. Around 500 BC appeared plain clay pots in the region, which originate from the Glades culture, the techniques of the Glades culture was further developed in the Caloosahatchee region until around 500 AD, a complex social structure with a high population density was to about 800 later periods of the Caloosahatchee culture are archaeologically moored by the appearance of clay vessels of other traditions.
The coast, which was settled by the Caloosahatchee culture is a very water-rich estuary, there is an extensive network of waterways, bays and peninsulas, which are protected on the sea side behind some barrier islands. The estuary is fed by the Caloosahatchee, Myakka and the Peace River and the region has rich deposits of mangrove and seagrass.
The Caloosahatchee is one of the so-called Mound - builders, which means they built called the Mounds artificial hill. The Mounds of the Caloosahatchee settlements were partly built on resulting in village near mountains of waste, mainly consisting of shells and shell remains, but also of deliberately spent at certain places of scrap and waste. The bandwidth ranges from smaller waste piles up to complex systems, were among those mounds with landscaped decks, patios, water courses and canals. Today's Mound Key Archeological State Park, the archaeological site of Mound Key in the center of Estero Bay near the present town of Fort Myers Beach, covers an area of about 30 hectares in which mounds are of a height up to 10 meters. A canal flows through two mounds in the area and ends in a rectangular pool of water.
The people of the Caloosahatchee culture obtained between 80 and 90 % of their animal food from the water, both fish as well as crabs. Smaller portions of food were covered by deer and other mammals, ducks and various water birds, as well as alligators, turtles, manatees and sea urchins. The vegetable share included various wild roots, the fruits of Opuntia and palm trees, as well as other growing in the region, berries and fruits.
Appliances and household items were made of wood, bone, stone and shells. Holey stones were used to complain of fishing nets, ladles, cups, spoons, beads, cutting tools and hammers were created from shells. Awls, beads, needles and the like represent the people of her bones. Ceremonial plates and trays were produced from non-existent in the region stones, probably imported from other regions.
Although the Key Marco settlement area is outside the range of the Caloosahatchee culture, there very similar and closely related artifacts were found, particularly from wood and rope. The threads or ropes were probably made from the fibers of palm trees and used for making nets. Wooden artifacts from Key Marco include masks, painted carvings of animals, carved and decorated plates and small models of canoes, which may have been intended as a toy.