Ancient engineering of fish capture and storage in southwest Florida

Abstract

In the 16th century, the Calusa, a fisher-gatherer-hunter society, were the most politically complex polity in Florida, and the archaeological site of Mound Key was their capital. Based on historic documents, the ruling elite at Mound Key controlled surplus production and distribution. The question remains exactly how such surplus pooling occurred and when such traditions were elaborated on and reflected in the built environment. Our work focuses on the “watercourts” and associated areas at Mound Key. These subrectangular constructions of shell and other sediments around centralized inundated areas have been variously interpreted. Here, we detail when these enclosures were constructed and their engineering and function. We argue that these structures were for large surplus capture and storage of aquatic resources that were controlled and managed by corporate groups.

Human social organization during the Late Pleistocene: Beyond the nomadic-egalitarian model

“…They comprised 50-60 politically consolidated villages along Florida's southwest coast, although their domain extended from Tampa to Cape Canaveral and down to the Florida Keys, an area larger than modern-day Switzerland 116 . They collected tribute, centralized power in a hereditary sovereign who ruled for life, supported full-time religious and military specialists, and built large infrastructure projects 116,117 . Although they appear to have planted some squash and papaya, in addition to managing chile pepper, these constituted trivial contributions to subsistence 118 ; rather, their wealth and surplus derived from rich aquatic resources 119 .…”

“Let Us All Enjoy the Fish”: Alternative Pathways and Contingent Histories of Collective Action and Governance Among Maritime Societies of the Western Peninsular Coast of Florida, USA, 100–1600 CE

“…800-900 CE, multi-family households came together to form co-resident communities, aggregations that were facilitated through their cooperation in the construction of canals within and between settlements. Eventually, as noted above, some communities also constructed systems for the mass capture and storage of fish (Thompson et al, 2020).…”

Symbiosis and the Anthropocene

“…Farming practices have profoundly altered the environment surrounding human societies, the shape and functions of human society, and human biology itself (see below) (Roosevelt 1984;Larsen 1995;Redman 1999;Bellwood 2004;Lambert 2009;Fitzpatrick 2020). Net positive resource outputs from farming have led to the development of complex constructed environments so that farming is believed to be the reason that human settlements formed, resulting in a shift from the nomadic huntergatherer lifestyle (Bellwood 2004;Weisdorf 2005;Thompson et al 2020;Fitzpatrick 2020). Although most humans and specific domesticated lineages are perhaps not often in "prolonged, direct physical contact" (in contrast to, say, endosymbionts) and only a subset of humans today are directly involved in farming, strong physical collocation was crucial for the development and evolution of human-domesticate associations in a self-reinforcing manner.…”

“…For many insect farmers, their dependence on their cultivars is obligate, with cultivars providing the sole source of nutrition for larvae and/or adult insects (Sands 1956;Grassé 1959;Francke-Grosmann 1967;Weber 1972;Mueller et al 2005). Similarly, the degree of dependence of humans on farmed partners is very high (Larsen 1995; Garibaldi et al 2011;Granada et al 2016;Thompson et al 2020).…”