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Announcer: 
The following 
program is a production of 
WLRN Public Television.

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[ music ]

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Arva Parks: 
South Florida is one of the 
oldest human habitation sites

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in North America, and 
that makes the Miami story

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so interesting as one of 
the oldest habitation sites

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and also one of the newest 
major American cities.

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Bob Carr: 
We are now documenting, 
fully,

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the fact that the 
Tequesta Indians

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and their ancestors were 
residing on the Miami River

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for at least 3,000 years.

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We have now found evidence of 
this long continuous occupation

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right up to the point 
of European contact

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in the 16th century.

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[ Music ]

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The Tequesta are 
Native Americans

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who resided in 
southeastern Florida.

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We know their name because 
when the Spanish arrived

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in south Florida in 
the 16th century,

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this is the name that 
they were told.

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We know for sure that Ponce 
de Leon was in Biscayne Bay

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in July, 1513, and in 
his journal, he wrote,

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"Reached Tequesta." 
Chequesta with a C.

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And we know that the Spanish 
tend to name habitation sites

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after the chief.

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Now, we don't know for sure that 
Ponce de Leon came ashore,

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but it makes sense.

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He's the one that 
called it Chequesta.

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Bob: 
This site is a window 
into the Tequestan.

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This window is giving us 
a wonderful view

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of prehistoric life up 
to 3,000 years ago.

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Arva: 
By some miracle, no one 
has ever built on the site

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of what they uncovering.

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And that's extraordinary when 
you think about the history of

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the United States and the fact 
that people were choosing

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to live on the north bank of 
the Miami River that long ago.

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[ Music ]

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Bob: 
No one really who was involved 
in archeology in a serious way

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has any doubt as 
to the importance of the site.

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This is a rare opportunity, a 
window into Miami's past

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that probably will 
never be seen again.

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We're finding not only tens 
of thousands of artifacts

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and cultural remains,

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but over 2,000 postholes 
cut into the rock

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is this huge area of circles 
and linear alignments of 
these postholes,

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giving us a very rare glimpse of 
what a prehistoric Tequesta town

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may have looked like.

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Ryan Franklin: 
And the postholes 
that are chalked

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would have held posts 
in the circular pattern

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that you can follow 
all the way around.

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It would have been a 
house of some sort.

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We have, at this point, 
ten circles

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that all look 
relatively similar.

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The holes have similar 
diameter, similar depth.

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Where they're excavating 
there is interesting because

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as the elevation drops, 
you get to this tidal zone.

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And in the tidal zone, you 
have probably the best intact

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[inaudible] on the property, 
which means we have the best

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prehistoric material 
coming from there.

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You could see it's deep, 
rich, black organic dirt.

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And the reason it's rich and 
organic like that is it's...

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that's all the plant matter, 
all the animal remains,

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the shellfish, the fish.

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And it builds up over time, 
and it creates this really dark,

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black organic material.

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There's a lot of material 
in there, a lot of artifacts,

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a lot of ceramic, a lot 
of animal bone.

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Animal bone is mostly 
turtle and shark and fish.

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Bob: 
Growing up in Miami,

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I spent my childhood 
exploring the Miami River

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and becoming 
very intimate with it.

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This pottery is from... 
probably the glaze one period.

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In seventh grade, I had 
asked the teacher,

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"Who were the first people in 
Miami, the earliest people?"

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And her answer was, 
"The Seminoles."

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I thought, "Okay. 
That makes sense.

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They're Indians, 
Native Americans."

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A friend came to class one 
day with a box of artifacts.

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And he started showing pieces 
of pottery and this beautiful ax

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made out of a green stone.

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And I said, "Well, 
where did you find that?"

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He said, "I found it 
on the Miami River."

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That began a lifetime 
interest in archeology

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because what he showed 
me demonstrated

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that there were much more 
ancient people in Miami

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than what I had ever 
even conceived of.

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And we now know through 
the archeological record

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that the Tequesta were 
a people that resided 
in southeast Florida

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from what is currently 
Boca Raton to the north,

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southward to Key West

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and westward to 
Everglades National Park.

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[ Music ]

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They occupied a 
major part of the Peninsula

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and focused their principle town 
at the mouth of the Miami River

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because of its confluence 
with Biscayne Bay.

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This was the ideal location 
for human habitation.

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Not only did it provide a 
transportation corridor

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through the river going 
directly into the Everglades,

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but it also provided access 
directly into the bay,

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to what is now Miami Beach, 
Fisher Island, Virginia Key.

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They were a canoe culture in 
the sense that they were

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very dependent on dugout canoes.

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I'm sure if we were looking 
at a Tequesta today

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we would find the males were 
very strong and powerful

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chest and shoulders from all 
the canoeing they were doing.

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They were able to 
exploit tremendous

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resources from 
the reefs offshore

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as well as the interior 
Everglades and the Miami River.

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The fishing for the Tequesta was 
actually quite sophisticated

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in some ways in the sense that 
they were not just throwing

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a line into the water, 
but they actually had nets.

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They would stretch the nets 
across the Miami River

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with the current changing.

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They were really very adept 
at taking advantage

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of the local environment.

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Had fishing wares from what we 
can tell by simply constructing

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with probably wood and netting 
and funneling the fish

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going into a particular place.

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They could just seal that off 
and actually keep the fish alive

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if they wished for as 
long as they needed to.

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[ Music ]

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Also, hunting 
was very important.

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We find lots of deer bones.

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We find raccoons. 
We find squirrels.

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We find... even small rats, 
reptiles, alligators, snakes.

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What we don't find often are 
panthers, bear, wolves

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and of course, these are 
the predators.

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These are at the top 
of the food chain

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and probably not 
very good to eat

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and probably very dangerous 
to hunt for that matter.

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The Tequesta and the Indians in 
general in south Florida

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were one of the few native 
peoples in North America

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who developed a complex 
socially stratified society

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without the advantage 
of agriculture.

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And the reason is 
because the maritime 
resources were so extensive

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that they were able to actually 
develop this culture

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just simply based on fishing.

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[ Music ]

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The Spanish arrive 
in the 16th century.

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They're greeted with 
tremendous hostility.

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The reason they're hostile in 
part is because they've already

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gotten word from Cuba and the 
Bahamas from those native people

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that when the Europeans arrive, 
you better be ready

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because it isn't going to 
be a walk in the park.

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So this very combative 
relationship continues

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for at least a hundred 
or more years.

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But eventually, 
the Spanish contact,

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through efforts of 
Pedro Menendez

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who was the founder 
of St. Augustine,

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arrives in Miami in 1567, 
convinces the Tequesta

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to allow him to put a fort 
with a Spanish mission

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at the mouth of the river.

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Well, that enterprise doesn't 
last every long

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because there's warfare 
and hostilities break out.

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That attempt at creating 
a mission at the mouth 
of the river

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occurs again in 1743.

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Again with equally 
disastrous results.

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Arva: 
The Spanish, they believe, 
built behind the native village

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so, if you think of Second 
Avenue, of course, didn't exist,

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as a dividing line in 
a little bit of a way.

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We don't know what's 
under Second Avenue.

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They did find 
Spanish habitation sites.

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Bob: 
We have found archeological 
evidence of Spanish occupation

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at the mouth of the Miami River 
by way of numerous

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European artifacts including 
from the mission several bells.

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The changes that 
occurred through time

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is that because of trade,

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because of the products 
that the Europeans are bringing,

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particularly the Spanish, 
metal tools, rum,

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which was the big 
disintegrating factor

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in native societies 
all over the new world,

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that we have in effect 
the American holocaust.

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All over the new world, millions 
of Native Americans disappear.

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They die initially as a result 
of slavery, but most of them

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as a result of diseases 
brought by Europeans.

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Arva: 
Particularly small pox.

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It really ran wild in 
the native population.

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Bob: 
This big disintegration 
of native culture

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is now filled by the Seminoles 
and what became the Miccosukees

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who come into south Florida and 
find themselves in direct combat

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with these other remnant people.

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Arva: 
The last remaining Tequesta 
asked for asylum in Cuba.

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They intermarried 
with the Cubans.

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So in many ways, we may 
have some of the genes

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of these original people 
back in south Florida today

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with the arrival of the Cubans.

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[ Music ]

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Bob: 
Most of this site will disappear 
except for two of the circles

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that will be preserved.

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Arva: 
If I had my 100% druthers,

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there's no question 
I would save the whole site

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and make it open to the public 
and explain the story.

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The developers agreed to 
expose what they believe

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is the most important site 
inside of a building.

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Bob: 
Two large very distinct circles, 
circular features,

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will be preserved and 
interpreted to the public.

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The site not only 
has been recognized

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as being something very 
unusual and unique,

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but probably able to be listed 
on the National Register

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of Historic Places and even 
as a national landmark.

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The best idea we could 
come up with

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because we couldn't 
get a view during the day

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that we were happy with 
because of all the visual noise,

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so we thought if we could 
enhance that with light.

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This was my idea.

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I first looked at 
electrical lighting and 
other temporary systems

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and was just not practical.

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One of our workers came up with 
the idea of using glow sticks.

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We think it's going 
to be 100% effective.

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[ Music ]

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The purpose of this drone 
flight is to capture an image

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that reveals all of this 
Tequesta town

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in one shot and one view.

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This is going to give 
us a bird's eye view of 
the Tequesta village

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in a way that has never 
been seen by people

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in the last 1,500 years.

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This is something we 
can't do on the ground.

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We can reconstruct this 
with maps and so forth.

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That's what we're doing.

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But being able to go up 
500 feet above the ground

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and seeing this 
for the first time

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perhaps similar to 
the way it might have looked

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in terms of the alignment 
in Tequesta times.

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This is something 
that's never been done.

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Wow, that's great.

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This in fact is the first time 
in archeology in North America

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that this kind of night flight 
revealing a structure

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as well as the actual 
plan of a prehistoric town 
is being revealed.

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This aerial view is going to 
be one of our best records

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of what this site actually looks 
like before it disappears.

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[ Music ]