The Miami Circle

At the mouth of the Miami River, demolition of the Brickell Point apartments in 1998 led archaeologists to uncover prehistoric artifacts, a dense deposit of black soil, animal bones, and shells, and an unusual circular pattern of holes and basins carved into shallow Miami oolitic limestone bedrock measuring 38 feet in diameter. Archaeologists suggest this feature, called the Miami Circle, was the foundation of a prehistoric structure made by the Tequesta Indians, and artifacts and carbon dating indicate that people lived here around 2,000 years ago. Finds from the site, including chipped stone tools from Central Florida, pottery from other parts of the state, polished axes from Georgia, galena from central Missouri, and copper from elsewhere in the South or Midwest, show a widespread trade network, and the site may also have served as a hub for distributing materials such as pumice. The discovery added to archaeological knowledge about the Tequesta and deepened appreciation of the area's cultural history.

Miami, Florida · United States