Sacred Ground

Sacred Ground. . , For thousands of years previous to European conquest, untold generations of indigenous people capably thrived and adapted in environments we can hardly imagine., A matrilineal society, these "first people" skillfully utilized the rich resources of this landscape. Animals and plants were sources for food, medicine, and clothing. Dwellings constructed from the tall trunks of slash pine had palm fronds for roofing. People crafted shell implements and used shells to build immense mounds. They knapped (sculpted) chert and agatized coral into arrow and spear points, knives, and tools, wove fishing nets from palm fiber, and formed clay into vessels for household and religious uses. Ocean-going canoes were made from cypress and pine., Between the time of "first contact," generally cited as 1513, and the end of the 18th century, native populations declined to the point of near extinction. The Spanish, English, and French invasions of La Florida eradicated Florida's native people and annihilated their culture and community life. By the mid-18th Century, new native people, now identified as the Seminole and Miccosukee Tribes, began to move into peninsular Florida.