Glimpse into Prehistory

Glimpse into Prehistory. . Through expert archaeological investigations, we are revealing more about the lives of past inhabitants at the temple mound complex. This careful work is slow, and remains of a prehistoric shelter found here provide new clues to early inhabitants., We have only sketches from Spanish and French explorers of the lifestyles which must have flourished for hundreds of years in complex villages like this. The only pictures we have of native Floridians are those of the extinct Timucua who lived far from here, drawn by a French artist well after his visit to northeast Florida in 1562., As early as 800 AD, perhaps even earlier, native people settled along the river shoreline of Snead Island., We know from the remains of animal bone and shell fragments that they lived very well by harvesting fish and shellfish from the surrounding waters; hunting deer, turtles, and other animals; and collecting plants in the interior hammocks., Following contact with European explorers in the 16th century, the cultural lifeways of Florida Amerindians were beset by increased disease, warfare, and enslavement. Historical research indicates these peoples all but vanished by the mid 1700s during a transition that saw the resettlement of Florida with American Indians from Georgia and eastern Alabama.