[Original headline: Archaeologists unearth 1,700 year-old canal system near Lake Okeechobee ]
ORTONA – Archaeologists on Thursday said they have uncovered a sophisticated 1,700 year-old canal system and a huge pond dug by ancient Indians near this tiny town, located west of Lake Okeechobee.
The canal site is so important that it could rival the discovery four years ago of the mysterious Miami Circle ruins near downtown Miami, one expert said.
Ortona, population 500, is located on Route 78 and is 13 miles west of Moore Haven. The town is sited just north of the Caloosahatchee River, which is part of the cross state Okeechobee Waterway. Archaeologists held a press conference there at the Ortona Indian Mound Park at 10:30 this morning to announce their finds.
Included was an elaborate seven-mile-long canal that was excavated by ancient Indians, now extinct, who lived and farmed in that area.
The canals, first discovered in 1996, were used for fishing and for transportation around rapids that used to exist in the Caloosahatchee River, which runs from the lake to the Gulf of Mexico at Fort Myers.
Robert Carr, executive director of the Archaeological and Historical Conservancy in Miami, called the discoveries “engineering marvels.”
Carr estimates that hundreds of Native Americans lived in this area and used handmade tools of wood and shell to dig out millions of yards of sand and soil.
``This suggests one level of technological achievement that really has never been honored before,'' said Carr. Previously archaeologists dated the canals to be hundreds of years younger.
Also discovered was a 450-foot long pond that was dug in the shape of a sacred mace-like baton, a power symbol for many Native Americans. It was built around 700 A.D., scientists said.
The canal and the pond were discovered from the air and much of their detail can only be seen that way.
Carbon dating helped date material in the canal and pond sites.
The pond discovery almost never happened, Carr said. Crews building a road in the area almost destroyed it before its significance was discovered.
The pond also has a mysterious astronomical alignment that is found in other Native American sites – it is 20 degrees west of north.
If the pond and canal system stands up to further scrutiny it could prove to be the oldest Indian canal system found in this country, Carr said.
Carr also said the find will rival the discovery of the Miami Circle, the mysterious stone Indian ruins in downtown Miami that were found in 1998 when an apartment complex was torn down.
The discovery in the Glades County community of Ortona, a former village of the extinct Caloosahatchee Indian tribes, comes after six years of investigations in the area, Carr said.
Indians were digging canals hundreds and perhaps thousands of years ago in Ortona, said Jerald T. Milanich, a curator in archaeology at the Florida Museum of Natural History. Some canals likely were used for canoe travel between villages and rivers, he said.
In other sites near Lake Okeechobee, archaeologists have found canals with complicated lock systems to maneuver canoes up hills, earthen mounds in geometrical shapes and intricate wooden sculptures and masks.
``South Florida Indians were very well adjusted to their environment and lived quite well,'' said Milanich, who has excavated some of the sites.
In Miami, archaeologists say Tequesta Indians carved a 38-foot circle, known as the Miami Circle, into limestone 2,000 years ago. Scientists believe the site was the base of a large building.
On the Net:
Archaeological and Historical Conservancy, Inc.:
http://www.flarchaeology.org
Glades County:
http://www.gladesonline.com
