When the Spanish chronicled them in the 1550s, the Calusa consisted of 50-60 politically consolidated villages overseen by a king (a hereditary sovereign who held authority for life). Their capital was on the island of Mound Key & had a structure said to fit at least 2000 people. pic.twitter.com/dkxPVtmryV— manvir singh (@mnvrsngh) August 11, 2020
Calusa infrastructure was incredible. They built a 4-km-long canal on Pine Island, probably for transportation, fishing, exchange, & tribute payment. The construction project was a grand, collaborative project, involving the movement of at least 30,000 cubic meters of earth. pic.twitter.com/QUlpPQUjR6— manvir singh (@mnvrsngh) August 11, 2020
Why were the Calusa capable of building such societies? A big part of the answer seems to their environment: The Calusa lived in a coastal environment overflowing with aquatic resources (fish, shellfish, etc.). This allowed them to settle, intensify, & accumulate. pic.twitter.com/4ODnkcKMz0— manvir singh (@mnvrsngh) August 11, 2020
Anthropologists, especially evolutionary ones, focus on hunter-gatherers that lived in harsh, marginal habitats. But complex, sedentary HGs were common in the past—probably deep into the Pleistocene. Recognizing this, I'm convinced, has big implications for how we narrate history— manvir singh (@mnvrsngh) August 11, 2020
Mark Moffett discusses similar societies in The Human Swarm. See my post: Reading The Human Swarm 1: Hunter-Gatherers and the Plant Trap.
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