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More History of Marco Island

• Marco Island museum leaders to learn from County museum director
• Living history: Old timers reflect on pre-1960s Marco
• 30 years ago today: October 1, 2008

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Fast facts

In 1964, Deltona’s development was seriously altering the landscape of Olde Marco west of Bald Eagle Drive. Canals were being dug, roads were being laid, houses and apartments going up rapidly. At that time, the lot between what was known as the Model Village Apartments and the Marco Vista was still partly covered by a Calusa Indian shell mound, 14 feet high at its maximum elevation.

Archaeologists John and Linda Van Beck dug a five-by-five foot exploratory pit at the side of the mound and encountered a solid wall of Busycon (giant whelk) shells. They then sank a 10-foot shaft to the side of this and found a layer of wet brown clay four to sic inches thick, resting on what they called the “sterile sand” of the sea floor.

Laboratory tests on material from the site were able to distinguish several layers of human habitation and different cultural periods from approximately A.D. 600 to 1450. The concentration of pottery found was the most intense discovered in any Florida excavating up to that time.

From the Van Becks’ findings, it was determined that the Calusa community of Key Marco was a very large one. Further, it was learned that their diet encompassed most sea creatures from sharks to oysters. The artifacts from the Van Beck expedition now reside in the State Historical Museum at the University of Florida in Gainesville.

Most importantly, the Van Becks developed a basis for dating the more than 2,500 objects unearthed in that area by the Cushing expedition of 1896, and established the need for the final “dig” at this location in 1995, under the direction of Dr. Randolph Widmer and his wife Dr. Rebecca Storey and sponsored by the Marco island Historical Society.

(With thanks for information to Dr. William Marquardt at the University of Florida and Quentin Quesnell, member MIHS.)

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Marion Nicolay and Betsy Perdichizzi of the Marco Island Historical Society are compiling this report on a weekly basis for the Eagle. Shirley Beckwith oversees the archiving of photos for MIHS.