Recommended listening: Native American Flute
Story
It's an important day in Calos, the island city home to the most important families of the Calusa people. After years of construction, the king's new house has finally been completed. Built on a mound made of shell midden, it towers above a canal which splits the artificial island in two. Uniquely, the Calusa have developed a hierarchical settled society without any agriculture. Their king's wealth comes from his control of waters rich in natural resources, and his people live mainly off fishing, hunting, and gathering. His accumulation of wealth and status has led to the construction of the largest house in Calos, one which will continue to house his family for the next several hundred years.
Two women are making their way up the mound to celebrate the completion of the king's house. They are from one of the noble families in Calos, closely related to the king. The younger one is a singer who will join a chorus with over a hundred other girls to serenade the crowds. Her grandmother, her skirt festooned with seashells, will dance with the other nobles. Both have spent much time preparing for the feast and their respective duties during it. On their way up the mound, however, they are distracted by the sight of two dolphins leaping through the canal. The girl calls her grandmother's attention to the two animals who move with unparalleled swiftness through the water.
Dolphins were the apex predator in the ecosystem that they shared with the Calusa. Archaeological evidence suggests that the Calusa respected the dolphins' prowess at hunting so much that they carved their net sinkers in the shape of bottlenose dolphins. As Jack Davy writes, "The sinkers spent their working lives under water, in the silt and sand of the channels of the Ten Thousand Islands. They were not made beautiful so that people could stare at them, they were made to evoke and connect with the apex hunter of the Florida coast, the graceful, agile and – to a fish – deadly bottlenose dolphin. Indigenous Floridian fishermen, living in a society whose survival and prosperity depended on their professional skills, would have seen the dolphin as both competition and inspiration, and by carving net sinkers in the shape of their aquatic rivals they were perhaps attempting to impart a little of the strength and ability of the dolphin into their own efforts."
The great mound at Calos, where the Calusa king was living when the Spanish encountered him in the 16th century, had its first house built sometime between 950 and 1015. At this time, Calusa society was already coalescing into one of religious hierarchies and complex political structures. This rise in complexity only accelerated as communities became more competitive. By the time the Spanish met king Caalus at Calos, he controlled an area that covers much of southern Florida. Caalus, aware of both the threats and opportunities that the Spanish contact posed, held a lavish wedding feast for his sister and a Spanish official. It is the Spanish account of the wedding feast that gives us insight into what Calusa celebrations further back in the past might have been like. Five hundred girls aged 10 to 15 sang outside the window while hundreds of noble men and women danced, including women as old as ninety. The singing girls and dancing elders formed the inspiration for the two women in this illustration, who might have performed similar roles in a ceremony hundreds of years before.
The Calusa valiantly resisted the Spanish and were never conquered or converted by them. However, in the 18th century most of the Calusa were either killed or enslaved by the English and their Creek and Yamasee allies, who had been pushed into Florida due to English incursions into their lands further north. The Calusa domination of southern Florida was broken up, and most of their people were sent to plantations in Cuba. Some survivors who escaped the raids may have joined the Seminole or intermarried with other newcomers to Florida. The Seminole refer to the Calusa by a name meaning "the ancient ones". The Calusa met a tragic fate, but their legacy lives on among the Seminole who still sing some of their songs, and in the landscape they literally shaped - the area where they used to live is still full of shell mounds and artificial islands, including their capital Calos, which today is known by the name Mound Key.
The two women in this illustration, a grandmother and her talented granddaughter, were part of a culture that flourished in Florida for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. The move towards political hierarchy which they are celebrating in a feast is one which should draw our attention to the great diversity and complexity of American Indian societies, and human society in general - few kingdoms as powerful as the Calusa built their empire on fishing instead of agriculture. Even in the midst of all these important political developments, however, these two Calusa women could take a moment to notice the beauty of the natural world around them, marvelling at the grace and beauty of their great cetacean rivals in this aquatic kingdom.
Two women are making their way up the mound to celebrate the completion of the king's house. They are from one of the noble families in Calos, closely related to the king. The younger one is a singer who will join a chorus with over a hundred other girls to serenade the crowds. Her grandmother, her skirt festooned with seashells, will dance with the other nobles. Both have spent much time preparing for the feast and their respective duties during it. On their way up the mound, however, they are distracted by the sight of two dolphins leaping through the canal. The girl calls her grandmother's attention to the two animals who move with unparalleled swiftness through the water.
Dolphins were the apex predator in the ecosystem that they shared with the Calusa. Archaeological evidence suggests that the Calusa respected the dolphins' prowess at hunting so much that they carved their net sinkers in the shape of bottlenose dolphins. As Jack Davy writes, "The sinkers spent their working lives under water, in the silt and sand of the channels of the Ten Thousand Islands. They were not made beautiful so that people could stare at them, they were made to evoke and connect with the apex hunter of the Florida coast, the graceful, agile and – to a fish – deadly bottlenose dolphin. Indigenous Floridian fishermen, living in a society whose survival and prosperity depended on their professional skills, would have seen the dolphin as both competition and inspiration, and by carving net sinkers in the shape of their aquatic rivals they were perhaps attempting to impart a little of the strength and ability of the dolphin into their own efforts."
The great mound at Calos, where the Calusa king was living when the Spanish encountered him in the 16th century, had its first house built sometime between 950 and 1015. At this time, Calusa society was already coalescing into one of religious hierarchies and complex political structures. This rise in complexity only accelerated as communities became more competitive. By the time the Spanish met king Caalus at Calos, he controlled an area that covers much of southern Florida. Caalus, aware of both the threats and opportunities that the Spanish contact posed, held a lavish wedding feast for his sister and a Spanish official. It is the Spanish account of the wedding feast that gives us insight into what Calusa celebrations further back in the past might have been like. Five hundred girls aged 10 to 15 sang outside the window while hundreds of noble men and women danced, including women as old as ninety. The singing girls and dancing elders formed the inspiration for the two women in this illustration, who might have performed similar roles in a ceremony hundreds of years before.
The Calusa valiantly resisted the Spanish and were never conquered or converted by them. However, in the 18th century most of the Calusa were either killed or enslaved by the English and their Creek and Yamasee allies, who had been pushed into Florida due to English incursions into their lands further north. The Calusa domination of southern Florida was broken up, and most of their people were sent to plantations in Cuba. Some survivors who escaped the raids may have joined the Seminole or intermarried with other newcomers to Florida. The Seminole refer to the Calusa by a name meaning "the ancient ones". The Calusa met a tragic fate, but their legacy lives on among the Seminole who still sing some of their songs, and in the landscape they literally shaped - the area where they used to live is still full of shell mounds and artificial islands, including their capital Calos, which today is known by the name Mound Key.
The two women in this illustration, a grandmother and her talented granddaughter, were part of a culture that flourished in Florida for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. The move towards political hierarchy which they are celebrating in a feast is one which should draw our attention to the great diversity and complexity of American Indian societies, and human society in general - few kingdoms as powerful as the Calusa built their empire on fishing instead of agriculture. Even in the midst of all these important political developments, however, these two Calusa women could take a moment to notice the beauty of the natural world around them, marvelling at the grace and beauty of their great cetacean rivals in this aquatic kingdom.
Artist's Comments
I had a lot of art block with this picture, but it felt so good to finally get back to it the past few days. :) The most challenging thing about this picture was drawing the two women from behind and doing the foreshortening on the girl's hand. I like how it came out, though! And now I've finally got some dolphins in the series, which are some of my favourite animals. The reconstruction art of Merald Clark, from the Florida Museum of Natural History, was a big inspiration for my own reconstruction of the Calusa here.
I first became interested in the Calusa a few years ago when I wrote about their relationship with dolphins on my blog. What a fascinating people I wish we learned more about. While researching this illustration, it was also very interesting to learn how the Seminole view the Calusa as "the ancient ones" in their territory, and they even still perform songs and dances learned from the Calusa. The power of oral tradition is truly incredible!
It's now been two years since I began the Women of 1000 project. Thank you to everyone who has supported me these past two years! ~ February 21, 2020
I first became interested in the Calusa a few years ago when I wrote about their relationship with dolphins on my blog. What a fascinating people I wish we learned more about. While researching this illustration, it was also very interesting to learn how the Seminole view the Calusa as "the ancient ones" in their territory, and they even still perform songs and dances learned from the Calusa. The power of oral tradition is truly incredible!
It's now been two years since I began the Women of 1000 project. Thank you to everyone who has supported me these past two years! ~ February 21, 2020
Resources
Want to learn more about the Calusa? Here are some recommended resources.
"Collective action, state building, and the rise of the Calusa, southwest Florida, USA" by Victor D. Thompson, William Marquardt, Karen J. Walker, Amanda Roberts Thompson, and Lee Newsom
This recent archaeological article about Mound Key and the Calusa is where I got the dates for the construction of the chief's house. It goes into a lot of great detail about settlement history in Mound Key and posits some theories about how the Calusa became the "only non-agricultural kingdom in the New World".
"The Calusa Domain" on South Florida Archaeology and Ethnography
This Florida museum website gives a great overview of the Calusa. It includes some excellent reconstruction art, much of it done by Merald Clark, one of the museum's research associates. The museum also offers a Calusa Heritage Trail and exhibits about the Calusa, their artefacts, and their lifestyles. You can see a video about the museum here.
"Dolphins at the British Museum: Zoomorphic Calusa Sinkers" by Jack Davy
This paper analyses sinkers, used in fishing to weigh down nets, which the Calusa made in the shapes of bottlenose dolphins. Davy argues that the Calusa recognised the dolphin as the apex predator in their area and saw it as both competition and inspiration, and that they carved their sinkers in dolphin shapes to channel some of the dolphin's strength and hunting prowess.
Fontaneda's Memoir
Hernando D'Escalante Fontaneda was a shipwrecked Spaniard who lived with the Calusa from the age of 13 to 30 in the mid-16th century. His account of the Calusa was written for violent ends, informing Spain about their culture so as to more easily enslave them, casting a sad cloud over anyone using this account for research. However, it does provide information about the Calusa which I used to inform this illustration, specifically the clothing.
"Seminole Histories of the Calusa: Dance, Narrative, and Historical Consciousness" by Jason Baird Jackson
While the Calusa are no longer an extant ethnic group, memories of interactions with them are preserved in the oral history of the Seminole. There are Seminole dances which are said to have been learned from the Calusa. There are songs and stories to go with them too. On YouTube you can listen to the Calusa Corn Dance!
"A Marriage of Expedience: The Calusa Indians and Their Relations with Pedro Menéndez De Avilés in Southwest Florida, 1566-1569" by Stephen Edward Reilly
The most thorough analysis I read about the interactions between the Calusa and the Spanish was this article. Much of the information I used to inform the role of the women in this picture was taken from the account of the wedding feast and ceremony between Pedro Menéndez De Avilés and "Doña Antonia", the sister of the Calusa king. However, please note that the use of Pocahontas's marriages as an example to frame the article is outdated and inaccurate.
"Collective action, state building, and the rise of the Calusa, southwest Florida, USA" by Victor D. Thompson, William Marquardt, Karen J. Walker, Amanda Roberts Thompson, and Lee Newsom
This recent archaeological article about Mound Key and the Calusa is where I got the dates for the construction of the chief's house. It goes into a lot of great detail about settlement history in Mound Key and posits some theories about how the Calusa became the "only non-agricultural kingdom in the New World".
"The Calusa Domain" on South Florida Archaeology and Ethnography
This Florida museum website gives a great overview of the Calusa. It includes some excellent reconstruction art, much of it done by Merald Clark, one of the museum's research associates. The museum also offers a Calusa Heritage Trail and exhibits about the Calusa, their artefacts, and their lifestyles. You can see a video about the museum here.
"Dolphins at the British Museum: Zoomorphic Calusa Sinkers" by Jack Davy
This paper analyses sinkers, used in fishing to weigh down nets, which the Calusa made in the shapes of bottlenose dolphins. Davy argues that the Calusa recognised the dolphin as the apex predator in their area and saw it as both competition and inspiration, and that they carved their sinkers in dolphin shapes to channel some of the dolphin's strength and hunting prowess.
Fontaneda's Memoir
Hernando D'Escalante Fontaneda was a shipwrecked Spaniard who lived with the Calusa from the age of 13 to 30 in the mid-16th century. His account of the Calusa was written for violent ends, informing Spain about their culture so as to more easily enslave them, casting a sad cloud over anyone using this account for research. However, it does provide information about the Calusa which I used to inform this illustration, specifically the clothing.
"Seminole Histories of the Calusa: Dance, Narrative, and Historical Consciousness" by Jason Baird Jackson
While the Calusa are no longer an extant ethnic group, memories of interactions with them are preserved in the oral history of the Seminole. There are Seminole dances which are said to have been learned from the Calusa. There are songs and stories to go with them too. On YouTube you can listen to the Calusa Corn Dance!
"A Marriage of Expedience: The Calusa Indians and Their Relations with Pedro Menéndez De Avilés in Southwest Florida, 1566-1569" by Stephen Edward Reilly
The most thorough analysis I read about the interactions between the Calusa and the Spanish was this article. Much of the information I used to inform the role of the women in this picture was taken from the account of the wedding feast and ceremony between Pedro Menéndez De Avilés and "Doña Antonia", the sister of the Calusa king. However, please note that the use of Pocahontas's marriages as an example to frame the article is outdated and inaccurate.