What was the Miami Circle: The Origin and Significance of the Brickell Point Site


The Origin and Significance of the Brickell Point Site	"What was the Miami Circle?" September 28, 1999
by Brent R. Weisman

We believe that the existing archaeological evidence strongly supports the premise that the Miami Circle was constructed by an aboriginal Florida society once residing on the banks of the Miami River in what is now downtown Miami. This conclusion is based on a detailed field examination of site features, specifically the circular pattern of holes or "basins" and their relationship to modern site intrusions consisting of footing trenches for now-demolished condominiums and an associated septic tank.

View of typical cut basins with smaller postholes within the basin on the northwest circumference of the Circle. These postholes look like many prehistoric ones across southeastern America although they are usually in clay. (John Ricisak/Miami-Dade Historic Preservation Division) [LARGER IMAGE]

Those modern features clearly intrude on the portions of the ring dating the ring feature to a time period earlier than the modern construction and therefore not associated with it. Further, concreted archaeological midden material found within some of the holes and the presence of a "crust" on the surfaces of some of the holes indicates long contact between the holes and the archaeological midden and argues against the recent origin of the holes. It is important to note that no modern artifacts were found in direct association with the holes. Each hole appears to have been filled with prehistoric midden deposit. A further distinguishing feature between the holes or basins and modern site features, i.e., the construction footings and septic tank, is the presence of backhoe tooth marks on the latter and individual vertical "groove-shaped" chipping marks on the former. The archaeological evidence for the aboriginal construction of the Miami Circle is compelling.

The patterned arrangement of the holes and basins and of other alignments of smaller holes both inside and outside of the ring clearly indicate intentional construction, and as such have the potential to yield significant insights into the world view and thought processes of its aboriginal makers. Although it is not possible at present to reconstruct the building or structure that the circular pattern represents, regularities in size and placement of the holes suggest that an architectural typology might have existed, and that the building styles in use at the site might have been unique to this region of Florida. It seems likely to us based on an examination of the overall site area that the circular feature is only part of a larger site complex. It would be reasonable to conclude that an aboriginal village, or portion of a village, is represented in the archaeological deposits at the site, and that the circular structure was a prominent architectural feature of that village. We believe that the Brickell Point site is significant on the local, state, and national levels of criteria, and that further archaeological investigation and preservation would be of enormous public benefit.

Brent R. Weisman is the chair of the Department of Anthropology at the University of South Florida, Tampa.

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