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Monuments and Landscape in Atlantic Europe, Scarre

Monuments and Landscape in Atlantic Europe, Scarre

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<< Our Photo Pages >> Lake Okeechobee - Ancient Village or Settlement in United States in The South

Submitted by bat400 on Saturday, 21 July 2007  Page Views: 10409

Multi-periodSite Name: Lake Okeechobee
Country: United States Region: The South Type: Ancient Village or Settlement
 Nearest Village: Belle Glade, FL
Latitude: 26.947000N  Longitude: 80.787W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
no data Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
no data Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
no data Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
no data
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Lake Okeechobee
Lake Okeechobee submitted by bat400 : Lake Okeechobee. Taken from the eastern shore of the lake, north of Belle Glade. Heavy rains from the 2008 Hurricane season have increased the water levels slightly, but drought conditions still are reducing the lake depth in some areas. As you can see, Okeechobee is too wide to see the opposite shore. Photo - bat400, Sept 2008. (Vote or comment on this photo)
Various sites in Palm Beach County, Florida.
Twenty or more substantial prehistoric sites have been located in the floor of the lake. The depth and size of the lake have been held higher in the last century as part of Florida's water management system. Severe drought in 2006-2007 has uncovered the sites which vary among cemeteries, village sites, and shell and earthen mounds.

Archaeologists are attempting to map sites while Florida Wildlife Conservation Officers attempt to prevent looting. Everyone is trying to avoid wildfires which have periodically occurred in now dry marsh areas along the now uncovered lake bed. Location given is not the Lake itself, not a particular site.

Note: Along with Fires, Gators, and Airboat pilots patrolling for looters with rifles, dredged Lake bed soil is full of arsenic.
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Nearby Images from Flickr
#photo #tagged to Team #airboataddicts by and go #follow #girlofthemarsh @christineee_r w with #ladiesofthemarsh @kylar.johnson Cause #girlsairboattoo both #countrygirls both do #ride2slide Gone #airboating on #lakeokeechobee #girls #girlsdoitbetter #airb
The trip to #lakeokeechobee was amazing on the #harleydavidson #sportster and #softailslim. #youtube video soon . . #harley #roadtrip #travel #lifestyle #bikelife #bike #motorcycle #motorcyclerider #sunset #photographer #photography #traveling #youtuber #
#photo #tagged to Team #airboataddicts by and go #follow #girlsofthemarsh @marthaann22 with #ladiesofthemarsh @kylar.johnson @christineee_r & @hoggirl99 & @mjbikinis these #countrygirls out on #lakeokeechobee on the #airboats #blowboats Out to #ride2slide
I haven't posted cloud porn in awhile. 19000 feet somewhere near Lake Okeechobee, Florida.   #clouds #cloudporn
I had to take this photo really quickly as we didn't want to disturb the nestlings, but this was just one of many (>100) successful #SnailKite nests on #lakeokeechobee this year. A wonderful boost for this #endangered #raptor.

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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 31.6km ESE 104° Big Mound City Misc. Earthwork
 36.9km W 272° Fort Center Archaeological Site* Artificial Mound
 46.7km SSW 199° Big (Tony's) Circle Mounds Artificial Mound
 53.2km WSW 255° Ortona Prehistoric Village Artificial Mound
 70.5km E 90° Jupiter Inlet Mound* Artificial Mound
 86.2km NNE 27° Vero Beach* Ancient Village or Settlement
 114.9km N 2° Three Forks Marsh Artificial Mound
 121.9km WSW 242° Mound Key Archaeological State Park Artificial Mound
 131.4km SSE 152° Arch Creek Middens, Florida* Ancient Village or Settlement
 135.4km SSE 154° El Portal Burial Mound* Artificial Mound
 135.8km SW 229° Naples Canal Not Known (by us)
 139.0km WSW 257° Pineland* Ancient Village or Settlement
 143.9km SSE 155° Miami Circle Rock Art
 144.0km W 276° Little Salt Spring Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature
 159.3km WNW 294° Portavant Mound Site Artificial Mound
 160.3km N 1° Brevard Museum of History and Natural Sciences* Museum
 164.4km SSE 168° Coral Castle* Modern Stone Circle etc
 171.9km W 280° Spanish Point Shell Midden* Artificial Mound
 177.2km N 358° Windover (Florida)* Barrow Cemetery
 178.6km WNW 284° Humming Stone Sarasota (Summstein)* Modern Stone Circle etc
 191.3km WNW 291° Madira Bickel Mound State Archaeological Site* Artificial Mound
 194.4km WNW 290° De Soto National Memorial* Artificial Mound
 195.1km WNW 290° Pillsbury Temple Mound Artificial Mound
 199.6km SE 131° Bimini Road Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature
 205.5km S 169° Key Largo Rock Mound Ancient Temple
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"Lake Okeechobee" | Login/Create an Account | 3 News and Comments
  
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Toxic Muck and Ancient Artefacts Line Lake Okeechobee by bat400 on Saturday, 21 July 2007
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Archeologists gather clues to South Florida history as water managers work to clean up the sludge left by drought.

LAKEPORT, FLA. — Drought has caused the second-largest freshwater lake in the United States to drop to its lowest level since recording began in 1932, and the shoreline's recession has exposed trinkets, treasures and trash from throughout the ages.

Archeologists and historians are excited by the potential insight into the little-known lives of South Florida's earliest inhabitants.

But the lake's shrinkage has also left a monumental cleanup headache: a bathtub ring of toxic sludge from dumped wastewater and the objects hurled in by hurricanes and litterbugs.

In little more than two months, contractors with the South Florida Water Management District have hauled away 2 million cubic yards of sludge — enough to fill nine football stadiums from the field to the nosebleed seats, said Tom Debold, water district supervisor on the muck-removal project.

After the muck was scraped and temporarily stored in 20-foot-high mounds set back from the shore, scientists discovered that much of it contains excessive levels of arsenic from pesticides and fertilizers used until the 1960s. ...After analysis, they concluded that "it can't be used near any kind of housing facility," said Susan Gray, a biologist and deputy director of watershed management for the district.
The residential limit for arsenic in soil or fill is 2.1 milligrams per kilogram; the Okeechobee muck had as much as 9 milligrams per kilogram, Gray said. The concentration of arsenic, which cannot be treated or neutralized, is intensifying as water evaporates from the sludge and the desiccated piles compress. Removal of the muck has allowed fresh shoots of bulrush and tape grass to sprout and will improve the habitat for the bass and crappie that draw thousands of anglers to the lake each year.

Work has just begun, though, for those poring over the artifacts pulled from the exposed shores. Human remains and cultural objects have been mapped and left in place for the waters to reclaim them, whereas hundreds of artifacts such as handblown bottles, tools, hunting gear and adornments have been taken to state and county laboratories for cleaning and inspection.

Palm Beach County archeologist Chris Davenport has two years to examine and catalog the implements and housewares found at 19 sites along the county's lakefront strech, which includes the towns of Pahokee, Belle Glade and South Bay.

One of the artifacts, a spearhead, could be 8,000 years old, Davenport said, and human remains appear to date back 2,000 years. "We know the first Native Americans in this area were not the Seminoles. The first ones died out before contact [with European explorers], so we don't really even know what they called themselves," the archeologist said.

For more, see the LA Times story by Carol J. Williams, Staff Writer, here.
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Shallow Okeechobee reveals pool of artifacts by bat400 on Thursday, 28 June 2007
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The Florida drought set the now dry grass and marsh vegetation of the Lakebed on fire earlier this year. But the falling water has also uncovered a treasure of pre-historic artifacts - and attracted archaeolgists and looters.

Story from the Miami Herald:
The epic drought gripping Lake Okeechobee has opened a mud-spattered window into Florida's prehistoric past.

Since March, falling water levels have exposed 21 archaeological sites. Thousands of artifacts have been unearthed, including pieces of pottery, shell pendants, candleholders, arrowheads and fishing weights and human bones.

The journey to the sites starts in an airboat. Outfitted with backpacks and small computers, the team -- airboat captain, archaeologist, intern and consultant -- ventures forth from a small dock near Belle Glade. They encounter otters, flamingos and the occasional bald eagle.

Sometimes, when the water level is too low, they take ATVs instead.

The sites are seven miles from shore. By midday, team members say, the sun is blazing. The mosquitoes are relentless. Archaeologist and crew wear high boots to protect their legs from cottonmouths and sawgrass, all the while hoping to avoid confrontations with gators.

For this muddy, mosquito-ridden labor of love, they can thank Boots Boyer. Almost all his life, Boyer has cherished this great lake, and even as a boy from nearby South Bay, he fished and water-skied and camped at Lake Okeechobee.

A few months back, Boyer scoured the lake's southern shoulders -- normally under water -- for pond apple seeds. He's in the tree business. Boyer was under a canopy of trees and a thick coat of moonvine when he saw what appeared to be a shallow grave for gator and perhaps panther bones and broken brown pots, chunks as big as his hands.
Curious, he drew closer. What he discovered were layers of history: a double-framed, 16-foot, catfish boat from the early 1900s; human bones and 2,000-year-old American Indian pottery and tools.
''Awesome. Just awesome to find this kind of treasure,'' said Boyer, 36, a grower who specializes in tree restoration. ``I had seen bits of pots before, but nothing like this. It didn't take long before I realized I had happened on something significant.''

Palm Beach County archaeologist Chris Davenport says there was a large village of indigenous people in the area. They built earthen mounds on the water -- little artificial islands -- as fishing platforms and burial sites.
''They died off from diseases long before the area was colonized,'' Davenport said of the early lake dwellers. ``We're hoping this will provide some insight.''

Fearing that the sites would be disturbed, leaders of the project have kept their location a secret and refused to let reporters look over their shoulders. And still, within days of Davenport's initial trip, several sites had been pillaged. At one site alone, someone dug more than 30 gaping holes into the earth. It wasn't clear what, if anything, was stolen.

Since then, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has been charged with guarding the sites. Officers now patrol the lake bed from the sky and ground level. It is illegal in Florida to take any ancient artifact from a historic site. At least three people have been arrested, said Jorge Pino, a conservation commission spokesman.
''Some people have showed up at the site with shovels and pails,'' Pino said.

As the airboat captain, Boyer plays a role in the daily excursions. He is also an unofficial watchdog, patrolling the lake in an airboat, rifle in hand, ready to chase away thieves, vandals and the plain curious. ''The lake is so special to me,'' said Boyer. ``I didn't want to see anything happen to the artifacts.''

For more, see this link.
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Drought Reveals Relics of Pre-historic Florida by bat400 on Thursday, 28 June 2007
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Summary of Baltimore Sun article submitted by coldrum ---
Drought has uncovered what some are calling the most significant archaeological find in Palm Beach County's recent history. Now researchers are in a race against looters and the weather to preserve it.

Since March, state and local archaeologists have been studying and collecting artifacts from various sites around drought-ravaged Lake Okeechobee - places where water has receded from the bank, leaving thousands of acres of mud and muck.

Researchers have found human bone fragments, tools, pottery fragments and pieces of ceremonial jewelry thought to have belonged to the natives who lived near the lake before the arrival of the Spanish in the 16th century.

Some prehistoric relics are thought to be as much as 2,000 years old and could provide a better understanding of the complex communities and cultures that once thrived in Palm Beach County and across South Florida, said Palm Beach County Archaeologist Chris Davenport.

Officials are trying to learn as much as they can and recover as many artifacts as possible before rain refills the lake and washes away what's left.

In the meantime, looters are believed to have struck some areas, leaving behind deep holes in the muck where there might have been historic and valuable objects. Florida Fish and Wildlife officers are investigating a case involving three men and continue to patrol the banks.

"I literally stay up at night wondering whether people are out on the lake looting it," said Davenport, whom the state gave a special permit to legally collect artifacts. "As important as this find is, I almost would like to see the lake fill up because at least then these items will be protected again."

"The prehistory of Florida is largely unknown," Oyer said, "not because of a lack of effort by archaeologists, but because these native cultures did not have any writings or temples or structures to speak of. That doesn't mean they weren't sophisticated cultures. To find sites so rich in culture is immeasurable."

Davenport agrees, and last week he unveiled some of what he has recovered over the past three months: jewelry called "gorgets" carved from conch shells and typically worn around the neck, knees or elbows in ceremonial dress; a worn, pointed-tip shell that was bound with leather and tied to wood for use as an ancient hammer; fist-sized pieces of carved limestone with holes in the center that added weight to fishing nets; and fractured bits of pottery that offer the most important insights.

Materials used for tools and jewelry indicate trading outside of the Florida area. Densities of settlement and artefacts can be used to determine lifestyle of the ancient Floridians.
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