256 THE FLORIDA ANTHROPOLOGIST

2006 VoL. 59(3-4)

 

 

Figure 4. Some significant bone artifacts found by Laxson. A carved

 

a southern Florida tradition of carving small animal
effigies (Wheeler and Coleman 1996:49-50, Figure 1a).
Recently, more archaeological work was conducted at the
Florida Portland Cement Site (also called the Bamboo
Mound) and nearby Refugee Island (Beiter 2001, 2003).
Investigations shifted to downtown Miami in 1958
and 1959, when Laxson (1959c) excavated at the Brickell
Point Site (8DA 12), just south of the mouth of the Miami
River and close to where the Miami Circle would be
discovered almost 40 years later. According to Carr and
Ricisak (2000:266), “Laxson’s trenches were dug about
100 meters to the south of the southeast corner of the
Brickell Point Apartments.” The location of Laxson’s
excavation was assigned site number 8DA98, but today
it is considered a component of 8DA12. From 1981 to
2005, it was occupied by the Sheraton Hotel, where Carr
conducted salvage excavations in 1980 (Carr and Ricisak
2000:266; Wheeler 2000b:294-295). Today, it is the
location of the IconBrickell, a multi-use high-rise.
While working at Brickell Point in 1959, Laxson and

bird effigy from the Lehigh Site (FLMNH cat. #94380) and a carved Earl Riggs salvaged a number of glass trade beads from
pin from Cheetham Site (HMSF 2973.1). Drawings by Ryan J. the basement of the Brickell House (83DA400) (FLMNH

Wheeler.

in the Arch Creek Site led to its acquisition by the State of
Florida, in 1973, and to creation of Arch Creek Memorial Park
and Museum, operated by the Dade County Parks Department
(Perry 1984).

In 1957, Laxson tested the Red Road Site, also known as
Opa Locka #3 (8DA44), which had been investigated 21 years
earlier during federal relief work (Willey 1949:88-89). There,
Laxson (1959a:4, Figure 3) found two blue glass Punta Rassa
Tear Drop Pendants (FLMNH cat. #93871A, B), which are rare
artifacts in Florida and Georgia dating to ca. A.D. 1650-1725
(Luer 1994:181-182; Wheeler 2000a:83). The Red Road Site
also yielded a short bone point, perhaps “‘a leister prong or part
of a composite fish hook [that] exhibits marks of lashing cord
and remnants of asphalt or tar” (catalog card for FLMNH cat.
#93860).

Also in 1957, the midden at the Lehigh Site (83DA93) was
tested. There, as at the Red Road Site, Laxson (1959a:6) found
pumice abraders, an artifact type attracting recent research
(Kish 2006; Wheeler 2006). After Laxson, the Lehigh Site also
was the source of two queen conch celt caches found by
University of Miami historian John Reiger, which led to a
pioneering study of shell celt caches (Carr and Reiger 1980).

Laxson (1959b) worked at Tamiami Trail #3 (8DA34) in
March 1958. The site had been tested earlier by Goggin (1950)
(FLMNH cat. #A5176 through A5186 and #A19921 through
A11929). Later, Wesley Coleman (1989) worked at Tamiami
Trail #3, and a carved bone artifact described by Wheeler and
Coleman (1996:Figure10a, HMSF 1298) came from there.

In June 1958, Laxson (1959c:59, Figure 2:5) excavated a
bird effigy pin of carved and polished bone (FLMNH cat.
#94380) from the Florida Portland Cement Site (8DA94). The
effigy has attracted interest over the years. McKinley (1962,
1977) thought that it represents a hawk, and Wheeler suggests
a parakeet (Wheeler 1992:39, 119, Figure 4-2, and 1996:117,
Fisure 4-2a). Other research indicates that it is an example of

cat. #9661 1-96612, 96691). This was the same location

where, in 1961 to 1964, Robert S. Carr collected trade
beads and other artifacts. Carr (1981a) did an excellent study
of the site in a special “Seminole issue” of The Florida Anthro-
pologist. Carr’s beads date to the late 1800s and came from the
Brickell Store, a Seminole trading post near the mouth of the
Miami River.

In 1959 to 1961, Laxson continued to test black dirt
middens in the Miami area, plus several in adjacent Broward
County. At Cheetham’s Hammock, also called the Cheetum
Site (8DA1058), he excavated an intricately carved bone pin
(Laxson 1962:3, 5, Figure 2b), which has been classified as an
example of a Glades IIc-IIla Period (ca. A.D. 1000-1400)
interlocking motif of the “Everglades Style” (Wheeler and
Coleman 1996:53-54, Figure 7a). This carved pin is now in the
collection of the Historical Museum of Southern Florida
(HMSF 2973.1). At the Broward #2 site (8BD20), Laxson
(1962:2-3) excavated more Spanish-derived pottery and, at the
202nd Street site (8DA1646) in North Miami, he found fiber-
tempered sherds, at that time representing the earliest pottery
“so far found in the Miami region” (Laxson 1962:7).

As land development continued to sprawl outward from
Miami in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Laxson expanded his
salvage testing. He worked at Collier County #1 (8CR94),
Medley #2 (8DA87), and Northwest 108th Street (8DA88)
(Laxson 1964a). He also wrote the first synthetic analysis of
artifacts fashioned from lips of queen conch (Strombus gigas)
and milk conch (S. costatus) shells. In a sample of 664 shell lip
artifacts, he found that blanks were the most common kind of
artifact, followed by cutting-edged tools (adzes and axes). He
hypothesized that the tools had multiple uses, including
woodworking (such as making dugout canoes) and hide-
scraping (Laxson 1964b). Although brief, his study foresaw the
value in analyzing this class of shell tools. That task was
advanced by Marilyn Masson (1988), based on conch shell celts
from the Flagami (8DA1053) and Cheetum sites, both now
destroved (Newman 1993: Coleman 1997). Recently, further