Glades culture facts for kids

The Glades culture was a group of people who lived in southern Florida a very long time ago. They were an archaeological culture, which means we know about them mostly from the things they left behind, like tools and pottery. This culture existed for a long time, starting around 500 years before Christ was born (500 BCE) and lasting until shortly after European explorers first arrived in Florida.

Where the Glades People Lived

The Glades culture lived in a large area of southern Florida. This included the famous Everglades, which is a huge wetland. They also lived in the Florida Keys, which are a string of islands off the coast.

Their territory stretched along the Atlantic coast of Florida, going north up to what is now Martin County. On the other side, along the Gulf coast, their land went north to Marco Island in Collier County. However, they did not live around Lake Okeechobee; that area was home to a different group called the Belle Glade culture.

Different Areas and Tribes

Within the Glades culture's large territory, there were a few special areas. These areas had slightly different ways of life or were home to different tribes.

• The Ten Thousand Islands area was in the southwest, in parts of Collier and Monroe counties.
• The East Okeechobee area was in the eastern parts of Martin and Palm Beach counties.
• The Florida Keys were also a distinct area, though experts are less certain about how different they were.

When Europeans first arrived, different Native American tribes lived in these areas. The Calusa tribe lived in the Ten Thousand Islands district. The Jaega tribe lived in the East Okeechobee district. The Tequesta tribe lived in the areas of Broward and Miami-Dade counties. The Spanish explorers called the people of the Florida Keys "Matecumbes," but it's not clear if they were a separate tribe or part of the Tequesta.

How We Know About the Glades Culture

Most of what we know about the Glades culture comes from their pottery. Archaeologists study the broken pieces of pots they find to understand how these people lived and changed over time.

Pottery Styles and Time Periods

Much of the pottery made by the Glades culture was plain and didn't have decorations. What makes it special to archaeologists is the type of sand and grit they mixed into the clay. This unique mix helps identify it as Glades pottery.

Over time, the pottery styles changed:

• Around 500 BCE, some pots started to have simple decorations like puncture marks and cuts. However, these decorated pots were not very common.
• By about 1100 CE, these decorated pots disappeared from the archaeological record.
• Then, around 1200 CE, a new style of decorated pottery appeared. These pots had different types of cut designs and were used for about 200 years.
• After that, pottery from another group, the St. Johns culture, started to appear in the area.

Based on these changes in pottery styles, archaeologists have divided the Glades culture period into three main parts:

• Glades I: From 500 BCE to 750 CE.
• Glades II: From 900 CE to 1200 CE.
• Glades III: From 1200 CE to 1513 CE.