Ortona Prehistoric Village facts for kids

The Ortona Prehistoric Village is an ancient site in Glades County, Florida. It's located near the town of Ortona, north of the Caloosahatchee River and west of Lake Okeechobee. This special place has old mounds, canals, and other cool features built by people long ago.

Today, some of the village is part of the Ortona Indian Mound Park, which is owned by Glades County. But other parts are still on private land. Over the years, the site has changed a lot because of things like roads, a cemetery, sand mining, and farming.

What Was the Ortona Village Like?

The Ortona mounds are about 3 miles (4.8 km) north of the Caloosahatchee River. A long time ago, this river was fed by several lakes, like Lake Hicpochee and Lake Flirt. There was even a waterfall and rapids near Lake Flirt! These lakes and the river were surrounded by huge wetlands, which are like swampy areas.

In the late 1800s, people started to change the river. They dug canals to connect Lake Okeechobee to the other lakes and removed the waterfall. Over time, the river was made wider and deeper. This changed the area a lot, draining Lake Flirt and the wetlands.

Amazing Features of the Site

The Ortona site has changed a lot over the last 100 years. Many of its original features were damaged or destroyed. But archaeologists have used old descriptions, maps, and aerial photos to figure out what the site looked like before.

Ancient Canals

The Ortona village had two long canals that connected it to the Caloosahatchee River. One canal went about 3.2 kilometres (2.0 mi) southeast from the site to a natural waterway. The other canal went southwest for about 3.7 kilometres (2.3 mi) to what used to be Lake Flirt.

These canals were fed by a small stream called Turkey Creek. The western canal connected a small pond near the mounds to a part of Lake Flirt. The eastern canal started near the mounds. Experts think the two canals might have been connected by Turkey Creek.

In the 1990s, archaeologists studied a part of the eastern canal that was about to be destroyed. They found that the canal was originally about 6.7 to 9.1 metres (22 to 30 ft) wide at the top and 4.6 to 6.1 metres (15 to 20 ft) wide at the bottom. It was also about 1 to 1.2 metres (3.3 to 3.9 ft) deep.

Scientists used radiocarbon dating to find out how old the canals are. They found that the canals might have been dug as far back as 1,900 years ago! The oldest parts were from 1,600 to 1,900 years ago.

The canals sloped gently from the mounds down to the river. This slope was just right to keep water flowing without causing too much damage. Experts believe these canals were mainly used for canoes. They also show that the people who built them had a great understanding of the land and how water moves.

The Ortona canals are special because they used the natural slope of the land to create a flow of water. Other ancient canals in Florida, like the Mud Lake Canal, were at sea level and only affected by tides. The Ortona canals also helped people travel by canoe between Lake Okeechobee and the lower Caloosahatchee River, avoiding difficult marshy areas.

Important Mounds

The Ortona site has several large mounds. These mounds were built by the ancient people who lived there.

• Large Mound (8GL5): On the east side of the site is a very big mound. In 1918, it was described as being 160 feet (49 m) by 130 feet (40 m) and 30 feet (9.1 m) tall. By the 1990s, the middle of this mound had been removed. People had also dug into it, but no human remains or artifacts were reported.

• Mound A (8GL80): This mound is on the east side of Turkey Creek. It's about 38 to 39 metres (125 to 128 ft) wide and 2.5 metres (8.2 ft) tall. Mound A is one of the best-preserved mounds at Ortona. It's a midden, which means it contains old trash like animal bones and human tools.

• Mound B: This mound was mostly destroyed because its sand was used for other things. Old records and photos show it was about 152 metres (499 ft) long, 21 metres (69 ft) wide, and 5 feet (1.5 m) high. It was shaped like a loaf of bread. Tests show it was mostly made of sand with some midden material mixed in.

• Mound C: This mound was also largely destroyed by mining. It was originally about 30.3 metres (99 ft) wide and 1 metre (3.3 ft) high. Pottery pieces were found on its surface in 1974.

• Mound D: Another "breadloaf-shaped" mound that was mostly destroyed. It was about 152 metres (499 ft) long and 20 and 25 metres (66 and 82 ft) wide. Old photos suggest it had pointed ends, but these have been flattened. One part of the mound that remains is still about .5 metres (1.6 ft) high.

How We Learned About Ortona

The Ortona site was first written about in 1839 by surveyors who saw a large mound and two canals. The canals were described in a Smithsonian report in 1882. Many archaeologists and researchers visited and studied the site in the early 1900s, including John Kunkel Small and John W. Griffin.

In 1989, Glades County created the Ortona Indian Mound Park to protect some of this important historical site.

History of the Ortona Village

Many archaeologists believe that the Ortona village was first settled around 300 A.D. and lasted until about 1150 A.D. The busiest time for the village was probably between 550 and 800 A.D. Ortona was built in a very important spot, where major trade routes crossed paths.

The people who lived here, possibly the Calusa tribe, built some of the longest canals in North America. These canals connected the Ortona site to the Caloosahatchee River, right below the old waterfalls. Ryan J. Wheeler, a former state archaeologist, studied the Ortona Canals using old maps and aerial photos. He believes the canals stretched for 20 miles (32 km)! This was an amazing engineering feat for people who were mainly hunters and gatherers.

The restoration and further study of the Ortona Canals are being done by Robert S. Carr and the Florida Archaeological Conservancy. Richard Thornton, an architect and anthropologist, has also researched the village and created layouts showing its mounds and features.

Some archaeologists, like George R. Milner, have studied how peaceful or warlike ancient tribes were. Ortona, along with another site called Fort Center, seems to have been built during a peaceful time of trade that lasted from about 100 B.C. to 400 A.D. Other archaeologists think that some features at Ortona might be similar to those built by the Mississippian culture, a large ancient culture in North America.

Recent studies of the nearby Fort Center site show it's even older, dating back to 800–500 B.C. This suggests that the people who built Ortona, Fort Center, Big Mound City, and Tony's Mound shared a common religion, trade, and engineering skills many centuries before the well-known Hopewell tradition and Mississippian cultures.