Florida Historical Markers Programs - Marker Detail

Description: Side One: The Pompano Beach Indian Mound is a prehistoric sand burial mound that was used by the Tequesta tribe and their ancestors for burial of their dead. Located nearby was their associated village and midden dating as far back as AD 500. Artifacts recovered from the site are associated with the Glades pre-Columbian cultural period (ca. AD 500 to 1513), with evidence that the site was occupied as late as 1763. The Tequesta were significant for their role in shaping and controlling other tribes within the Everglades and for the construction of extensive canal systems. They were experienced woodworkers as evidenced by their dugout canoes. They gathered an abundant supply of fruits, hunted wildlife and fish, and sometimes traveled great distances in their dugout canoes in search of large marine animals including sharks and right whales. The Tequesta lived in villages that were typically marked by kitchen middens that contained the discarded remains of shellfish, bones, ashes, and broken pottery. These middens were accessible by water and usually located near the mouth of a river or on an island. Side Two: Spanish accounts from the sixteenth century describe the Tequesta as a powerful Florida tribe, whose main village was located along the shore of Biscayne Bay, near the mouth of the Miami River, in Miami-Dade County. The Tequesta were one of the first indigenous groups encountered by Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon during his first voyage to Florida in 1513. In the 1560s, the Spanish established a fort and mission among the Tequesta and took the brother of the principal Tequesta chief to Spain. He returned to Florida and helped mediate relations between the Spanish and Indians. The Pompano Beach Mound has been of interest to archeologists for over 85 years. Excavations at this site have yielded pottery, ceramics, carved bone, shell and wood tools and human remains. In 1926, the City of Pompano Beach created a park to protect the Indian Mound and its contents. The mound was placed on the Pompano Beach Local Register of Historic Places in 2010 and the National Register of Historic Places in 2014. It was recognized as a Florida Heritage Landmark in 2014.