Archaeological evidence of the existence of ancient Floridians can be found throughout Palm Beach County. The best known remnant of an Indian mound in the county is in DuBois Park at Jupiter Inlet. The shell mound, or midden, is a trash heap of shells and other refuse discarded by the inhabitants. The Jeaga, who had contact with both the Spanish and English, inhabited this site. In the late 17th century, they held a group of English shipwreck survivors captive in the village on the mound for five days.
The Spanish called the native Floridians who once lived in northern Palm Beach County “Jobe” and Jeaga. Their names might have been taken from the name of the tribe’s cacique, or chief. The name has been spelled in various forms: Hobe, Yobe, Jove, Jobe, Xega, Jega, and Jeaga. Their neighbors to the north (Martin County to Cape Canaveral) were the Ais. The Tequesta people lived in the area between Fort Lauderdale and Miami, and also possibly in southern Palm Beach County.
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE NATIVE CULTURES OF THE EAST ATLANTIC FLORIDA COAST
The Jeaga were hunter-gatherers, relying mainly on marine resources like turtles, snakes, alligators, fish, sharks, and shellfish. Their diet also consisted of fowl, deer, and other land mammals. The Jeaga often ate plants, such as mastic, cocoa plum, cabbage palm, saw palmetto, seagrape, hog plum, acorns, and red-mangrove sprouts. Palmetto berries were one of their favorite foods. They caught fish by striking them with a staff or by spearing them, then cooked and served it on palmetto leaves. During special ceremonies, the men would drink a liquid called “cassina”, also known as the “black drink.” It was a tea made from the roasted leaves of the yaupon holly plant. The leaves were boiled, and the drink was served in a conch shell.
According to early European descriptions, the Native Americans were scantily dressed. Men wore loincloths of woven straw or deerskin that were fastened in back with a kind of silk grass that gave the appearance of a horse’s tail. They wore their hair rolled in a knot at the back of the head, held in place with bone pins. They armed themselves with knives, bows and arrows, and clubs. The women wore skirts made of grass, or what is now known as Spanish moss, found hanging from trees. They built houses using small wooden poles that they stuck into the ground, bent, and then tied to form an arched frame. They covered the frame with palmetto thatch. Inside were platforms along the walls about one foot high, covered with hides.
[Historical Society of Palm Beach County]
THE MOUND
THE MOUND
Originally over 600 feet long and 20 feet high, the Hill is a remnant of one of the last coastal shell mounds in southeast Florida. Artifacts dating back several thousand years have been discovered at this site. The entire Park was once a thriving village, where ancient Floridians lived.
The mound is a shell midden representing centuries of habitation and subsistence activities. Composed of tens of thousands of shell refuse and other cultural deposits, some of the mound was likely deliberately constructed creating vistas and high ground for supporting residential structures including the chief’s house. Less than 5% of Florida’s shell middens have survived modern development. Jupiter shell mounds were largely destroyed as a result of their use as road fill. Today laws protect these important sites preserving the animal bones, shell refuse, and artifacts associated with prehistoric life. Fortunately a few of the original middens have survived. This one is located in DuBois County Park on the south side of the inlet opposite the lighthouse. Close examination of the ground reveals shells discarded by Indians hundreds of years ago. Florida Archaeologist, Dr. Robert S. Carr of Archaeological and Historical Conservancy, Inc., determined that the Lighthouse stands on a natural sand ridge. However he also found that there was an ancient midden located atop the sand ridge, which contained shells and pottery sherds.
