Walking along the trail on top of the midden,
visitors will find prehistoric-looking vegetation, such
as the Coontie plant or Zamia Floridana. The plaque
states that while the Coontie is poisonous, the plant
can be converted into a flour for cooking purposes.
It has been suggested that the early natives of
Paulsen Point may have used this plant and others
for use in food, spices and even making medicines.
Among the midden’s diverse foliage is the site’s
oak trees. According to one of the information
plaques, the live oaks (Quercus Virginiana) are
probably hundreds of years old, while indicating the
midden’s live oaks were not there when the site was
occupied and the midden was likely cleared as a
result of pre-historic indigenous habitation.
Additionally, visitors are then encouraged to
imagine the site as the former home of the ancient
Floridians, visualizing the everyday life of hunters
who hunted and provided for their families and its
people in capturing abundance of saltwater fish and
oysters.
44GASPARILLA ISLAND May/June 2019
Luer said based on the excavated remains of fish
bones and shells from oysters, the evidence
stipulated that fish was a primary staple in the
native’s diet.
With thorough observation during the park’s past
archaeological diggings, Luer said, the evidence of
fish bone fragments can be identified.
“You would have to really look closely in order to
notice the tiny fish bones; many of them have
decayed,” Luer said. “Usually, only the harder parts
of the fish skeleton remain, and then they are highly
fragmented. It takes a specialist in a laboratory to
recover them by fine screening, and laborious
identification of the fragments with the comparative
collection.”
A strong conclusion about the shell midden, Luer
said, is that the site’s abundance of natural resources
inspired the ancient Florida people to use the land
to its fullest.