Oldest Dates to 3,000 B.C. -- Pithlachocco Canoes: 'Extraordinary Find'.

News Editors

NEWNAN'S LAKE, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 18, 2000

Following is an article that appears today on the online version of the Seminole Tribune, written by Charles Flowers and Peter B. Gallagher:

The Indian who carved the oldest dugout canoe found here was working on his boat before Noah built the Ark.

In fact, the age and span of the largest aboriginal canoe find in history has confirmed that Florida's indigenous peoples - including ancestors of the modern Seminoles - made boats to travel this lake 3,000 years before Christ walked the earth.

The results from radiocarbon dating on 52 of the 87 Indian canoes found last May and June on this drought-parched lakebed near Gainesville show the oldest canoe was about 5,000 years old - one of the oldest craft ever found in North America. The youngest canoe was about 500 years old - when Columbus was sailing. The rest fell in between. "Extraordinary Find," is how Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris headlined her announcement of the radiocarbon results.

"Nature has brought our canoes back to the surface to remind us all that we were here and have been here, in an unbroken chain, for many thousands of years," Seminole Tribe of Florida Chairman James E. Billie said. Billie visited the site in August, noting the lake's original name was Pithlachocco - a Seminole word for "place of long boats."

"It was called that for thousands of years for a reason," he said. "This may have been a 'factory' where boats were made."

Nothing of the age and magnitude of the Pithlachocco canoes has been discovered anywhere, according to Barbara Purdy, a Gainesville archaeologist who discovered the first seven canoes in early May. Lake resident and folksinger Dale Crider, state archaeologist Melissa memory and a student group from Gainesville East Side High were also credited with discovering canoes.

"None has the antiquity, nor the number, that Florida has," said Purdy, comparing this find to those of other states. "This is a treasure beyond compare."

The Pithlachocco canoe site compares with the controversial Miami Circle in importance to Florida Indians, says Dr. Patricia Wickman, the Seminole Tribe Director of Anthropology and Geneaology: "This find is unique in the United States, but there is nothing surprising here. It only surprises the non-Indians. The area we now call Florida has been a refuge for human beings for 12,000 years.

"The Seminole people have traditions that tie them to Florida for many thousands of years. It is only up to us to confirm what the Seminole people and their ancestors have always known: that they have tremendous equity in the state of Florida. Two of the strongest evidences of this truth, to date, are the Miami Circle and Pithlachocco."

The canoe site was partially destroyed by a deadhead logging operation permitted by the state. Articles on the destruction, published by the Seminole Tribune, led to an Aug. 28 request from Gov. Jeb Bush to shut down the logging until the Cabinet can meet on the issue again.

Seven of the 87 canoes were damaged, according to state archaeologist Melissa Memory. Seminole Chairman Billie, upset that state officials had not notified the Tribe of the find, flew to see the canoes first hand.

"This is a great event for the Seminoles," said Billie. "We Indians will feel pride and dignity when we talk of those canoes. The Indians who made them have honored us tremendously." Billie also called for a return of the lake's original name. It was renamed after Lt. Dan Newnan, a local 19th century Indian fighter.

The time-span of the dated canoes suggests indigenous peoples have occupied the site since ancient times. Seventy percent of the canoes tested are between 3,000 and 5,000 years old, Secretary Harris reported. Four of the craft were dated between 2,300 and 2,700 years old. And the remainder fall into the "modern" category - between 500 and 1,300 years old.

The canoes ranged in length from 15 to 31 feet.

The find has prompted the Department of State, in cooperation with the Seminole Tribe, to immediately prepare a nomination of the site to the National Register of Historic Places, "because of its great significance to the southeastern Indian people and all of Florida citizens," said Secretary Harris.

The Governor and Cabinet are expected to revisit the issue in November. Environmentalists, led by the national Sierra Club, the Nature Conservancy and the Florida Wildlife Federation, plan to use the Pithlachocco incident to strengthen their case for more restrictions - perhaps even a total ban - of deadhead logging in Florida waters.

For further information, contact Dr. Patricia Wickman at 954/303-7008; Peter B. Gallagher and Charles Flowers can be contacted at 954/967-3416. Photographs and a graph are available by contacting Melissa Sherman at 800/683-7800, ext 1263. Full coverage of the Pithlachocco canoe find and controversy is available online at www.seminoletribe.com.