Sable, Cape (Fla.)

Florida is home to five known aboriginal canoe canal complexes, most of which have been destroyed by urban development and the ravages of time. These canals were large undertakings suggesting an organized, chiefdom society and sedentary populations. Two of these complexes, Mud Lake and Snake Bight canals, are located on Cape Sable in South Florida. These canals remain fairly intact and are observable in the field and on high resolution aerial photographs. Digital image enhancement and traditional ground truthing methods add valuable information to the study of Cape Sable's canals. Field work was completed with permission from Everglades National Park, study number EVER-00035, permit number EVER-2001-SCI-0035. Carbon-14 dates indicate that both of the canals were constructed at approximately the same time, during the Glades II and III periods, making the Cape Sable canals contemporaneous with Florida's other aboriginal canals. Information about these enigmatic features aids archaeologists in the quest to understand Florida's earliest inhabitants.