History of Lost Indian Tribes in America: The Timucua
These native Floridians were tall, muscular, and well built with light brown skin. The men wore their hair bundled on top which made them appear a head taller. A round plate of copper hung around their neck and was used as a sweat scraper. Timucua warriors decorated almost their entire body with tattoos. The women wore their hair long and looked very pretty in the pictures drawn of them. When a Timucua woman was widowed, she cut off her hair and wouldn't remarry until it grew back to her shoulders.
The Timucua practiced in their culture what the Europeans considered witchcraft when it came to attracting the opposite sex. A woman would trick the man she desired by placing herbs in his mouth and making up a song. To win the attention back from a lost lover, or to make someone fall in love, you would bathe in a combination of herbs and sprinkle herb juice on your hut. Fasting was also tried as a last resort.
The Timucuan Indians were farmers, hunters, and fishermen. The blades for their hoes were crafted from fish bones, shell or wood. The Timucuan women did most of the planting. The Timucua hunted deer, turkey, wild cats, brown bears, lizards, and alligators. The Indians wore deer-skins as camouflage during hunts. When stalking an alligator, the Timucua would taunt the gator into attacking them, and then ram a pole down its throat, flip it over and beat it to death. No wonder alligators aren't mans best friend. Fish were speared with sharp sticks or shell-tipped spears.
The Timucua Indian prehistoric ancestors were called "People of the Shell Mounds". The gigantic oyster-shell mounds left by the native Floridians is evidence of the mass quantities they disposed of. Though tales of cannibalism were reported by the early explorers, the eating of human flesh was practiced only occasionally. [I guess that made it acceptable, if it wasn't over done] In winter, when the food supply was low, the Indians ate bugs, worms, roots, and even dirt or clay.
The Temuco people lived in dwellings cut from tree trunks, the walls covered with woven vines sealed in clay. The villages were set in a circle surrounded by a fort of standing tree trunks. The Timucua chief had the largest tree house in the center of the town. The name '`Timucua'' was believed to be derived from a derogatory word for "chief" A disparage such as witnessed in the antebellum South when the African slaves were called "boy". Unable to understand each other's language most Native American tribes were given mistaken names by the newcomers to their land. There's no telling what the natives called the invaders.
An official figure for the pre-annihilation Timucua population is unknown. There were an estimated 550 Timucuans still living in 1698. Today there are no known Native Americans who call themselves Timucuan. Before the Timucua Indian extinction, their proud culture had lasted over a thousand years. With the European invasion steady on course, the Timucua Indian nation was lost forever.
Sources:
Florida Indians and the Invasion from Europe. Jerald T. Milanich University Press of Florida. FL. 1998.
Swanton, J. R.: Early History of the Creek Indians and Their Neighbors, Washington, 1922.
http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/41/267.html
Published by Veronica D.
Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened. ~ Dr. Suess View profile
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44 Comments
Post a CommentNice work, Veronica. I love St. Augustine, and I've visited a reconstructed Timucua Indian village there. Something surely died when the Europeans abolished Florida's indigenous life. Thank goodness for archaeologists who can reconstruct, more or less, how the Timucuans lived.
they don't give any information
Great article and nice additions.
Take a look at a picture of the Timucua- http://pelotes.jea.com/NativeAmerican/LeMoyne/RECREATIONAL%20WALKS.GIF
They sure do not look like the Indians in the West.
Hi- L in PA, I found this- "The Timucua used tattoos as a status symbol. These tattoos were dotted designs created by poking holes in the skin with a sharp object like a hawk talon, shark's tooth, or bone needle. Then a mixture of wood ashes (to prevent infection) and possibly berry juice was rubbed into the holes. The chief and his family had more tattoos than anyone else. Men and women were both tattooed. The chief and possibly his advisors (Principle Men) received a blue tattoo around their lips."
So,they used the dotted designs like in the picture. Maybe, you could get a hawk tattoo to represent their spirit for you.
Veronica, thanks for your willingness to assist. I have had one other contact through another website - but wasn't able to make any progress. The gentleman is apparently an indirect ancestor of a tribe which 'grew' from the Timucua. His comments were that the tattoos were very spiritual, were earned at levels through life's experiences, and were protected closely. I do understand somewhat - however, the tribe is long extenct. Through my many, many years of walking the same sands, fishing from the same spots, swimming in the same waters (with alligators that were no doubt ancestors of the same ones which many a Timucua swam with!), watching the Egrets fly the same migratory routes overhead that they most likely did back then - I feel that I may very well have been as exposed (if not MORE exposed) in the daily Timucua environment than anyone since the last of the Timucua. I DO have an attachment. I suppose I should go back to my other contact, one more time, and express to him the
L in PA- here is a drawing of a Timucua- http://pelotes.jea.com/incolor3.htm
I will add more info later. Notice the tattoos on the Timucua's leg.
Hi- L in PA- I will be happy to help you with your search for a meaningful Timucua tattoo design. I'll do some research & get back to you here.
I spent the first 18 years of my life living on Little Lake Weir in Marion County. At that time, very little land development had been done in. Our very close family friends had been able to purchase several hundred(?) acres which ran from the lake's edge back up to "Bird Island" Road (the only access to Bird Island) or Timucuan Island as we knew it. We were the first two houses built in that area. It was a mile of white-sand road back to the house from the 'paved' road!
I spent the majority of those younger years, swimming in the lake (with the gators, snapping turtles, and water moccasins), wandering around for hours exploring the woods, banks, canals, and surrounding area. I found several arrowheads, spearheads and hand tools along the canal banks - still have those as 'treasures'. I recall seeing several 'humps in the relatively flat ground around the area - and was told the stories of how they were local tribe burial grounds and oyster-shell mounds. I distinctly remembe
this is a great piece. I live on Long Island (the new york one--or as I say the one that counts :P lol ) and we used to have something like 13 tribes....only two survived...the Matinecock and the Shinnecock....