Dear Friends, I hope some of you will be interested in the following excerpt from an article in The Miami Herald Jan. 3, 1999. Could we have a "mini-Stonehenge" right here in Miami?
By MARTIN MERZER Herald Senior Writer In the shadow of the Sheraton in downtown Miami, within sight of the Brickell Avenue bridge, scientists and volunteers are digging and sifting their way into history in that rarest of South Florida enterprises: an urban archaeological excavation. This devoted band already has found a remarkable 38-foot-diameter ... something. Hundreds or thousands of years old, formed by stone carvings and post holes, the circular formation near the mouth of the Miami River is stunning evidence of a prehistoric culture. Experts believe it could be the remains of an astronomical observatory or a sacred temple. A few people believe it could be the first solid proof that Central America's renowned Maya civilization gained a toehold in South Florida more than 2,000 years ago. The archaeologists also have uncovered primitive axes produced by Maya or other distant tribes. Others doubt a Maya connection. They believe that Tequesta Indians, indigenous to South Florida, carved the formation into the limestone bedrock more than 500 years ago. But the experts all know this: Nothing like this formation has ever been found in Florida. "We've discovered something substantial," said Robert Carr, an archaeologist and director of Miami-Dade's Historic Preservation Division. "Something unusual was going on here." And still is. ... The circular formation they found is created by 24 irregularly cut basins, ranging in size from one to three feet. Some experts believe the basins depict the shapes of sea turtles, sharks, manatees, shrimps and other marine animals. Surrounding the basins are more than 200 post holes laboriously dug in limestone called Miami oolite. Also found on the site were two stone axes made elsewhere and the remains of a five-foot shark deliberately buried in the circle. Particularly intriguing is this: One elliptical basin sits precisely on the circle's east-west axis. It could be meant to represent a human eye -- complete with an inserted rock that could be the iris -- gazing toward the sunrise. And this: T.L. Riggs, a professional surveyor who works with Carr and discovered the formation, performed mathematical calculations and predicted that significant post holes would be found 41 feet on either side of the circle's center along the east-west axis. Solitary holes were found exactly where he predicted. Drawing lines from these points to and beyond the circle, Riggs mapped the precise outlines of the autumnal equinox (the time when the sun crosses the equator, making night and day equal in duration) and the summer and winter solstices (the northern and southern extremes of the sun's seasonal travel through the sky). 2,000 years old? That and other evidence makes him believe that the structure is an astronomical observatory, calendar and almanac. And that it was created 2,000 to 3,000 years ago by Maya, the populous and accomplished tribes of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, Guatemala, Belize and other parts of Central America. The Maya were known for their mastery of astronomical calculations, abstract knowledge and hieroglyphic writing, and there is some evidence that they roamed close to Florida -- perhaps even settling in Cuba -- more than 2,000 years ago. Many of their descendants are alive today in Central America. "The Maya were obsessed with time, with the passage of time," Riggs said. "They would record different seasons, when the sun would be at certain points." In addition, the two axes found at the site were made from basalt, a volcanic material not found in Florida. Two very similar axes were found years ago on the north side of the river. The Maya were known to use such axes. "There's no other way to explain the Maya tools found here and across the river," Riggs said. He said the elliptical shape that could represent a human eye also is reminiscent of the Maya symbol for the number zero. ... -------------------- The complete Herald article can be found on a self-proclaimed "Atlantis Rising Presentation" website. Much of the text I deleted in the above excerpt involves the controversy with the site developer who is planning to destroy the circle in about two weeks to build a huge office/apartment complex . This website also gives a list of people and organizations who can be contacted to urge preservation. http://www.wolflodge.org/rising/sacred.htm Here is a site with a different article from Reuters News Service. It includes a photograph with no scale. The circle is 38 feet in diameter. http://www.eagle-net.org/IWP/story.htm Bob Terwilliger
