The Miami Circle: a Tequesta-built circle cut into bedrock at the river mouth (Brickell Point, Miami, found 1998)

SUMMARYThe Miami Circle: a Tequesta-built circle cut into bedrock at the river mouth (Brickell Point, Miami, found 1998) [Connections: Miami & Lake Okeechobee, Nov 5, 2026]

RECORDFound in 1998 during salvage digging before a condominium project; a near-perfect circle about 38 ft (11.5 m) across, with about 600 postmolds and 24 basins cut into limestone bedrock. Estimated age 1,700 to 2,700 years (construction listed as 500 BC to AD 900; radiocarbon on burnt wood gave about 1,800 to 2,000 years, which some scholars doubted). Attributed to the Tequesta from shell tools and shark teeth. Two basalt axe heads appear to come from near Macon, Georgia, about 600 miles away. The state bought the 2.5-acre site in November 1999 for $26.7 million (the developer had asked $50 million); NRHP February 5, 2002; National Historic Landmark January 16, 2009. It is reburied and "remains buried to protect it."

PATTERNThe founding ground of downtown Miami is an Indigenous ceremonial/architectural site with long-distance trade ties north into Georgia

LENS (WW9)Before "Miami" there was a built Tequesta city at this river mouth. Renamed Black. Born Aboriginal

OPENWho first recognized the circle (a land surveyor is described, not named); the full excavation report (Robert Carr / Archaeological and Historical Conservancy); whether the buried-in-place decision was made with tribal input

SOURCEMiami Circle (Wikipedia); primary: Miami-Dade Historic Preservation Division excavation, NHL designation file (NPS, 2009).