Digging Miami /

Carr (executive director, Archaeological and Historical Conservancy) divides his book into five major parts, beginning with a discussion of the early archaeological research in southernmost Florida. Part 1 covers Miami prehistory, starting with evidence for a Paleo-Indian occupation at the Cutler site dating about 11,000 years ago. There is then a 4,000-year gap, possibly due to site destruction, followed by description of the aboriginal occupation from Middle Archaic times to Glades III, ca. 1600 CE, and the historic Tequesta people. Part 2 covers the early historic period, focusing on the failed Spanish, English, and Bahamian settlements, as well as the extinction of the Tequesta. Part 3 documents the Seminole presence and the archaeological evidence of their early-19th-century interaction with the US government. Part 4 deals with Miami's pioneer families and evidence of the region's early arrowroot industry. Part 5, "Urban Archaeology," reports on the Miami Circle, a large building dating ca. 1200 CE, and discusses the problems associated with the continued construction and demolition of large apartment and hotel complexes, and all those parking lots. Summing Up: Recommended. For archaeologists, historians, and Miamians, all levels. P. J. O'Brien emerita, Kansas State University