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Encore: New Research Confirms a Spanish Fort was Built on Mound Key in the 16th Century

IMAGE BY VICTOR THOMPSON IN HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY
The people who constructed Fort San Antón de Carlos had to adapt to Mound Key’s unique conditions, researchers said. The fort is the only Spanish structure built atop a shell mound in Florida.

New research published in the journal Historical Archaeology confirms Mound Key in Estero Bay was the location of a Spanish fort historians have long-suspected once existed in Southwest Florida.

Fort San Antón de Carlos was built in 1566 in the capital of the Calusa, who were the most powerful Native American tribe in the region. The Spanish only remained at the fort for about three years before the Calusa left, because of tensions caused by the Spanish. We explore the new findings with one of the studies’ authors, and former director of the Randell Research Centeron Bokeelia, Dr. William Marquardt.