Editing Biscayne National Park (section)

===Native people===
{{stack|[[File:Shell-Midden.jpg|thumb|alt=Conch and whelk shells among trees|Piles of [[conch]] and [[whelk]] shells left behind by [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]].]]}}
[[Indigenous peoples of Florida|Native Americans]] were present in lower Florida 10,000&nbsp;years ago, when ocean levels were low and Biscayne Bay was comparatively empty of water. Water levels rose from about 4000&nbsp;years ago and inundated the bay.<ref name=bischrs2>{{cite web|last=Leynes|first=Jennifer Brown|title=Chapter 2: Background History|url=http://www.nps.gov/bisc/historyculture/upload/bischistoricresourcestudy.pdf|work=Biscayne National Park Historic Resource Study|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=28 November 2012|author2=Cullison, David|page=1|date=January 1998}}</ref> Archeologists believe any traces left by the peoples of that era are now submerged; none now exist on dry lands in the park. The [[Cutler Fossil Site]], just to the west of the park, has yielded evidence of human occupation extending to at least 10000&nbsp;years before the present.<ref name=leynes910>Leynes, Cullison, Chapter 2, pp. 9–10</ref>

The earliest evidence of human presence in Biscayne dates to about 2500&nbsp;years before the present, with piles of [[conch]] and [[whelk]] shells left by the [[Glades culture]]. The Glades culture was followed by the [[Tequesta]] people, who occupied the shores of Biscayne Bay. The Tequesta were a sedentary community that lived on fish and other sea life, with no significant agricultural activity.<ref name=npsbisc3>{{cite web|title=Native Peoples|url=http://www.nps.gov/bisc/historyculture/native-peoples.htm|work=Biscayne National Park|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=19 November 2012}}</ref> A site on Sands Key has yielded potsherds, worked shells and other artifacts indicating occupation from at latest 1000&nbsp;[[Common Era|CE]] to about 1650, after contact was made with Europeans.<ref name=leynes910/> Fifty significant archaeological sites have been identified in the park.<ref name=npca33>NPCA, p. 33</ref>