Among artefacts uncovered are the remains of a 5ft shark
Among artefacts uncovered are the remains of a 5ft shark.”For many people in South Florida there is a sense of rootlessness and a lack of a sense of history,” said John Ricisak, a state archaeologist. Most experts believe the circle is the work of the Tequesta Indians, who for centuries roamed the lower half of the Florida peninsula. Even more astonished was Miami itself: heritage in this city meant South Beach’s tourist- infested Art Deco district. Now, right in its heart, it has possibly the most important Native American treasure trove on the continent. Barring last-minute glitches, however, the way is open for a deal that will see the building of a cultural museum on the site.
To the passer-by, it doesn’t look much – a dusty parcel of 2.2 acres surrounded by chain-link fencing in the shadow of the giant Sheraton Hotel.
At its centre is a circle of pale limestone, 38ft in diameter, pitted with what look like post-holes. But to historians and archaeologists who have been excavating here furiously for months, this is nothing less than America’s Stonehenge.Discovered last year, when some apartment buildings were demolished, the site stirred excitement among archaeologists worldwide. AN AMERICAN Indian archaeological site in the heart of Miami, revealing secrets going back at least 2,000 years, has had an eleventh- hour reprieve. Hours before a developer was due to obliterate the “Miami Circle” yesterday, county commissioners voted to borrow $8.7m (pounds 5.4m) to help to buy him off.
Two 40-storey towers were to go up on the plot, at the mouth of the Miami River on the edge of Biscayne Bay. Two miners and a fireman were injured.
Earlier, in Metz, another group of miners set fire to three police cars and smashed the ground-floor windows of another tax office. They dragged furniture and files into the street and chopped them up with axes.By early afternoon, the CRS riot police – who seemed at first to have underestimated the scale of the protests – had gathered enough reinforcements to push the miners away from public buildings.The protesters showered the police with stones and other missiles.Four mining unions had called the demonstration to protest against an “inadequate” end of year bonus of 500 francs (pounds 50) and the announcement last week by the umbrella organisation of the state-owned coal industry, Charbonnages de France, that pay would be frozen next year.Several trade-union envoys met industry ministry officials but reached no deal on their campaign against the pay freeze and the small pay rise decided for next year.Lorraine is a depressed steel-making and coal-mining region of France, near the border with Germany… Extra riot police were called in to push back the demonstrators using batons and tear-gas grenades, while firemen doused the flames. In Forbach, a mob of 400 miners broke through a cordon of riot police and ransacked a tax office, pulling furniture into the street and setting it alight. The blaze spread to the ground floor of the building, which had to be evacuated. The door may be open, but Washington does not yet appear to be welcome..
