As Miami high-rises loom over financial district, local resident digs in
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AS DEVELOPERS seek to build up the skyline of Miami, Florida, long-time resident Ishmael Bermudez is digging in – literally.
The artist and amateur archaeologist lives in a single-family home in Brickell, a rare property in Miami’s financial district. Bermudez is pushing for more preservation in Miami, as new developments unearth historical relics. He is joined by community groups and professional archaeologists.
“It’s up to us, the people, to make sure that this don’t get destroyed,” he said. Developers cannot “come here and intimidate us with their money – they have to work with us”, he added.
His home is painted with a multicoloured seascape of fish and underwater plants. Tropical birds sing in his garden – an uncommon sound in the fast-growing neighbourhood, dominated by the floor-to-ceiling glass of high-rise developments.
Upon excavating under his home, Bermudez discovered sculptures, fossils and even human remains, which he handed to the local authorities.
Earlier this month, community members called for building work to be postponed at another site in Brickell, so that archaeologists could preserve prehistoric artefacts found there, including bones, pottery and tools.
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Related Group, the real estate developer, did not respond to requests for comment. The city’s Historic and Environmental Preservation Board did not respond to a request for comment as well.
William Pestle, an archaeology professor at the University of Miami, said that modern-day Brickell, which is near the mouth of the Miami River, was once the site of a vibrant settlement called Tequesta. Spanish explorers came across Tequesta in the 16th century, but its history is not widely known.
“Something old by Miami standards is from the 1960s or the 1970s – you don’t see the history of the city presented” as it is in Boston, New York or Philadelphia, he said. “As a consequence of that, we come to think that there is no history.” REUTERS
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