The MIAMI CIRCLE

Copyright © 2004 by Sally Painter. All rights reserved

All across the world mysterious megaliths stand in fields, beaches, forests, mountaintops, deserts, and even under the ocean, One thing they all have in common is no one knows who put them there or why. There’s no record oral or written that reveals what these giant stones mean and there’s no secret code to help unlock their mysteries.

They stand like ghosts of the past unable to tell us their stories, while remaining deliberately cut and then placed all over the world. Many scientists have tried to explain these ancient stones as earth grid markers or pagan ritual sites or perhaps seasonal calendars and dozens of other equally plausible explanations. However, the truth is-- no one really knows. It is like any great mysteries —surrounding by legends, myth, and ultimately theories designed to explain away the unexplained.

Stone Henge is the most known standing circle, which is approximately .

But one late August night in 1998, the Miami Circle was first discussed on Art Bell’s show, Coast to Coast AM. What started out to be a construction site for a parking garage, a multi-million dollar condo complex, became the mystery that captivated the world. Construction came to a screeching halt and the site quickly became one of the most controversial and heated discoveries in the US archeological realm.

What had been unearthed that hot summer day? A circle of holes cut into the limestone bedrock had people rushing to claim it as the North American twin Stone Henge. Gridlines were examined and proclaimed to be geometrically in line with those of Stone Henge.

In fact, it was proclaimed to be the missing circle that completed a series of similar world-wide magnetic grids. The Native Americans spoke up and announce the site had been the Tekesta Indian capitol town, called Tekesta and stepped in to claim it as belonging to them.

The owner of the development, attempted to find a resolution. He brought in stonemasons to dig up the site and move it, but archeologists objected, the Native Americans objected, and the general public objected. The stone mason he’d hired quit and ascended into the ranks of local hero.

At the time, Miami had no preservation laws, so it seemed an impossible undertaking to preserve the artifact. Then, the protestors found a loophole. If they could prove it was a burial site, then it would be preserved under federal law. When four human teeth found, everyone was certain the site was secured until the evidence was dismissed and ruled by the courts not to be the site of a sacred burial ground.

So the developer granted permission for a certain section to be excavated and when artifacts
uncommon to North America were unearthed, the Miami Circle's status rocketed to that of a national treasure.

Things began to happen very quickly. The county put in motion the rush to purchase the land and at the same time the Native Americans filed a suit, claiming it as part of their heritage. With two entities now wanting his land, the developer put a $50 million price tag on his $8 million investment because that was the estimated value of his complex once completed. And so began the long struggle to raise enough money to purchase the site. A fence was immediately erected and soon vandals attempted to deface or removed the artifacts of axe heads and broken pottery. Emotions were highly charged. Arguments and near altercations ensued.

The fate of this mysterious circle was decided by The Miami Circle Organization. http://www.miamicircle.org

A local Shaman, Catherine Hummingbird Ramirez, held the first candlelight vigil when the Miami Circle was first discovered. She has continued this practice every week since starting at 6 pm EST on Tuesdays. Visitors enjoy talking with her and listen as she explains the site’s importance to not just Native Americans but also to all people.

If you wish to help support the ongoing preservation and study of the Miami Circle, you can purchase a circle pendant designed for the Miami Circle Organization.

Be sure and read Melissa's article about Standing Stone Circles! And, listening to our latest radio show to find out more!


Other articles of historical interest about the Miami Circle discovery and subsequent battle.

The story.

Story in Archaeology Magazine

The news traveled. Article in The Japan Times.

The geodetic and astronomical evaluation.

The preservation.

The facts.

GPR study.

Article.

Article. Speculation - Mayan ancestors? Atlantis discovered?

The trust for public land.

Historical Museum of Southern Florida.

Transcript from: The Mystery of the Miami Circle- Aired on BBC2 9.00pm Thursday 25th January 2001

To be buried until...

Update on fate of circle - May 2004.