'There's not enough money that can buy what's on this land because it's simply priceless,' Mr Bermudez told the Herald. 'How can you put a price on the history of humanity? It has none.'
A scrap of property near the heart of Miami is valued at nearly $2 million, but the owner refuses to sell to protect the archaeological treasures uncovered on the lot.
Bermudez, 64, wants to keep his property out of the reach of developers. He claims it sits on a site of importance to the Tequesta people, one of the first Indian groups that the Spanish encountered when they arrived in North America.
The property, located at 87 SW 11th Street, is wedged between a 7-Eleven and a luxury high-rise apartment complex and around the corner from bustling Brickell Rail Station. Property records show that the lot measures 5,000 square feet in area, and Bermudez’s three-bedroom home covers less than a fifth of that area.
The small house, which is decorated with colorful paintings, sits incongruously in the heart of Miami's bustling city center, surrounded by high rise buildings, heavy traffic and ongoing construction projects.
Mr Bermudez claims he has found evidence of the earliest native inhabitants of the area in his garden, which sits just two blocks from busy Brickell Avenue and is surrounded by skyscrapers, bars and restaurants.
Archaeologists have confirmed that some of the items found by Mr Bermudez are part of the Tequesta culture while other discoveries include animal bones and prehistoric shells.
He told the Herald: 'I'm committed to sharing the knowledge I have acquired through an excavation of more than 50 years, waiting for people to understand that we can't keep destroying our natural resources. If there's no water, there's no humanity.'
A scrap of property near the heart of Miami is valued at nearly $2 million, but the owner refuses to sell to protect the archaeological treasures uncovered on the lot.
Bermudez, 64, wants to keep his property out of the reach of developers. He claims it sits on a site of importance to the Tequesta people, one of the first Indian groups that the Spanish encountered when they arrived in North America.
The property, located at 87 SW 11th Street, is wedged between a 7-Eleven and a luxury high-rise apartment complex and around the corner from bustling Brickell Rail Station. Property records show that the lot measures 5,000 square feet in area, and Bermudez’s three-bedroom home covers less than a fifth of that area.
The small house, which is decorated with colorful paintings, sits incongruously in the heart of Miami's bustling city center, surrounded by high rise buildings, heavy traffic and ongoing construction projects.
Mr Bermudez claims he has found evidence of the earliest native inhabitants of the area in his garden, which sits just two blocks from busy Brickell Avenue and is surrounded by skyscrapers, bars and restaurants.
Archaeologists have confirmed that some of the items found by Mr Bermudez are part of the Tequesta culture while other discoveries include animal bones and prehistoric shells.
He told the Herald: 'I'm committed to sharing the knowledge I have acquired through an excavation of more than 50 years, waiting for people to understand that we can't keep destroying our natural resources. If there's no water, there's no humanity.'
Carry on DUde !!!
GOOD FOR YOU !!!!
I AUSED TO LIVE A BLOCK AWAY FROM HIM, AND ONCE HE LET ME COME IN AND CHECK OUT THE BACKYARD...HE ALSO GAVE ME A DRINK FROM ONE OF THE NATURAL SPRINGS, WHICH COULD BE 200 YEARS OLD AND EVEN OLDER...NEARBY, THEY HAVE FORUND COUNTLESS OF ARTIFACTS FROM THE TEQUESTA SETTLEMENTS...
He should sell it and make a bundle on it...the Great Spirit is reclaiming Miami and soon all of it will be underwater and the developers will lose all their buildings...they too will become artifacts. As the song says, "Take the money and run..."
Water is life. Those are spring heads...
Thank you for preserving !!/
Water is sacred and this site sits on a natural water vain that is drinkable and should be given historical significance because of that very reason.
Stand strong. You are a treasure for stewarding this land.
Hats off to this guy! Stand strong!
Fight for your land...stop colonialism
U keep it the White man has taken every thing U will pray nothing happens to you or your precious property.
all power to ya
Your ancestors must be proud of you. Stand strong, my relative. Protect the sacred. Water is life.
Thank you for your wise teachings.
What a gift to humanity this man is. He is a true steward and stands his ground against big Corp! Proving...Money can't buy everything!! I love this gentleman.
He must get a preservational institution to advocate & help him with this great fight. Otherwise, developers will enlist government to help them sweep it from under his feet because they do not give a damn about ancestral culture, water or anything but money and profits.
It is Shameful that Greed has just swiped away almost all of the Wilds of Florida. Why no forethought to the Beauty and Natural. Only what is low/swampy left Wild. Ancient traces of earlier civilizations a whole nuther interest. Earlier decades stupid men that "owned" the land, just sold Mounds for Fill... Gone!
So Shameful and such a Loss that almost all of the Wilds and Natural Forests of Florida Gone. MONEY is not Everything, idiots. Only swampy land left--and not in peace--several Greedy people have tried to Drain the Everglades, etc! Ancient dwelling sites a whole 'nuther thing... Decades ago "owners" just scooped up and sold Mounds as Fill for a few dollars...Gone!
Read A Walk in Florida by Bartram, a young Botanist in 1700's... Large swaths should have been set aside for posterity...never touched! Cleared fields for growing and constructiin all i see. Nauseating to think of the destruction...
Thanks for taking a stand against the money grabbers. There is no Planet B.
I believed he did is what is in his right for himself and his heritage to keep sacred land .
Development has gotten out of control all over this country. He is doing the right thing.