AIS
IN THE BEGINNING
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Ais civilization flourished before
the arrival of Europeans
Long before the first people of European origin settled
in what is present-day Vero Beach, an ancient people
known as the Ais roamed the coast.
And, according to the research of two scholars, it
was on a large shell midden near what is Pelican Island National
Wildlife Sanctuary in Indian River County that the Ais
located their capital, known as the paramount town of Jece.
The midden, mostly the remains of enormous amounts of
shellfish the Ais consumed over centuries, was about 1,000
feet long, 400 feet wide and 40 or 50 feet high.
The Ais lived along the 156-mile banks of the Indian River
from present-day Cape Canaveral to Stuart, and the midden
at Jece was perhaps the highest.
Seasonal towns were located along the coast, with the Ais
locating their summer towns along the mainland and their
winter towns along the barrier islands.
The name Ais came from the name of the chief, or cacique,
who was referred to as Ais. Thus, Spaniards named the
inland waterway the Rio de Ais while the English called it the
Indian River. >>
City of Vero Beach 1919-2019 VeroBeach100.org
TAKING UP THE RATTLES’ BY THEODORE MORRIS
Artist Theodore Morris of Sarasota painted this portrayal of the Ais natives that Jonathan Dickinson encountered in 1696 at Jece, near modern-day Vero Beach.
BY GREGORY ENNS
/VeroBeach100.org