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The Olde Marco area of Marco Island was once inhabited by the Calusa Indians. These mound builders actually created elevated areas for their village and fish ponds by the use of mounds of shells representing hundreds of years of sustenance from the gulf. The Calusa are now long gone but their legacy lives on. In 1896 a Smithsonian Institution Expedition discovered the now famous Key Marco Cat and numerous ceremonial masks just a few hundred yards from the Model Village, the Snook Inn and the Old Marco Inn. These Calusa artifacts are now in the Smithsonian and are considered to be among the most significant archeological finds in North America.

One of the most famous finds is that of the Marco Cat

Key Marco Cat and other rare Pre-Columbian Native American artifacts