What’s happened to the prehistoric finds dug up at high-rise Brickell construction site?

Nearly a year after Miami’s historic preservation board declared part of a newly discovered prehistoric indigenous site on the Miami River in Brickell a protected archaeological landmark, it’s still unclear how the rich trove of artifacts and other findings unearthed from it will be safely stored or exhibited — or who will pay for it.

For now, the more than one million catalogued relics, many rare and remarkably well preserved, sit in boxes and plastic bags on shelves in vacant offices at the 444 Brickell building, the location of the Capital Grille steakhouse, part of a property where developer Related Group is erecting three new residential towers.

Teams of archaeologists excavated the materials, which include pottery, tools, shells and animal bones, over three years. Experts say the site was a portion of a long-vanished but extensive Tequesta Indian village dating back some 3,000 years, with previous indigenous settlement possible thousands of years before that.

The city required Related, which is responsible for the relics, to come up with a plan for storing, displaying and making them available to researchers in perpetuity as part of a negotiated deal that resulted in the historic designation of the 444 Brickell site in November.

But the board and the city’s preservation office found that the “action plan” filed recently by Related to meet an agreed-upon deadline is short on critical details, including how much the preservation project will cost, where the materials will be stored long-term, how they will be exhibited or used, and how scholars will be able to access and study them.

On Sept. 3, the board put off a scheduled hearing on the plan by a 9-0 vote and instructed Related to provide a significantly expanded version by January. The developer’s attorney said the company will comply. The board also scheduled a discussion on the document submitted by Related for December to outline issues and concerns for the company to address.

The document suggests that Related, which initially strongly resisted legal protection for the site or mandated standards for preservation and display of the finds, has embraced the project to some significant degree.

The company says it is negotiating an agreement for exhibition, holding of valuable artifacts and other measures with the HistoryMiami museum. Its architects at Miami’s Arquitectonica and Enea Landscape Design, meanwhile, are looking to add display cases for materials in the lobbies of the new towers and are working in materials such as discarded shells from the Tequesta village’s refuse midden into their design for a public riverwalk dedicated to the site’s ancient history.

The designers also incorporated elements of a riverwalk blueprints developed by grad students at the University of Miami architecture school during a studio class dedicated to the preservation project.

A revised riverwalk concept, presented on Monday to the Miami River Commission, a key state-chartered advisory panel, would add several enclosed public spaces for exhibitions or displays from the find. Related, which is obligated to pay for and build the riverwalk, would also cover the cost of the additional archaeologically-inspired features, a spokesman said.

Related’s goal is to make the exhibits “inviting” and turn the site into “a destination” for locals and visitors, Iris Escarra, an attorney with Greenberg Traurig representing the developer, told the commission.

Last week, however, city archaeologist Adrian Espinosa-Valdor told the preservation board that the 45-page plan submitted by Related, which has committed $1.3 million towards the preservation effort, doesn’t say how that money will be spent and lists only what he termed “hypothetical” additional sources of funding for what’s expected to be a costly program, such as grants, which the for-profit company can’t apply for. It also lacks images or designs showing what displays, including the riverwalk features, will look like.

“The action plan did not describe any kind of long-term holding for these materials,” Espinosa-Valdor said. “It sort of reads like what their intentions are, rather than how it’s going to be implemented. We just don’t know.”

Preservation board member Bob Powers, striking a skeptical note, said Related was being put on notice.

“We’re serious on this board that it better be good,” he said of the expected plan revision.

Carlos Diaz, a Greenberg Traurig attorney representing Related at the hearing, replied: “We’ve heard you loud and clear on that.”

The Related document says the firm has so far spent $45 million on the excavation, documentation and cataloguing of the finds, which is required under city laws of developers working in designated archaeological zones.

While it was long known that site likely contained archaeological material, experts have been surprised by the richness and mostly undisturbed state of the long-buried relics -- which include rare pieces of fishing nets, and post-holes for buildings and walkways dug in the limestone that have since been obliterated by construction of two towers now under way.

Experts expect that even more material will be found once the 444 Brickell building is demolished for redevelopment, though Related has said that won’t happen until 2028 at the earliest.

After the hearing, Related said in a statement that its action paper, developed in part in consultation with veteran South Florida archaeologist Bob Carr, who has led the excavation and analysis of the site under a contract with the developer, “establishes a long-term plan that celebrates the history and significance of the site on the Miami River.”

“Related reiterates its continued commitment to fund all on-site improvements and hopes our plan will serve as a model for future collaborations with other developments along Miami’s iconic waterfront,” the statement says. “We are proud of the collaborative, forward-thinking nature of this plan and are confident it will set a new standard for responsible, historically conscious development.”

In a separate statement, Carr said his Archaeological and Historical Conservancy is coordinating a plan for a contemplated mile-long Tequesta Trail circuit around downtown Miami. The trail would have interpretive stations and connect the Related site to several other prominent indigenous and pioneer sites, which include the Miami Circle, a prehistoric Tequesta ceremonial site at the river’s mouth that is now a park and a National Historic Landmark. Both were part of a Tequesta village that at its peak occupied both banks of the river, experts say.

“Exhibits will provide a rare glimpse into Tequesta culture including artifacts,” the AHC statement says.

Human remains found at the site, in accordance with state law, are being reburied at a confidential location in consultation with the state’s principal tribal groups.

Related initially sought to avoid publicity over Carr’s finds, which came to light after the firm demolished the U.S. Customs building and parking lot that had long occupied the property behind the 444 Brickell building in early 2021. The firm had Carr sign a non-disclosure agreement and refused requests for interviews or access to the site.

But the discovery made news around the world after independent experts from University of Miami and the Florida Public Archaeological Network pushed for public accountability as they publicized details of reports filed by Carr’s group at the city preservation office that described stunningly rich and extensive finds.

Artifacts unearthed at the site, which experts say have significantly expanded knowledge of the Tequesta, include tools and other cultural materials from other parts of the United States, indicating that the tribe traded with other indigenous groups more extensively than previously believed.

The finds also include spearheads dating back some 7,000 years, which some experts say may indicate even earlier indigenous occupation of the site, though Carr believes they were more likely found and collected by the Tequesta. Indigenous occupation dating back that far has been confirmed at other South Florida sites, including at the Deering Estate in south Miami-Dade County.

The city preservation board, charged by law with overseeing archaeological sites, was unaware of the depth and extent of finds until the publication of reports in the Miami Herald and other outlets.

The board then called a series of hearings that culminated in a contentious five-hour meeting in April 2023, at which an initially resistant Related and firm founder Jorge Perez agreed to a binding plan for the handling of artifacts. The deal also included designation of the 444 Brickell site as an archaeological landmark, giving the board legal authority over the plan for archaeological preservation.

Because the city had already approved plans for the three towers in 2015, however, the board authority is unusually limited. The panel agreed not to designate the site of the two towers now under construction, which include the Baccarat ultra-luxury condo tower and an apartment building.

The deal also provides the board sharply limited leverage over 444 Brickell, including no ability to review or require changes to building designs and plans -- a power the board would normally have on a designated historic or archaeological property. But the board could hold up necessary permits for the redevelopment until it’s satisfied with Related’s preservation plan.

Escarra, the Related attorney, said Monday the developer will submit revisions to the building plan for the Baccarat tower, which includes the planned riverwalk, for approval of the exhibition spaces if the city preservation board greenlights its action plan.

The plan would be updated once the expected dig at 444 Brickell is completed to accommodate any new finds.