 The first survey reported was by John Goggin and his students in the early 1950s and later by Bullen & Bullen in 1956.The ceramics taken from the site were consistent with the Glades Period, plain, sand-tempered types found throughout the single south Florida prehistoric culture region.Archaeologist George Luer began investigating Big Mound Key after looters used a bulldozer in 1981 to open up a mound in search of Spanish gold.