The First Floridians and the First Floods: How environmental changes have constrained Florida archaeology and how underwater archaeology promises to help Dr. Jessi Halligan, Florida State University The earliest known archaeological site in Florida, Page-Ladson, dates to approximately 14,550 years ago, but it is located on what was the edge of a small pond in…
Adventures in Downtown Tampa Archaeology – The Lost Fort Brooke Cemetery and 100-Year-Old Love Letters to the Steamer Gopher Eric Prendergast, M.A. RPA, Senior Staff Archaeologist, Cardno Almost everywhere you dig in southern downtown Tampa, near the waterfront, there are some remains from the infamous military installation that gave rise to the town of Tampa…
Ethnoarchaeology of Ancient Fishing Practices: Insights from the Florida Gulf Coast Giness J. Mahar, Phd, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida Millions of people venture out into Florida’s coastal waters each year to take part in an ancient practice: fishing. Whether for commercial or recreational purposes fishing has deep roots in the region -…
This year the awards committee chose three worthy recipients to receive funding. University of South Florida doctoral candidate Kendal Jackson will receive funding for 12 radiocarbon dates to assist in dating relict estuarine flooding surfaces to determine how human-environmental interaction shaped the establishment and development of late-Holocene (ca. 6500 BP-present) estuarine ecosystems in Tampa Bay. Kendal’s project…
This year’s meeting was co-hosted by the Florida Public Archaeology Network’s Central Region and the Central Gulf Coast Archaeological Society Crystal River. The Plantation on Crystal River served as the conference hotel and the location for organizational meetings and conference proceedings. Presentations and posters on a wide range of topics related to Florida archaeology were presented,…
On March 2nd, the Weedon Island Preserve was full of archaeological activities to celebrate Florida Archaeology Month. Heather Draskovich and Kendal Jackson, who are University of South Florida graduate students, gave two short presentations focusing on current archaeological project at the Weeden Island site. Heather discussed her research to determine when and where Indigenous people…
Early this year, a student from SPC contacted us about wanting to do a short video segment on the Weeden Island culture and the Weedon Island Preserve that would be produced by WEDU Public Media. The segment aired in July 2019, and features Dr. Robert Austin of Alliance for Weedon Island Archaeological Research and Education (AWIARE)…
After more than four decades of archaeological work, Bob Austin can’t handle the Florida summers like he used to.For years, he loved digging into the ground and excavating multi-thousand-year-old artifacts. But now, at age 68, Austin’s body limits most of his work to the other aspect of archaeology, the one spent indoors studying the artifacts,…
With the support of the Anthropology Program at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg (USFSP), the 2018 conference was a huge success. The meeting attracted a total of 211 Florida-based and out-of-state attendees. FAS 2018 kicked off Friday evening with a fun welcoming reception at 3 Daughters Brewery, featuring the Florida Archaeological Council’s Stewards…
Following a nearly invisible trail through groves of pine trees and ferns, the ground rises a bit, right before the dig site appears. This rise is called a midden, or shell mound. Soft chatter from a group of students can be heard, followed by the scraping and brushing of earth and rapid swoosh-swoosh sounds coming…