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,…
As AWIARE catalogs the artifacts and documents it received as part of the Lyman O. Warren Collection several interesting artifacts have been identified. One of the most interesting is a small pot with an incised decoration that appears to be the work of a novice potter, probably a child. The vessel is from the Tierra…
“Weedon Island Preserve’s rich human history began with prehistoric peoples who thrived on the abundant fish, shellfish, plants, and mammals of the wetlands, islands and estuaries of Tampa Bay. These people evolved into the Weeden (alternate spelling) Island culture that lasted some 800 years,” county officials explain. People lived along the Pinellas County coastline up…