Weedon Island walk leads hikers to archaeological excavation site
By Photojournalist Mike Hughes | Published March 17, 2022, Pinellas County, FOX 13 News
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Fifteen hikers recently took a two-mile walk to an active archeological dig site on Weedon Island to learn about the indigenous cultures that lived here long ago.
John Arthur, a professor of anthropology at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg, led the walk to give hikers an opportunity to see what he and his students are working on.
"We’re really just trying to understand the first Floridians that lived here," Arthur explained. "How did they adapt to the environment? What were their world views? How did they harvest the bay? What can we learn from them? How can we learn from the past to understand the present and future?"
Arthur started excavating at Weedon Island in 2007 and brought his students out so they could learn how to do real-world archeological methods. The team discovered native people were living there at Weedon Island until the Spanish arrived and inhabited the area.
"For people that are coming out on the hike and visiting with us today really allows us to be able to educate the public, to realize Weedon Island is more just hiking, paddleboarding and kayaking," Arthur said. "That this is a really important site that has some of the first Floridians that lived in Pinellas County."
The hike was limited to only 15 participants and sold out quickly, but Weedon Island Preserve plans to offer more hikes periodically.