2021 FAS VIRTUAL CONFERENCE

The Truth is in the Proof
In early 2021, analyses were performed on an unusual artifact discovered under unusual circumstances that was being offered to a state institution for study and eventual exhibit. The specimen is composed of three parts: a stone point, binding material, and a wooden shaft. Personnel at the University of Florida photographed and x-rayed the specimen and removed tiny pieces of the wood and binding for radiocarbon dating by Beta Analytic. Here I discuss the results of the analyses and suggest further studies that may confirm or refute the object’s authenticity.

The Marchant Site (8LE822): Site Investigations Through Technofunctional Analyses
Originally excavated in 1985, the recovery of early Woodland material and charred bone fragments led to an interpretation of the Marchant site as a possible crematorium. However, with the osseous material in such poor condition, this reanalysis focuses on examining the ceramic and lithic materials through technofunctional studies to confirm the Marchant site was intentionally used for ceremonial actives.

Going Swimmingly: A Use-Wear and Residue Analysis of Shark Teeth Artifacts from Precontact Florida
Shark teeth are recovered from archaeological sites around the world. My master’s thesis research addresses how shark teeth were used by people in precontact Florida and how zooarchaeological evidence from the state fits into the larger scheme of human and shark relationships. First, a review of global shark and human relationships will be provided. Then, the sample, which contains teeth from 16 Florida sites and representing a minimum of 11 species, will be characterized. I employ a multimethod approach and conduct standard zooarchaeological procedures, scanning electron microscopy, and X-ray diffraction to investigate use-wear and residues associated with the teeth.

A Spongey Discussion: Sponge Spicules as Tempering Agents
While there are numerous factors at play, it is well known that tempers play a large role in determining the performance characteristics of fired pottery. Experimental studies have shown that tempers affect vessel strength, thermal shock resistance, heating efficiency, thermal conductivity, and abrasion resistance. While experimental studies on temper are numerous, comparatively few have evaluated sponge spicules as a temper, even though they are seen archaeologically in several areas around the world. This study evaluates an experimental assemblage of sponge spicule tempered pottery using tests for strength, thermal shock resistance, and thermal conductivity.

Reimagining the Late Glades Complex with Mississippian Eyes
The last 20+ years has seen a shift in Mississippian scholarship surrounding the SECC (Southeastern Ceremonial Complex). Those involved with the ground-breaking work at the Mississippian Iconographic Workshop have produced two edited volumes (Lankford, Reilly, and Garber 2011; Reilly and Garber 2007) and a methodological treatise (Knight 2013) making great strides in the interpretation of the corpus of artistic representations found throughout the Southeastern US and especially at the big four (Cahokia, Spiro, Moundville, and Etowah). This paper is an attempt to bring an additional regional manifestation of the MIIS, that of the Late Glades Complex into the conversation. This preliminary analysis will focus on the group of artifacts known as Ceremonial Metal Tablets; these artifacts have long been considered a key component of the Late Glades Complex manifestation.

An Analysis of Prehistoric Shell Tools (Columella Tools and Gastropod Hammers) from Snake Island, Sarasota County (8So2336)
Monitoring and data recovery (1994-2012) at the Snake Island site identified predominantly Safety Harbor period ceramics, sea turtle remains, and shell tools, including numerous type C, D, & F gastropod hammers eroding from primary midden context and along the southwest shoreline (c. 1250-1500 CE). Columella tools were observed along the entire shoreline dating to the earlier Archaic period. Collaborative research between New College of Florida and Sarasota County Historical Resources was initiated, addressing shell tool variability, breakage patterns, potential hafting methods, and pan-regional research into shell tool typologies and trade networks. This paper will discuss the analysis of this assemblage.

A Safe Space Structure: Managing the Historic Blockhouse at Launch Complex 20 (LC-20) on the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS)
The Space Coast continues to grow due to the commercial space industry, and agencies like the 45^th Space Wing and Space Florida consider rehabilitation and reuse of our culturally significant structures over demolition whenever possible. On CCSFS, many blockhouses built to protect launch operations personnel have been demolished. Recognizing the importance of the existing Blockhouse at LC-20, Space Florida plans to repurpose this rare Cold War and Space Age resource for commercial space industry use while maintaining its historic integrity. This paper will focus on the history of the blockhouse and the efforts to document this unique Cold War building.

Recent Research at the Burns Site, Cape Canaveral
The Burns Site (8BR85) was a large village and associated burial mound on the east bank of Brevard County’s Banana River occupied between approximately 900 to 1600 CE. The mound was first studied in the 1860s and has been the subject of mitigation programs for the past 50 years. In 2017 the U.S. Space Force partnered with the University of Central Florida to map, survey, and excavate at Burns. Burns likely was an important space for quotidian and ceremonial activities. Recovered ceramics and fauna suggest special events took place near the mound, perhaps attracting participants from beyond the site itself.

Mapping the Voices of Brevard
Brevard County, Florida, is home to records preserving the diverse perspectives of its inhabitants through oral histories. Through efforts to compile and increase public accessibility to these oral histories, this project displays the accounts as they exist in time and space. By geographically plotting the data in reference to the regions and landmarks to which they are tied, the content becomes accessible to audiences, thus increasing understanding, awareness, and interest in Brevard County’s rich cultural past.

A Review of the 1948 Excavations of Griffin and Bullen at the Safety Harbor Site (8PI2), with Special Attention to Architectural Patterning
In 1948, John W. Griffin and Ripley P. Bullen conducted two weeks of excavations at the Safety Harbor site (8PI2) on Old Tampa Bay, the type site for the period and culture of the same name. Although they published a summary of these excavations (Griffin and Bullen 1950), many details were not included; for example, the report includes no plan drawings and artifacts are tabulated only in aggregate (by excavation block, rather than by square). Fortunately, the Florida Museum of Natural History curates relatively detailed notes and drawings of the excavations. We use GIS to review these for new insights, particularly regarding domestic architecture—a facet of Safety Harbor material culture that has remained elusive.

A Deeper look into Platform Mound Composition at the Safety Harbor Site (8Pi2), Tampa Bay Estuary
Since the mid-20th century, the Safety Harbor Site (8Pi2) has served as the type-site for “Mississippian” cultural expression on the Central Peninsular Gulf Coast. In 1948 Griffin and Bullen excavated the upper 5 ft of the site’s platform mound, documenting complicated layering of shell, sand, and clay. New research at 8Pi2 by USF Anthropology involved small-diameter coring and geophysical survey of the platform mound. We present and interpret a 6 m construction sequence using a logic of “composition” focused on how past peoples assembled diverse knowledge and materials to reflect complex, interconnected socio-political situations that unfolded in the region during the late-Precolumbian era.

Intertidal Archaeology at the Cabbagehead Bayou Site (8HI6698): An Island Shellwork in Upper Tampa Bay Estuary
Despite early recognition by the 1875 Coast and Geodetic Survey, the conspicuous semi-circular shellwork fronting Cabbagehead Bayou in Upper Tampa Bay Estuary (8HI6698) remained un-investigated until 2019, when USF Anthropology began a program of robust, but minimally destructive testing. We present the results of recent work, including: radiocarbon chronology, invertebrate-zooarchaeological analysis, and paleoenvironmental reconstruction. Preliminary findings contribute to a refined understanding of relationships between seascape transformation, settlement patterning, and estuarine resource harvesting in the upper reaches of Tampa Bay.

Research Updates on Five Orange County Historical Archaeological Projects
From 2006 through 2011, I directed archaeological investigations at five different historic sites in Orange County through my work at Valencia College, the Central Florida Anthropological Society, and the University of Florida. These sites include Greenwood Bungalow near Downtown Orlando, the 1890Windermere School in the Town of Windermere, and the Chambless-Hull House, Hartsfield House, and Territo House-Oakland Hotel in the Town of Oakland. As long-term research on these sites ends with comprehensive reports, I will discuss insights learned from archaeological, historical, and ethnographic data on life in late-19th through mid-20th century central Florida.

The Mocama Archeological Project: UNF’s 2020 Archeological Field School at Sarabay
In fall 2020, the University of North Florida (UNF) embarked on the first of a multiyear excavation of the Armellino site on Big Talbot Island. Current evidence implicates this site as the Mocama community and Visita of Sarabay mentioned briefly in the French and Spanish accounts. This paper reviews the results of the recent field school and contextualizes the excavation within UNF’s Broader Mocama Archeological Project (MAP), a long-term study of the social histories and cultures of northeastern Florida’s Indigenous populations. MAP further aims to reconstruct the region’s Native social landscape during the 16^th , 17^th , and early 18^th  centuries.

“Hid the Town from the Sea”: Spanish Attacks, Buccaneer Raids, Indigenous Wrecking, and the moving Town of Ais, 1565-1696
When Pedro Menéndez de Avilés walked down the Atlantic coast to the main Ais town in 1565, it was located on the southern side of an inlet adjacent to the coast. Over the next 130 years, the town moved from the inlet to a position along the Indian River several times, reflecting Ais strategic tension between the valuable materials available by salvaging shipwrecks quickly and the vulnerability of being visible to European ships. I argue that this town movement was tied to 1590s Spanish attacks and 1680s buccaneer raids, and I ponder whether a town is the location or the people.

Pipe Dreams: Spanish Tobacco Pipes as Evidence of Cuban Fishing Ranchos on the SW Florida Coast in the Late 18th and Early 19th Centuries
The documentary record suggests that Cuban fisherman and “Spanish” Indians established seasonal camps and semi-permanent settlements along the Southwest Gulf Coast of the Florida peninsula in the late 18th century, particularly after the retrocession of the colony from British rule to the Spanish crown in 1783. These fishing “ranchos,” as they were called, were reported to be in frequent use through the first half of the 19th century. In 1897, Cushing recovered three pale terracotta pipes on Fisherman’s Key (near Pine Island Sound) that are now in the University of Pennsylvania Museum’s collections. In 1998, a fragment of a terracotta pipe bowl with a decorative motif and design nearly identical to one of the pipes recovered by Cushing, was recovered during monitoring on Marco Island, 50 miles down the coast. Recent archaeological reports from Cuba and Spain confirm the likely Spanish manufacturing origin of this late 18th- to early 19th century unique reed-stemmed terracotta pipe form and provide supporting material evidence of the Cuban and Native Floridian fishing communities present along the Gulf Coast two centuries ago.

An Edgefield Ceramic Assemblage from the Lost Town of St. Joseph, Florida
From 1836-1844, the Depot Creek Depot site served the historic lost town of St. Joseph in the Florida Panhandle. Imported goods from the bay were delivered here by railway, then shipped up the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River System. At Depot Creek Depot, a stoneware crockery collection was recovered underwater, and loaned to USF by a generous collector for analysis and digital curation. Research goals are to study this collection’s American origins, modest social contexts, and international production techniques. Analysis reveals details about the daily lives of workers and the enslaved, their involvement in pottery production, and their economic contributions to early Florida.

Uzi Baram,(New College of Florida/NCPAL) Sherry Svekis (Reflections of Manatee, Inc.)
A Significant Archaeological Layer of History: Findings on the Marronage by the Manatee Mineral Spring, Bradenton Florida
January 2020 archaeological excavations recovered material evidence for more than two centuries of histories by the Manatee Mineral Spring. The area is on the Network to Freedom for the early 19th-century maroon community of Angola on the Manatee River and is the founding location for the 1840s Village of Manatee, now the eastern part of Bradenton. Facilitated by a long-term public anthropology program, historical archaeology is revealing the daily lives of the maroons and later inhabitants by the spring. Focusing on stratigraphy and selected belongings, the poster offers a view of the archaeology from the community-based program. [VIEW POSTER]

Lydia Kiernicki (University of Central Florida, UCF) Lauren Lehman (UCF)  Amara Williams (UCF)  Jennifer Moreno (UCF)
Penny and Its People: An Archaeological and Holistic Approach to Settlements in Cape Canaveral, Florida
As part of the Cape Canaveral Archaeological Mitigation Project (CCAMP), the land associated with the historic Penny family is part of an ongoing excavation and preservation project at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS). As a continuation of work in the past, with our new goal of finding possible connections with prehistoric and historic sites in the area, many different methods such as Geographic Information Systems (GIS) mapping, faunal remains analysis, flotation sample analysis, and historic research are being utilized to work towards a comprehensive goal of understanding previous inhabitants of the land. [VIEW POSTER]

Jean Lammie (University of South Florida)
Ice Cream and Picnics: Construction of White Middle-Class Social Structures in Early Tampa
This poster questions how the wives of military officers and government officials used white femininity to further U.S. expansionist goals in Florida in the mid-19th century. Following the end of the Second Seminole War, Tampa was not a cosmopolitan town on the verge of expansion, it was a rough and tumble village of bars and brothels with few “civilized” social structures. The women of Fort Brooke deployed a system of middle-class socializations in order to establish a sense of white civility on an unruly populace. Ultimately, their efforts failed, and Tampa remained a lawless place through the early 20th century. [VIEW POSTER]

Christine Miller (Orthopaedic Ambulatory Care Center, University of Florida, College of Medicine-Jacksonville and the American Society of Forensic Podiatry) David Agoada (American Society of Forensic Podiatry)
Burden Captured in Bone: The Legacy of Repartimiento
Analysis of the skeletal remains from the San Martin de Timucua burial site reveal the relative quality of life of the indigenous people during the mission period. The 23 skeletons recovered provide information pertaining to stressors experienced as evidenced by signs of trauma, arthritis, and hematologic disorders. Examining the lower extremity, 12 skeletons had signs of periosteal reactions in the tibial regions with a strong male predominance. Applying current clinical criteria along with historic context shows the toll the repartimiento system took particularly on indigenous men which left a lasting imprint not only in their osseous structure but in history. *content warning* [VIEW POSTER]

The State of the State: The Annual Report of the Florida Bureau of Archaeological Research
Throughout the pandemic the Florida Bureau of Archaeological Research has persevered — continuing to perform essential duties almost unabated despite building closures and travel limitations. This report summarizes the 2020-2021 activities of our agency. As stipulated by Chs. 267 and 872.05, Florida Statutes, the Florida Bureau of Archaeological Research oversees the management and protection of Florida’s archaeological sites on terrestrial and submerged state-owned and managed lands. This includes the identification, preservation, and interpretation of archaeological sites, the conservation and curation of artifacts recovered from state lands, as well as the protection of unmarked human remains.

The Great Walkabout: Shoreline Mapping and Monitoring at the GTM Research Reserve
The Florida Public Archaeology Network continues efforts to monitor sites at risk using a wide variety of tools and methods through the Heritage Monitoring Scouts (HMS Florida) program. In addition to engaging the public to monitor sites, staff have added new tools including an Arrow GNSS receiver to map shorelines in order to track erosion and migrating marshes, and a FARO terrestrial laser scanner to create 3D models to track shoreline loss at sites. This paper will detail recent work at the GTM Research Reserve, including comparisons of two years of shoreline mapping data.

Teaching Material Culture in an Immaterial World: Public Archaeology in South Florida During Covid-19
When typical in-person gatherings were shut down in March of 2020, educators of all stripes scrambled to adapt and continue connecting with their students. Public archaeology was no exception to these circumstances. The Florida Public Archaeology Network’s South super-region quickly designed an online Covid response, resulting in a notable increase of outreach numbers over previous years. We will explore the rise of social media, the goals of public archaeology, and the shape of our current digital landscape before evaluating FPAN South’s digital outreach strategy and recommend best practices for attempts at digital public outreach by heritage educators.