February 15,

"Agents of Change -- Guardians of Tradition: Ancient Women on the Gulf Coast of Florida"

     This talk will address the unfortunate transparency of women in the Florida archaeological record. Despite there not being any clear-cut evidence of what women might have done in this ancient society, there may be archaeological evidence to support activities that could have been done by women.

      As the basis of economic and political activity, the home is an important place in any town or village. A domestic setting would demonstrate the roles women played in respect to site layout and the artifact materials related to domesticity.

     Regarding the responsibilities of men and women with respect to everyday life, the majority of work by the majority of people in the past, likely lies within the home. Activities surrounding safety and security would have been considered important.

     In ways deemed culturally important, the responsibilities pertaining to the real world may have been separated from their spiritual counterparts. The role of women may appear reduced in this realm. It is suggested the domestic realm was the most time-consuming, influential (powerful) at the daily level, and therefore the most important to the stability of daily life. Whereas, the latter was an attempt at the spiritual regulation of the former, a means of reconciliation (cosmic domestication) patterned after the only real life men knew-life at home. Under these hypothesized conditions, archaeological sites should reflect a wide range of behaviors associate with the maintenance of the home – the domestic realm. The presentation will look at some of these behaviors and, we hope, offer a fresh view of the role of women in ancient Florida.

Sponsored by Crystal River Archaeological State Park and Friends of CRASP

March 8,

"Can We Find Women in Florida’s Prehistory?"

     Finding gender roles in prehistoric archaeological record is a particularly difficult job when the effort is held to the strict principals of the scientific method. For thoughts to become hypothesis, ideas must be testable against physical evidence. Further, in science, the principle of parsimony called “Occam’s Razor”, should be followed: use the simplest explanation that fits the evidence at hand.  Physical evidence is strengthened with experiments using replica tools and situations, and observations of the lifeways of recent, simpler cultures can be used in drawing analogies.  But care must be taken – analogy is not proof.

     Probably the biggest difficulty in gender studies is overcoming stereotypes – the ideas we have that only men do certain things and women others. Both laypersons and professionals can be guilty of projecting our cultural norms onto the past. Another roadblock to truly scientific effort is when information from early historical times is projected back to prehistory. For example, just because only women made pottery in a particular area during the 1700s does not prove that only women made pottery there in 500BC. Prehistory is not just unwritten history.

     A society may define specific roles for men and women, but environmental conditions may actually determine who does what. Hunter-gatherer groups can show great flexibility to make sure that everyone is fed, with every active member, adults and children of both sexes, ready to gather, hunt, and produce whatever is necessary to make their societies survive. There may not be clear-cut gender roles in such societies.

Sponsored by Heritage of the Ancient Ones & DeSoto National Memorial

"Adaptation, Conflict, and Change: Bioarchaeology of Gulf Coast Florida"

     Along the central and southern Florida Gulf Coast, multiple lines of evidence between AD 500 and AD 1000 suggest that this period was one of emerging social and political complexity accompanied by population growth. This talk, will discuss the adaptations and human biology of central Gulf Coast Floridians during this period.

     The maritime environment is a major component of human ecology in Florida, but is neither a static environment nor is it homogeneous.

     Several skeletal and dental lesions are commonly found in high frequencies for coastal populations and serve as a measure of success in human adaptation. The lesions appear to be correlated with a variety of behaviors oriented around coastal foraging, consumptions of Maine foods, and food preparations methods. I compare these markers for populations inhabiting difference regions of the Florida Gulf Coast, and with populations inhabiting interior Florida and other regions of the southeastern United States. Within those populations, gender comparisons provide important information about differences in the economic and social roles of men and women.

     The picture that emerges from this investigation of study of human biological adaptation of populations inhabiting the central peninsular Florida Gulf Coast is one of stability prior to the influence of Europeans. Populations inhabiting the region, although unified by their emphasis on maritime foraging, differed in the species targeted and perhaps in the methods of acquisitions.  Difference between men and women in the patterns of dental chipping and periodontal disease indicate male and female differences in the process of eating or food preparation.

Sponsored by Historic Spanish Point

March 22,

"Virtual Homecoming: Bringing Weeden Back to Weedon"

     Dr. Brent Weisman will focus on the innovative digital repatriation project called the Virtual Tour of Artifacts at Weedon Island Preserve. He will discuss the public, educational, and moral value of reconnecting cultural objects to their place of origin, especially in circumstances beyond the legal compliance mandated by repatriation laws. Additionally, he will incorporate an examination of pottery making and use at Weedon Island to questions preconceptions about the gender of its makers, specifically, can we know (and how can we know) if women were the potters.

Sponsored by Weedon Island Preserve Cultural and Natural History Center

April 5,

"Living on Boca Ciega Bay in the 1560s: Archaeology at the Anderson Site"

     Modern Pinellas County is home to many thousands of people. The same things that attract today’s residents also brought the first Floridians here long ago. The mild climate was and is a major factor, but the coastal setting has acted as a magnet for centuries.

     When the first Europeans arrived in the area in the 1500s, they found people living in settlements scattered around the peninsula, making a comfortable living by exploiting he rich fishing and other resources in both the Gulf and adjacent bays. Boca Ciega Bay was an especially popular location, due to its protection from storms and the abundant resources available in the waters of the bay. Several large settlements were located along the bay’s west side, and the Anderson site (also known as Jungle Prada or the Narvaez site) is the best preserved of these archaeological treasures. 

     It is sometimes hard for us to imagine what life was like here more than 400 years ago, but archaeology allows us to open a window to the past. Excavations at the Anderson site and other archaeological sites in Pinellas County offer a glimpse of daily life long before tourists and the Sunshine Skyway. Animal bones and plant remains tell us what the local environment was like, and broken pieces of pottery and carved bone objects reveal the artistic talent of our forbearers. Although it was not a Garden of Eden, it was a good place to live, as it is today.

Sponsored by Sacred Lands Preservation and Education, Inc.

April 14,

"Newnans Lake and Florida’s Canoeing Heritage"

     Low lake levels, due to drought in spring and summer 2000, revealed the decayed remnants of over 100 dugout canoes buried in the sediments of Newnans Lake near Gainesville, Florida. Radiocarbon assays revealed that 41 of 55 canoes studied were from the Late Archaic period, dating between 2300 and 5000 BP. Analysis of canoe form and comparison to the small number of other known Florida Archaic period canoes correct previous ideas about early canoes. Patterns of wood choice and manufacturing techniques known from younger canoes were in place during the late Archaic. 

     The Archaic period canoes from Newnans Lake are indistinguishable from canoes produced in later periods, and are not the crude, short, blunt ended type thought to represent the earliest dugout canoes. Thwarts or low partitions on almost half of the Archaic canoes studied confirm a long temporal span to the canoe making tradition of peninsular Florida. Middle and Late Archaic groups had boat building and related technologies in place 7000 years ago and were expanding into areas with newly emerging freshwater resources created by higher water tables.

Sponsored by Randell Research Center

May 25,

"The Shaw’s Point Site at DeSoto National Memorial:  The Archaeology and History of a Coastal Shell Mound Village"

    De Soto National Memorial commemorates the historic 1539 landing of Spanish Explorer Hernando De Soto. However, many hundreds of years before European contact, this site was home to a large village of coastal-dwelling Indians who built extensive shell mounds. Known today as Shaw’s Point site, this site is one of the Florida gulf coast’s most significant prehistoric sites.

     Unfortunately during the early 20^th century, much of the shell mound village was lost to mining for its shell, and afterwards, the site was nearly forgotten. Recently, extensive archeological investigations have helped to “reconstruct” and interpret the history of the Shaw’s Point site. Using a combination of scientific archaeological methods, historical records, and modern technology, many interesting discoveries about the prehistoric village have been made.

     The Shaw’s Point site was occupied over a long period of time, perhaps 1800-1900 years, from around 365 BC to AD 1395. The prehistoric inhabitants were a maritime culture highly adapted to the local estuarine environment. Most of their food and other raw materials were obtained from the surrounding estuary, a rich ecosystem that was probably very much like it is today.

     The village consisted of large shell mounds, shell ridges, middens and other features.  Studies of artifacts (pottery, shell tools, bone implements, etc.) as well as animal and floral remains provide a glimpse of what life was like in this prehistoric village. Archaeological evidence suggests that changes in the environment occurred, as well as changes in food resources, diet, pottery styles, and the types of shell tools used.

Sponsored by DeSoto National Memorial