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Florida
Below is an assortment of photographs (mostly scans from slides) of various archaeological field projects I've been involved with in my adopted home state of Florida. This page will be updated as new images are scanned from these and other projects.
Pensacola Colonial Frontiers / Surf Clam Ridge / Fig Springs South End / Fig Springs Field School
Pensacola Colonial Frontiers Project, 2009
In the summer of 2009, a University of West Florida terrestrial field school under my supervision embarked on the search for the 18th-century Mission San Joseph de Escambe as part of the Pensacola Colonial Frontiers project. Shovel testing in the search area in Molino, Florida resulted in the discovery of the mission within the first month of fieldwork, and excavations during remaining weeks were designed to gain a preliminary picture of the remarkably well-preserved site. In addition to the selection of photos below, an online blog contains a photographic record of the search and discovery of the mission.
The Escambe mission site is located on a level bluff along the middle Escambia River, which took its modern name from the Apalachee Indian placename. During the colonial period the river was normally navigable from Escambia Bay all the way to the mission site. Fieldwork began with the establishment of a site grid, and shovel test locations were set in at 20 meter intervals using a total station; pictured in foreground are Sarah Patterson, Rachel DeVan, and Jennifer Melcher; in background are Patrick Johnson and Matt Napolitano. A total of 65 shovel tests measuring 50 x 50 centimeters were excavated across the target search area, of which nearly half ended up falling within the mission site; pictured are Rachel DeVan, John Krebs, and Michelle D'Onofrio. Many shovel tests had to be placed in wooded areas with dense undergrowth, requiring days of work with machetes, bush axes, and loppers; pictured are Matt Napolitano, Gary Macmullin, Aubrey Palmer, and Brian Miller. Remote sensing using Ground Penetrating Radar equipment proved useful in detecting underground disturbances at the site, though ground-truthing with excavation is necessary in order to distinguish modern or natural disturbances from those associated with the mission occupation; pictured are John Krebs, Victor Thompson, Sarah Everhart, and Aubrey Palmer. Once the mission site was identified, fieldwork focused on the excavation of larger units and colonial architectural features within them; pictured are Wendy Morgan, Sarah Everhart, Jennifer King, Matt Napolitano, and Jennifer Melcher. One of the most surprising and important early finds in unit excavations was this well-made and well-preserved wall trench, excavated into the subsoil by colonial-era builders in order to set a wooden sill with attached wooden posts. Evenly-spaced wrought-iron nails used in the construction of this wall are visible projecting upward in the center of the trench. Among a wide range of mid-18th-century colonial artifacts discovered at the mission site was this lead bale seal, probably used to seal a bundle of clothing or other trade goods brought to the site. Other finds included Apalachee Indian pottery, tin-glazed and lead-glazed Spanish coarse earthenware, bottle glass, glass beads, iron nails, and lead shot. Surf Clam Ridge Project, 2003-2004
Between 2003 and 2004, while serving as local administrator of the Randell Research Center with the Florida Museum of Natural History, I conducted block excavations in the South Pasture area of the important Pineland archaeological site on Pine Island in Southwest Florida. During the field project, horizontal and vertical testing was carried out in a low landform known as Surf Clam Ridge, which contains a record of human occupation at the site between at least A.D. 100 through A.D. 550 or so. As a result of the project, new information regarding the Caloosahatchee I period was generated, including details regarding house construction.
The Pineland site is situated alongside an extremely shallow estuarine shoreline in northern Pine Island Sound. These mudflats, exposed at very low tides, provided source material for much of the sand comprising Surf Clam Ridge, either as a result of human activity or catastrophic storm deposits. Volunteers of nearly all ages participated in the Surf Clam Ridge project; pictured are Chris and Henry Worth. A total of 26 square meters were excavated into the summit of Surf Clam Ridge during the project, two of which penetrated deep into the earliest deposits at the site. Pictured is volunteer Denege Patterson. Digital imagery played an important role in recording the soil stains and other patterns as excavation units were gradually excavated in 5 and 10 centimeter thick layers. Overhead views of each unit were sometimes challenging, as this photo of me shows; also pictured are Denege Patterson and Gloria Andrews. Broader patterns of postmold and pit-feature distribution became easier to discern when several test units were viewed together. Despite this, it was only after considerable study of photographs, drawings, measurements, and artifacts at several depths that possible structural patterns became evident. Two possible small circular structures were identified in the uppermost "black-sand midden" underlying the surface shell on Surf Clam Ridge, both with central firepits (see below). These structures, measuring perhaps 3.5 meters in diameter, date to ca. A.D. 450-500. An angle view of the clearest firepit or hearth uncovered during the project. The basal deposit of ash was ringed by a charcoal deposit, and capped by backfilled garbage including large potsherds and intact gastropod shells. Fig Springs, South End project, 1990
During 1990, while an anthropology graduate student at the University of Florida, I served as principal investigator on a project at the Fig Springs archaeological site along the Ichetucknee River in north Florida, during which block excavations were undertaken in the predominantly prehistoric "South End" portion of that immense site (which later became the 17th-century mission San Martín de Ayaocuto). The result was a clearer and more detailed portrait of the Suwannee Valley culture, which I had initially defined as a result of work in the northern portion of the site during the previous year with Brent Weisman. The dig also produced possible evidence for late prehistoric maize use by the Suwannee Valley inhabitants.
View of block excavations at the South End; pictured are Keith Terry and Melissa Moore. Scott Mitchell excavating a particularly deep posthole feature. View of the final extent of block excavations at the South End. Angle view of a large, bell-shaped pit feature which produced possible evidence for prehistoric maize.
Fig Springs Field School, 1989
In 1989, I participated in a University of Florida field school at the Fig Springs mission site under Brent Weisman. During this third successive field season at the site, excavations focused on expanding earlier units in the earliest mission church structure, as well as at the presumed convento (friary) and an aboriginal residence area.
View of student Gardner Gordon videotaping Brent Weisman in excavation unit within the aboriginal area of the mission site. This trash-filled aboriginal pit was particularly difficult to excavate, and necessitated the construction of an improvised platform on which to sit while my feet rested on the bottom of the previously-excavated portion of the feature. View of the feature excavation in progress. This pit contained copious quantities of refuse, of both Timucuan and Spanish origin. View of an iron lock plate in situ at the convento; this would have been part of a box or trunk in the friary at the mission.
