Attend IN-PERSON (North Port Library, 13800 Tamiami Trail, North Port, FL 34287) or join us via ZOOM (Meeting ID: 818 8487 5930 Passcode: 472140) ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE APALACHICOLA-LOWER CHATTAHOOCHEE VALLEY Dr. Nancy Marie White After decades of jungle survey and test excavation, new archaeological synthesis in this neglected region (in…
Attend IN-PERSON (North Port Library, 13800 Tamiami Trail, North Port, FL 34287) or join us via ZOOM (Meeting ID: 818 8487 5930 Passcode: 472140) RE-AWAKENING ANCIENT SALISH SEA BASKETRY Dr. Dale Croes In retirement, Dale Croes has been working with Ed Carriere (age 91), a Suquamish Elder and Master Basketmaker,…
Attend IN-PERSON (North Port Library, 13800 Tamiami Trail, North Port, FL 34287) or join us via ZOOM (Meeting ID: 818 8487 5930 Passcode: 472140) THE EAGLE NEST SITE (8MA132), MANATEE COUNTY Elizabeth Horvath In 1978, B. Calvin Jones identified the Eagle Nest Midden (8MA132) during his survey of the I-75…
RANCHOS OF THE FLORIDA GULF COAST Dr. Maranda Kles In the late 1700s and early 1800s, Spanish fishermen, operating out of Regla and Havana, Cuba, began to establish fishing camps, or ranchos, along the Gulf coast of Florida. These were often seasonal camps, but some became permanent over time. Palmetto-thatched…
ARTIFACTS TELL THE STORY OF THE LUNA SETTLEMENT IN PENSACOLA (1559-1561) Janet Lloyd TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12 6:30 PM EST FROM JAN: “In 2015, a local Pensacola history buff with archaeological training noticed interesting artifacts in the disturbed soil where an older house was being torn down to make room for…
DID PONCE DE LEON DISCOVER FLORIDA AND THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH? Tim Costin Juan Ponce de León, born in 1474, was a conquistador and Spanish explorer who traveled with Christopher Columbus’ 1493 expedition. He became an official on Hispaniola (Cuba) and, during this time, crushed a Taino rebellion and received…
RECOVERING HISTORY: SALVAGE EXCAVATIONS AT ELZUARDI’S POND HISTORIC DEPOSIT Michelle Calhoun A permitted, but unmonitored, boundary wall excavation took place in the Indian Beach neighborhood of Sarasota, exposing 19th and early 20th century artifacts. With owner permission, these were salvaged over the course of several visits to the site by…
Due to the North Port special election of May 13th, the WMS/LSS Archaeological Society will meet the second WEDNESDAY of the month (May 14th) at our new time and meeting place: North Port Public Library 13800 Tamiami Trail at 6:30 PM (Veranda Room). Speaker will be in-person. The speaker will…
PALEO RECONSTRUCTION OF FLORIDA Robin Speidel This project entails a comprehensive paleo reconstruction of Florida spanning an incredible 200 million years. Through meticulous research, advanced mapping techniques, along with a passion for geology, we will embark on a visual journey through Florida’s geological past while highlighting the geologic framework which…
BEYOND THE EXCAVATION: INTERPRETING ANGOLA Jean L. Lammie IN PERSON SPEAKER PRESENTATION (Zoom might be available at this link Meeting ID: 875 9116 9750 Passcode: 049553) Where enslavement exists, so too does the desire for freedom. Prior to the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863, many enslaved individuals ran from their enslavement…
WHAT ARTIFACTS?: EXPLORING HOW GEOARCHAEOLOGISTS INFER PAST HUMAN BEHAVIOR Dr. Anthony Tricarico Archaeology is the study of past human activity through the artifacts left behind. But how can archaeologists study and infer past human behavior without the recovery of material culture? Geoarchaeology is an interdisciplinary field combining the methods of…
EVIDENCE OF THE 1492 LANDING OF COLUMBUS IN THE AMERICAS Kathy Gerace ZOOM REGISTRATION LINK Meeting ID: 875 9116 9750 Passcode: 049553 We are pleased to welcome WMS/LSSAS president, Kathy Gerace, to our January 14 meeting to present an update of her October 2017 presentation. Kathy will be presenting via…
COASTAL MIGRATIONS AND INTERREGIONAL EXCHANGE: COONTIE ISLAND AND THE ORIGINS OF THE THORNHILL LAKE PHASE Dr. Jon Endonino Analysis of Archaic chipped and groundstone artifacts from Coontie Island has enhanced our understanding of interregional exchange between Florida and the greater southeastern coastal plain. Beads, bannerstones, and bifaces signal connections between…
A SHORT HISTORY OF THE FORGOTTEN COLONY Stephen Valdes Florida was the first colony to have its own militia, by 1567, during its time as a territory of Spain. Tensions between England and Spain played out across East and West Florida over the next 200 years. British West Florida was…
ANCIENT HIGHWAYS: TRAILS AND WATERWAYS Steven H. Koski When Europeans “discovered” the “New World,” it was not new at all to the Indigenous inhabitants of North and South America, who purportedly entered the continent from Asia, ca. 14,000 to 20,000 years ago, or more. Over those many millennia, Indigenous Peoples…
EVIDENCE OF THE 1492 LANDING OF COLUMBUS IN THE AMERICAS Kathy Gerace We are pleased to welcome back WMSLSSAS president Kathy Gerace, co-founder of the Gerace Research Center with her late husband, Donald Gerace, for a topic most appropriate for October, the landing place of Columbus. She kindly presented this…
WEEDS AND SEEDS: A HISTORY OF DINING IN SOUTHERN FLORIDA Cattle, citrus, and many other common foods today were brought to Florida by the Spanish, so what were people eating before then? This talk covers what people would have had for dinner in Southwest Florida 2,000 years ago. Topics of…
Dr. Jeffrey M. Mitchem After graduating high school in Lakeland, Florida, Dr. Mitchem intended to go into veterinary medicine, but instead earned a Bachelor of Arts with honors in Anthropology at the University of Florida. He then attended the University of South Florida (Tampa) for a M.A. in Public Archaeology…
WHAT CAN SHELL TELL? OYSTERS AND ARCHAEOLOGY Dr. Jessica A. Jenkins Thousands of oyster middens and mounds filled with billions of oyster shells line the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of North America. In the past, archaeologists did not pay much attention to these shells except to note their presence, oftentimes…
FORENSIC ARCHAEOLOGY: RECONSTRUCTING THE PRE-CONTACT ARCHAEOLOGICAL LANDSCAPES OF NORTH PORT Dr. Maranda Kles This society is named for two famous archaeological sites in North Port- Warm Mineral Springs (8So19) and Little Salt Spring (8So18). However, did you know that there is a third spring site with similar archaeological findings? This…
HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT: CHACHAPOYA MORTUARY ARCHAEOLOGY ON CLIFFS IN HIGHLAND PERU Dr. J. Marla Toyne Traditional archaeological practice involves mapping and excavating ancient settlements and cemeteries, but bioarchaeological research of the cliff tombs in the Chachapoyas region of northeastern Peru is stymied by natural and technological challenges. Exploring these…