Category: Meetings & Speakers
Tuesday, September 12, 2023: Josh Goodman
Tuesday, May 9, 2023: Dr. Bob Sinibaldi
PLEISTOCENE SURVIVORS As the last Ice Age came to a close much of the mega-fauna in North America went extinct. However, there were survivors, and the story is not only often overlooked, but also important to understanding the current mass extinction we are now going through. This presentation will focus…
Tuesday, April 11, 2023: Dr. John Bratten
ARCHAEOLOGICAL DOCUMENTATION OF PENSACOLA’S SUBMERGED HISTORY (AND OTHER WORTHY PURSUITS) For more than 460 years, Pensacola’s waterways have been navigated by Spanish colonization ships, British warships, Civil War schooners, and numerous fishing and lumber vessels. Hurricane activity, warfare, and intentional abandonment sent many of these ships to the bottom of…
Tuesday, March 14, 2023: Dr. Keith Ashley
THE MILL COVE COMPLEX: DAILY LIFE, FEASTING, AND FARAWAY CONNECTIONS Located near the mouth of the St. Johns River in northeastern Florida, the Mill Cove Complex was one of the most significant Indigenous communities in Florida 1,000 years ago. While daily life centered around the exploitation of estuarine resources, these fisher-hunter-gatherers…
February 2023: James Abraham
CENTURY: A PEOPLE’S HISTORY OF CHARLOTTE COUNTY James Abraham is a former journalist who now edits and publishes books. His Book-broker Publishers, which he founded in 2004, has produced or edited more than 500 books in a variety of genres. Abraham is a popular writing coach, critic, and lecturer. A…
January 2023: Michelle Calhoun
THE ANTHROPOGENIC MOVEMENT OF LIGHTNING WHELK DURING THE ARCHAIC: A WELL-TRAVELED MOLLUSK Michelle Calhoun Lightning whelk is a fairly common sight on our southwest Florida, Gulf coast beaches. In fact, eastern Gulf of Mexico lightning whelk population studies show that 82% can be found between Charlotte Harbor and Ten Thousand…
October 2022: Crystal Diff
Dive into the legend of the infamous pirate Gasparilla and the lasting impact it’s made on southwest Florida’s coast. While exploring the local origins of the legend, we’ll uncover the historical background of how a “big fish” story captured a railroad tycoon and made its mark on our coast forever….
September 13: Rachael Kangas
May 10 Speaker: Dr. Bruce McFadden
FLORIDA ICE AGE (PLEISTOCENE) MAMMALS The sedimentary sequence in Florida began in the Eocene during the Cenozoic period, which is Earth’s current geological era. The Pleistocene era, commonly known as “The Ice Age,” began approximately 2.6 million years ago and lasted until approximately 12,000 years ago, with megafauna, described as…
April 12 Speaker: Dr. William H. Marquardt
EMERGENCE OF THE CALUSA KINGDOM When Spaniards first arrived, the Calusa, a fishing people, were the most powerful native society in Florida. We now have evidence from Mound Key of mound-building, monumental architecture, large-scale food processing, watercourt use and construction, and the sixteenth-century Spanish fort and mission of San Antón…
March 8, 2022 Speaker: George Colvin
SHARK TEETH FROM OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES AND SURFACE FOUND COLLECTIONS –MORE THAN JUST HOPEWELL Although rare, fossil shark teeth from outside of Ohio have been recovered from Ohio archaeological sites and as surface finds throughout much of the state. The source of these fossil shark teeth has been the subject…
February 8, 2022 Presentation
A PHOTOGRAPHIC RECORD OF HISTORICALLY SIGNIFICANT SITES ON SAN SALVADOR ISLAND, BAHAMAS With funding from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), a heritage tourism development project originally scheduled for 2020, was put on hold due to the Covid pandemic. However, with the possibility of funding being withdrawn, six students from the…
January 11, 2022 Speaker: Michelle Calhoun
UTILIZATION AND SOURCING OF WHELK ARTIFACTS IN NORTH AMERICA The lightning whelk is a sinistral (left)-coiling mollusk which can be found along the North American continental shelf from Cape Cod to the Yucatan peninsula. Whelk have morphological differences in their shells depending on their region of origin: Yucatan, the western…
December 14, 2021 Speaker: Jono Miller
November 9, 2021 Speaker: John Whittaker
FRANK HAMILTON CUSHING AND THE KEY MARCO ATLATLS Florida excavations in 1895 by a pioneering archaeologist produced famous finds of prehistoric art, and an early recognition of a forgotten weapon, the atlatl or spear thrower. We know a lot more about atlatls today, and re-examining Cushing’s finds shows some of…
October 12, 2021 Speaker: Dr. Jeb Card
SPOOKY ARCHAEOLOGY: THE MYTH AND SCIENCE OF THE PAST Archaeologists are depicted as searching for lost cities and mystical artifacts in news reports, television, video games, and in movies like Indiana Jones or The Mummy. This fantastical image has little to do with day-to-day science, yet it is deeply connected…
September 14, 2021 Speaker: Dr. Victor Thompson
May 11, 2021 Speaker: Dr. April Watson
PREHISTORIC FOOD RESOURCES IN COASTAL SOUTH FLORIDA Dr. April Watson How do archaeologists investigate the ways people have eaten through time? The study of these leftovers give us a powerful tool for understanding past human behavior. Leftovers such as bones, scales, and shells can help archaeologists explore the ways that…
April 13, 2021 Speaker: Jeff Moates
AMPLIFIED: AFRICAN AMERICAN CEMETERIES IN TAMPA BAY Jeff Moates, Director of the West Central and Central Regional Centers of the Florida Public Archaeology Network April 13, 2021 Zoom Meeting In 2020 groups in the Tampa Bay area began a quest to replace, buildover, and destroyed African American cemeteries. These places…
March 9, 2021 Speaker: Frank Cassell
SARASOTA COUNTY HISTORY As part of our Sarasota County 2021 Centennial Celebration, we welcome historian Dr. Frank Cassell, author of Creating Sarasota County (2017), and Suncoast Empire, Bertha Honore Palmer, Her Family, and the Rise of Sarasota (2019). Frank will recount the dramatic history and tales of the men and…
Tuesday, September 12, 2023: Josh Goodman
Tuesday, May 9, 2023: Dr. Bob Sinibaldi

PLEISTOCENE SURVIVORS As the last Ice Age came to a close much of the mega-fauna in North America went extinct. However, there were survivors, and the story is not only often overlooked, but also important to understanding the current mass extinction we are now going through. This presentation will focus…
Tuesday, April 11, 2023: Dr. John Bratten

ARCHAEOLOGICAL DOCUMENTATION OF PENSACOLA’S SUBMERGED HISTORY (AND OTHER WORTHY PURSUITS) For more than 460 years, Pensacola’s waterways have been navigated by Spanish colonization ships, British warships, Civil War schooners, and numerous fishing and lumber vessels. Hurricane activity, warfare, and intentional abandonment sent many of these ships to the bottom of…
Tuesday, March 14, 2023: Dr. Keith Ashley

THE MILL COVE COMPLEX: DAILY LIFE, FEASTING, AND FARAWAY CONNECTIONS Located near the mouth of the St. Johns River in northeastern Florida, the Mill Cove Complex was one of the most significant Indigenous communities in Florida 1,000 years ago. While daily life centered around the exploitation of estuarine resources, these fisher-hunter-gatherers…
February 2023: James Abraham

CENTURY: A PEOPLE’S HISTORY OF CHARLOTTE COUNTY James Abraham is a former journalist who now edits and publishes books. His Book-broker Publishers, which he founded in 2004, has produced or edited more than 500 books in a variety of genres. Abraham is a popular writing coach, critic, and lecturer. A…
January 2023: Michelle Calhoun

THE ANTHROPOGENIC MOVEMENT OF LIGHTNING WHELK DURING THE ARCHAIC: A WELL-TRAVELED MOLLUSK Michelle Calhoun Lightning whelk is a fairly common sight on our southwest Florida, Gulf coast beaches. In fact, eastern Gulf of Mexico lightning whelk population studies show that 82% can be found between Charlotte Harbor and Ten Thousand…
October 2022: Crystal Diff

Dive into the legend of the infamous pirate Gasparilla and the lasting impact it’s made on southwest Florida’s coast. While exploring the local origins of the legend, we’ll uncover the historical background of how a “big fish” story captured a railroad tycoon and made its mark on our coast forever….
September 13: Rachael Kangas
May 10 Speaker: Dr. Bruce McFadden

FLORIDA ICE AGE (PLEISTOCENE) MAMMALS The sedimentary sequence in Florida began in the Eocene during the Cenozoic period, which is Earth’s current geological era. The Pleistocene era, commonly known as “The Ice Age,” began approximately 2.6 million years ago and lasted until approximately 12,000 years ago, with megafauna, described as…
April 12 Speaker: Dr. William H. Marquardt

EMERGENCE OF THE CALUSA KINGDOM When Spaniards first arrived, the Calusa, a fishing people, were the most powerful native society in Florida. We now have evidence from Mound Key of mound-building, monumental architecture, large-scale food processing, watercourt use and construction, and the sixteenth-century Spanish fort and mission of San Antón…
March 8, 2022 Speaker: George Colvin

SHARK TEETH FROM OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES AND SURFACE FOUND COLLECTIONS –MORE THAN JUST HOPEWELL Although rare, fossil shark teeth from outside of Ohio have been recovered from Ohio archaeological sites and as surface finds throughout much of the state. The source of these fossil shark teeth has been the subject…
February 8, 2022 Presentation

A PHOTOGRAPHIC RECORD OF HISTORICALLY SIGNIFICANT SITES ON SAN SALVADOR ISLAND, BAHAMAS With funding from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), a heritage tourism development project originally scheduled for 2020, was put on hold due to the Covid pandemic. However, with the possibility of funding being withdrawn, six students from the…
January 11, 2022 Speaker: Michelle Calhoun

UTILIZATION AND SOURCING OF WHELK ARTIFACTS IN NORTH AMERICA The lightning whelk is a sinistral (left)-coiling mollusk which can be found along the North American continental shelf from Cape Cod to the Yucatan peninsula. Whelk have morphological differences in their shells depending on their region of origin: Yucatan, the western…
December 14, 2021 Speaker: Jono Miller
November 9, 2021 Speaker: John Whittaker

FRANK HAMILTON CUSHING AND THE KEY MARCO ATLATLS Florida excavations in 1895 by a pioneering archaeologist produced famous finds of prehistoric art, and an early recognition of a forgotten weapon, the atlatl or spear thrower. We know a lot more about atlatls today, and re-examining Cushing’s finds shows some of…
October 12, 2021 Speaker: Dr. Jeb Card

SPOOKY ARCHAEOLOGY: THE MYTH AND SCIENCE OF THE PAST Archaeologists are depicted as searching for lost cities and mystical artifacts in news reports, television, video games, and in movies like Indiana Jones or The Mummy. This fantastical image has little to do with day-to-day science, yet it is deeply connected…
September 14, 2021 Speaker: Dr. Victor Thompson
May 11, 2021 Speaker: Dr. April Watson

PREHISTORIC FOOD RESOURCES IN COASTAL SOUTH FLORIDA Dr. April Watson How do archaeologists investigate the ways people have eaten through time? The study of these leftovers give us a powerful tool for understanding past human behavior. Leftovers such as bones, scales, and shells can help archaeologists explore the ways that…
April 13, 2021 Speaker: Jeff Moates

AMPLIFIED: AFRICAN AMERICAN CEMETERIES IN TAMPA BAY Jeff Moates, Director of the West Central and Central Regional Centers of the Florida Public Archaeology Network April 13, 2021 Zoom Meeting In 2020 groups in the Tampa Bay area began a quest to replace, buildover, and destroyed African American cemeteries. These places…
March 9, 2021 Speaker: Frank Cassell

SARASOTA COUNTY HISTORY As part of our Sarasota County 2021 Centennial Celebration, we welcome historian Dr. Frank Cassell, author of Creating Sarasota County (2017), and Suncoast Empire, Bertha Honore Palmer, Her Family, and the Rise of Sarasota (2019). Frank will recount the dramatic history and tales of the men and…