2015 Field School Summaries
2015 University of North Florida Archaeological Field School
S. Lee Johns
The 2015 University of North Florida (UNF) archaeological ield school consisted of two main parts: a ive week session for UNF students and a two week session open to the public. The student ield school began with a brief, two day site survey of Calypso Island (8DU111), located on National Park Service land adjacent to the Fort Caroline National Memorial. The aim of this short project was to familiarize students with the process and shovel testing and to search the small island for cultural materials. Other than a few native pottery sherds and some chert lakes, no signiicant archaeological resources were recovered.
Focus then shifted to the Mill Cove Complex, a large St. Johns II site along the south bank of the St. Johns River in Jacksonville, roughly 10 miles (16 km) west of the river’s mouth. The complex incorporates two known sand burial features known as Grant and Shields mounds, which are positioned roughly 750 m apart. Between these two mounds is a village area consisting of diffuse refuse scatters, variable density shell middens, and at least one ritual midden known
as Kinzey’s Knoll. Artifacts and radiometric assays date Mill Cove to cal. A.D. 900-1250.
The summer ield school focused on locations near the eastern end of the Mill Cove Complex in the vicinity of Shields Mound (8DU12), a St. Johns II construction initially excavated by Clarence B. Moore in 1894 and 1895. UNF has been testing this part of the complex intermittently since 1999. Prior investigations have concentrated on Kinzey’s Knoll, a ritual midden located 50 m northwest of the Shields Mound. The knoll has yielded large amounts of artifacts, faunal remains, and exotic material in the form of copper and stone.
An objective of the 2015 ield school was to test possible domestic areas of the site away from Kinzey’s Knoll. With this in mind, excavations were conducted in two areas along the bluff, situated about 100 m apart (Figure 1). In addition, an apron or ramp-like feature on the north side of Shields Mound was sampled. In total 12 1 x 2 m units and two 1 m squares were excavated.
Initial bluff excavations took place 200 m northwest of Shields Mound. A 1 x 5 m trench and two nearby 1 x 2 m units were dug. With depth, the stratigraphy ranged from light gray sand near the surface to a darker more organic soil to a light yellow brown sterile subsoil. Localized pockets or layers of densely packed oyster shell were encountered between 20
Figure 1. UNF ield school.
Vol. 68(3-4) The Florida Anthropologist September-December 2015
114 The Florida Anthropologist 2015 Vol. 68(3-4)
and 40 cm below surface. Small amounts of modern material were recovered from the upper levels and live electrical wires associated with dock lighting was exposed and fortunately not damaged. Other than a few pieces of British-period stoneware, the dominant cultural materials within the shell midden included vertebrate faunal bone, St. Johns II (mostly plain and check stamped) and Ocmulgee Cord-marked pottery, and a Pinellas point.
The second phase of bluff excavations took place 150 m north of Shields Mound and approximately 80 m east of the irst set of bluff units. Four 1 x 2 m units, forming a 4 x 2 m block, were dug to a depth of over one meter. Although a large number of sherds were recovered from the upper eight levels, limited quantities of discarded shell were present. Many of the sherds appeared smaller than those recovered from other units. A large shell-illed pit (Feature 32) was exposed at 93 cm below surface. It measured 146 x 124 cm in plan and extended to a terminal depth of 170 cm below surface; the dense shell concentration reached a maximum depth of 144 cm below surface. A radiometric assay on shell from the feature produced a 1-sigma calibrated date of A.D. 1130-1195.
Excavation of the Shields “ramp” on the north side of the mound consisted of an east-west oriented 1 x 7 m trench; a single 1 x 2 m unit was placed 12 m north of the trench and off the ramp. The 2015 trench was placed approximately one meter southeast of a 1 x 5 m trench dug by UNF in 2009. As for stratigraphy, light gray sand transitioned to a 20-30 cm thick layer of oyster shell beginning at a depth of about 20 cm below surface. The matrix associated with the shell zone was yellow brown and lacked the organic coloring typical of other shell middens on site. St. Johns II and Ocmulgee pottery types were found throughout the shell-dense levels, along with mammal and ish faunal remains. A small chert core and a large modiied whelk were located at a depth of 30 cm along the southern wall of the eastern portion of the trench. A 1-sigma calibrated date radiocarbon date on oyster shell from the shell layer was A.D. 1160-1220. At this time, it is unclear if the shell zone is deposited midden or construction ill.
Compared to previous excavations at Kinzey’s Knoll, the bluff and ramp area excavations yielded much less cultural material, notably pottery and bone. Other than a few non local chert artifacts, no exotic material was recovered this summer. Although no evidence of houses or other structures were identiied, refuse from the bluff appears to represent typical domestic garbage, much different than that recovered from Kinzey’s Knoll. At the completion of week ive, the UNF student ield school moved to the Cedar Point site (8DU81) to assist in a public ield school (discussed below).
AIA-UNF-NPS Public Field School 2015
Melva Price
For two weeks in mid-June, the Jacksonville Society of the American Institute of Archaeology (AIA) sponsored a public archaeological ield school. Hosted by the National Park Service Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve and
under the direction of University of North Florida (UNF) archaeologist Keith Ashley, UNF students joined local AIA members and the general public to excavate the Cedar Point site (8DU81). This archaeological site represents the location of the 1684-1696 Spanish mission of Santa Cruz de Guadalquini, occupied by Mocama Indians. In 1684, the mission’s residents moved from the San Buenaventura mission on St. Simons Island, Georgia and established a new mission home on Black Hammock Island, Florida, which came to be known as Santa Cruz. The reason for relocating the mission was to protect the Mocama from English and Indian allied slavers based in Charles Town who preyed on the Spanish missions along the Atlantic coast of southeastern North America.
The goal of the public ield school was to expand the horizontal limits of an excavation block (Block C) originally dug by UNF in 2009, 2011, and 2012. Previous excavations exposed a two-room rectangular structure that measured approximately 10 x 7 m; one room was daubed while the other appears to have been open or lightly walled. Funded by an Archaeological Institute of America Outreach Grant, ieldwork began on June 15 and continued until June 25 under the direction of Ashley. From 9 a.m. until 3 p.m., volunteers dug with shovels, carried buckets of dirt and artifacts to the screening area, screened bucket after bucket of material, and searched for and sorted artifacts, faunal remains, and plant remains. All of this activity took place during a heat wave with temperatures in the upper 90s.
Three areas were excavated and these included a 2 x 2 m unit placed 8 m east of Block C; a 6 x 3 m block added to the north end of Block C; and a 5 x 5 m block contiguous with the western side of Block C (Figure 2). An area of burning was revealed in the northern expansion area that represents a continuation of a feature revealed in 2012. Three circular postholes were excavated in the eastern block, but how these relate to the earlier structure is uncertain at this time. Artifacts recovered during the ield school included native made San Marcos pottery and colonowares, Spanish majolica (San Luis Polychrome and Puebla Polychrome), Spanish olive jar, modiied bone and shell, and ceramic gaming disks. Moderate amounts of animal bone and shell refuse were also recovered.
Following ieldwork, a second phase of public participation took place in the UNF Archaeology Lab. There volunteers washed and sorted hundreds of bags of materials yielded by the previous two weeks of work. Some of AIA members are assisting with analysis, which is still ongoing. Those who attended both the site and the lab work received a good introduction to the ield of archaeology.
The public ield school was a success as more than 60 people participated, some working just one or two days and others working every day at the site. Several young people accompanied by their parent or grandparent got their irst experience in the world of “Indiana Jones.” Gone was the romantic world of the movies when the real world of dirt, bugs and heat confronted them. Members of 4-H also participated. The inspiration for the ield school came from the AIA — Jacksonville Society Outreach Committee as a means of promoting public understanding of archaeology. The project
Field School Summaries 115
Figure 2. AIA-UNF public ield school.
extended the limits of Block C and added to the data base for generating conclusions about life at the mission.
2015 Florida Museum of Natural History Alachua Field School on Orange Lake: Seven Sisters and Pine Landing
Kristen Hall
The 2015 Florida Museum of Natural History (FLMNH) Spring Field School was led by Dr. Neill Wallis and teaching assistants Kristen Hall and Hayley Singleton. Commuting two days a week to the site, the spring semester ield school was a rigorous and inexpensive opportunity for undergraduate students to be introduced to archaeological ield methods (Figure 3). The ield school was conducted in an effort to identify and document Cades Pond and Alachua Tradition village settlements along the eastern shores of Orange Lake. Located approximately 20 miles from the University of Florida campus, extensive survey and some test unit excavation revealed two previously unrecorded habitation sites. Both sites are dominated by Alachua Tradition (ca. AD 700-1500) deposits.
The ield school focused on a lake-side area close to several previously documented burial mounds. Directly to the west, the Richardson site (8AL100) contains a Potano (ca. AD 1600) village several hundred meters away from the shores of Orange Lake on a high bluff (Milanich 1972). In contrast to the higher elevation of the Richardson site, the ield school study area on the eastern shore has a lower elevation
and somewhat poorly drained soils. The study area, once used for cattle pasture, is now dense with saw palmetto, greenbrier, max myrtle, and hickory (Figure 4). Two adjacent properties on Orange Lake were investigated while working closely with the local landowners. Without their exceptional stewardship and involvement the ield school would not have been possible.
During the summer of 2014, minimal shovel testing and surface collection revealed a midden deposit about 100 m from the marshy shore of Orange Lake which contained St. Johns, Alachua Cob Marked, and plain varieties of pottery along with lithic debitage and some faunal bone. The ield school students surveyed the same area with shovel test pits on a 20 meter grid. After extensive shovel testing, areas with the greatest concentration of artifacts and least saturated by the nearby lake were further investigated with a series of 1 x 2 m test units.
Four 1 x 2 and one 1 x 1 m units were used to create a block excavation in the area with the highest concentration of cultural materials. In recent memory, the property was used for cattle pasture with no signiicant ground disturbing activities. The stratigraphic proile consists of approximately 40-60 cm of very dark brown sand with dense sherds and lithic debitage over a light gray subsoil. The dominant cultural material of the units at the site (Seven Sisters) was pottery and lithic debitage with pre-Columbian faunal remains being virtually absent. This may have been due to poor preservation from repeated luctuations of Orange Lake or because the site boundaries for Seven Sisters have not been completely delineated. A faunal deposit for the site may exist on an adjacent property