Adventures in Northwest Florida Archaeology

Dr. Nancy White

The January CFAS meeting will feature a presentation by Dr. Nancy Marie White, Professor of Anthropology at the University of South Florida.  Her northwest Florida research is in the Apalachicola/Lower Chattahoochee Valley, a rich environmental and archaeological region.  Investigating 12,000 years of human culture has often involved high adventure in the field. Paleo-Indian settlement, with Clovis and other remains, was off the main river. Holocene river shifts led to Early Archaic change. Late Archaic had fiber-tempered pottery and connections with Poverty Point, westward across the Gulf. Mounds appeared in Early Woodland and were abundant during Middle Woodland, with both Swift Creek and early Weeden Island ceramics, lasting through A.D. 650. During Late Woodland maize cultivation began. The Fort Walton period represents Mississippian chiefdoms with a distinctive identity. Spanish invaders did not enter the region but a few of their artifacts did. Population collapse may have led to in-migration of foreign natives after 1700.  Later, Creeks from Alabama and Georgia moved in, to become Seminoles.  The region was important through the Civil War and in late nineteenth  century international commerce. Work at sites of all time periods has also involved lots of public archaeology.

This presentation is free and open to the public. For more information contact Kevin Gidusko at kagidusko@hotmail.com or (321) 948-3994.