Projects

PAST participates in archaeology projects in the Tallahassee area and offers volunteer opportunities for current members.

To volunteer, please see our volunteer page for the required paperwork.

Our work has included:

  • revisiting the archaeology of Hernando de Soto by searching for areas in the downtown area of Tallahassee that could be newly tested for this early Spanish presence.

  • excavating at the Grove, the home for the Florida Governors Collins and Call.

  • stewardship of Velda Mound, located in the Arbor Hill neighborhood north of Tallahassee and occupied by the Apalachee (ca. 1450-1625 AD)


A Timeline of Florida Archaeology

Paleoindian (12,500- 9,500 BC)

Period encompassing the arrival of Florida's first peoples after the Ice Age. Diagnostic artifacts include fluted lanceolate points; worked Pleistocene mammal bone and ivory

Early Archaic (9,500 -7,000 BC)

Period of gradual social change & innovation, culminating in the appearance of more complex social groups. Diagnostic artifacts include corner-notched and side-notched projectile points/knives

Middle Archaic (7,000-4,000 BC)

As above. Diagnostic artifacts include stemmed projectile points/knives.

Late Archaic (4,000 - 500 BC)

As above. Emergence of fiber tempered pottery.

Orange

Early Woodland (500 BC - AD 200)

Defined by the appearance of mounds, the widespread adoption of pottery & the development of regionalized semi-sedentary societies. Diagnostic artifacts include sand and grit tempered check stamped pottery or simple stamped pottery

Belle Glade I, Belle Glade II, Deptford, Glades I, St. Johns

Middle Woodland (AD 200- 650)

As above. Diagnostic artifacts include sand tempered complicated stamped pottery


Santa Rosa/Swift Creek, St. Johns

Late Woodland (AD 650- 1,200)

As above. Sand tempered, high fired pottery pottery with incising or punctations

Weeden Island, St. Johns

Mississippian (AD 900 - 1500)

Period of technological innovation and changing regional settlement patterns indicative of social hierarchies; culminates in European contact with the arrival of Spanish explorers. Sand, girt or grog tempered pottery with incising

Alachua, Belle Glade III, Belle Glade IV, Caloosahatchee, Englewood, Fort Walton, Glades II, Glades IIIa, St. Johns, Suwannee Valley

European Contact & Colonialization (AD 1500 - 1821)

Object dates to period of European exploration & colonization

Mission, San Marcos, San Pedro, Seminole, First Spanish ( AD 1500 -1763), British ( AD 1763 - 1783), Second Spanish ( AD 1784 -1821)

American (AD 1821 - 1899)

General category for artifacts dating to the Victorian era during which Florida became a state

Territorial (AD 1821- 1845), Statehood, Ante-bellum & War (AD 1845 - 1865), Reconstruction & Development (AD 1865 - 1918)

Twentieth Century (AD 1900 - 2000)

General category for artifacts that can be dated to the twentieth century

Reconstruction & Development (AD 1865 - 1918), Boom, Bust & War (AD 1918 - 1945), Post-War Boom (AD 1945+)