Exploration of Ancient Key-dweller Remains on the Gulf Coast of Florida

Exploration of Ancient Key-dweller Remains on the Gulf Coast of Florida
Author: Frank Hamilton Cushing
Publisher: University Press of Florida
Total Pages: 172
Release: 2000
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780813017914

First published more than a hundred years ago, this illustrated monograph on the Key Marco site on Florida's Gulf Coast chronicles archaeological discoveries that have never been duplicated. In its time, work at the site was considered the most important excavation on earth and, until 1970, it was considered the most advanced work in archaeology anywhere in the United States.

Through Time, Across Continents

Through Time, Across Continents
Author: Dilys P. Winegrad
Publisher: UPenn Museum of Archaeology
Total Pages: 247
Release: 1993-01-29
Genre: Art
ISBN: 0924171162

Established in 1887, the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology is one of the oldest institutions of its kind in the nation. With quotations from letters, journals, and field notes, and numerous archival photographs, this handsome, oversized volume is not only a history of an influential institution but an important contribution to the history of archaeological and anthropological research.

The Art and Archaeology of Florida's Wetlands

The Art and Archaeology of Florida's Wetlands
Author: BarbaraA. Purdy
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 336
Release: 2017-12-06
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1351411357

Waterlogged archaeological sites in Florida contain tools, art objects, dietary items, human skeletal remains, and glimpses of past environments that do not survive the ravages of time at typical terrestrial sites. Unfortunately, archaeological wet sites are invisible since their preservation depends upon their entombment in oxygen-free, organic deposits. As a result, they are often destroyed accidentally during draining, dredging, and development projects. These sites and the objects they contain are an important part of Florida's heritage. They provide an opportunity to learn how the state's earliest residents used available resources to make their lives more comfortable and how they expressed themselves artistically. Without the wood carvings from water-saturated sites, it would be easy to think of early Floridians as culturally impoverished because Florida does not have stone suitable for creating sculptures. This book compiles in one volume detailed accounts of such famous sites as Key Marco, Little Salt Spring, Windover, Ft. Center, and others. The book discusses wet site environments and explains the kinds of physical, chemical, and structural components required to ensure that the proper conditions for site formation are present and prevail through time. The book also talks about how to preserve artifacts that have been entombed in anaerobic deposits and the importance of classes of objects, such as wooden carvings, dietary items, human skeletal remains, to our better understanding of past cultures. Until now this information has been scattered in obscure documents and articles, thus diminishing its importance. Our ancestors may not have been Indians, but they contributed to the state's heritage for more than 10,000 years. Once disturbed by ambitious dredging and draining projects, their story is gone forever; it cannot be transplanted to another location.