Teaching with Florida Archaeology Month

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Teaching with Florida Archaeology Month
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What is Archaeology?

• Scientific study of the human by examining
  remains and artifacts that people left behind
• Archaeological sites are messengers from the past
• We try to reconstruct the past by studying the
  artifacts and their relationship to one another
• Learn about the process of culture
• Often the only way to learn about the people that
  came before us both those without written history
  or those who are not discussed in the historical
  record

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How old are sites?

• Time Scale Years Ago
• 0 years ago Present
• (500 y.a. European)
• 1000 Mississippian
• 2000 Woodland
• 3000 Late Archaic
• 4000
• 5000 Middle Archaic
• 6000 Modern Environments
• 7000
• 8000 Early Archaic
• 9000
• 10,000 End Glacial, End Paleo
• 11,000 Paleo-Indians
• 12,000
• 13,000 First People in Americas
• 14,000
• 15,000

• First people 12,000
• Europeans here 500 of 12,000 years 5 of history
  we have a written record
• Earliest sites rare
• Over time sites increase in
• size
• number
• complexity
• environmental setting

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Manufacturing

• Compare and contrast Try comparing and
  contrasting these two canoe manufacturing
  methods
• Bobby Henry gives and a description of making a
  Seminole canoe-
• http//www.flheritage.com/preservation/folklife/
  awardDetails.cfm?id36
• A great article on canoe manufacturing
  -http//www.fruitlands.org/collections/Dugout_Cano
  e_Article.pdf

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Transportation and Trade

• Using maps of the southeast, have students create
  trades routes via the water to various
  locations.
• Discuss the types of resources unique to Florida.
  What types of resources arent available in
  Florida that Native Floridians would trade for?
• Why were waterways so important for
  transportation? How do we transport goods today?
• What are the mechanisms used to propel a canoe?
  Pole, paddle, sail.

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Subsistence

• What types of resources did canoes allow Florida
  people to access?
• Using the resources that were available to them,
  how did Native Floridians make nets, spears, and
  hooks to hunt and fish with?
• Research what a fishing weir is.
• Can you name any cultures in Florida did not
  practice subsistence agriculture and instead
  relied on wild plants, animals, and aquatic
  resources for food?

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Toy Canoes

• Talk about toys that the students might have.
• Discuss the use of models to design bigger
  objects.
• What is the differences in materials used to make
  toys and tools over time?
• What types of artifacts would an archaeologist
  find that would indicate the presence of children
  in the archaeological record?
• Make a model canoe.

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Canoes at Newnans Lake

• Visit the web site for information
  http//www.flheritage.com/archaeology/projects/can
  oes
• Links to video and audio clips
• http//www.flmnh.ufl.edu/expfl/canoes.html
• http//www.flheritage.com/preservation/folklife/v
  oices.cfm
• This a great theme to tie in geography- locate
  Newnans Lake, why is the area an important area
  to make and use canoes, map the waterways from
  Newnans Lake to other resources.
• Research the types of dating techniques
  archaeologist use (brings in science).
• How do archaeologists use statistics? Use the
  dating data and graph as an example.
• What are droughts and what are the causes in
  nature. How would a drought affect Native
  Floridians?

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Apalachicola Traders Canoe

• Visit the web site for more information
• http//www.flheritage.com/archaeology/apalachicola
  /
• How would you go about moving something that was
  50ft in length?
• Why is the Apalachicola River geographically
  important to historic and modern Floridians?
• Research historic trading companies that operated
  in Florida. Panton Leslie, John Forbes.
• What items did Native groups trade with the
  Spanish, British, and French?

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Seminole Canoes

• Have students search the web for primary and
  secondary documentation on Seminole canoes
  Florida Memory Collection - http//www.floridamemo
  ry.com/
• Everglades Digital Library-
• http//cwis.fcla.edu/edl/SPT--Home.php
• How to the Seminoles make canoes today?
• Listen to the audio clip about Seminole canoe use

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Stewardship/Preservation

• How do archaeologists preserve wooden objects
  like canoes?
• http//nautarch.tamu.edu/CRL/Report14/index.htm
• Research state laws that protect archaeological
  sites and artifacts on state land.
• http//www.flheritage.com/preservation/compliance/
  laws/
• Find out how to record an archaeological site.
• http//www.flheritage.com/preservation/sitefile/