#flanthro

Hosted by the University of North Florida and the Archaeological Institute of America –Jacksonville Society in Jacksonville, Florida May 5-7, 2017.

The Archaeology Lab at the University of North Florida (UNF), with the support of the Archaeological Institute of America –Jacksonville Society is honored to host the 69th annual meeting of the Florida Anthropological Society (FAS). Situated amid woodlands, beautiful lakes, and nature trails, the meeting presentations and related events will be held on the UNF campus in Jacksonville, May 5-7, 2017. UNF is located within 10 miles of both the Atlantic Ocean and Downtown Jacksonville. 

VISIT FASWEB.ORG FOR REGISTRATION and more information!

KEYNOTE PRESENTATION

Why does Florida have so many inundated archaeological and paleontological sites and what about their significance?

This year’s banquet speaker will be Dr. James (Jim) Dunbar (pictured above), one of the foremost authorities on paleoindians in Florida and the broader southeast. Jim was an archaeologist for theFlorida Bureau of Archaeological Research for more than 35 years. He is also the founder of the Aucilla Research Institute, Inc. Given that underwater prehistoric sites are coming under attack by the antiquities market and those who want to pass legislation so they can sell artifacts, Dr. Dunbar’s presentation will focus on the significance of underwater and wetland sites in Florida and the need for their protection.

PRESENTATION OF PAPERS & POSTERS

Each year, the Florida Anthropological Society invites the submission of abstracts for paper or poster presentations at the annual conference. We encourage submissions on a broad range of topics pertaining to Florida anthropology, archaeology, history, and other related disciplines. This year, paper and poster presentations will occur on Saturday, May 6, 2017.

The Florida Anthropological Society Dorothy Moore Student Archaeology Grant awards $500.00 annually to archaeology students who are currently enrolled in a Florida university. The grant money will assist students conducting archaeological research in Florida. The deadline for applications is March 31, 2017.

http://fasweb.org/education-committee/

This is the Tumblr blog of the FAS Education Committee. Find out more about who we are and what we do by visiting our newly designated space on the FAS website!

L to R, guest speaker for our 2016 “Archaeology Advocacy 101 Workshop”, Melinda Horton, Executive Director of the Florida Association of Museums (FAM), with FAS Education members: Lianne Bennett, Jen Knutson, Jason Wenzel, Uzi Baram, Brad Biglow, and Sarah Bennett.

The FAS Education Committee Seeks Field School Information & Blog Posts!

Please send summer field school information and/or flyers! We would like to share them all in one place for students.

The FAS Education Committee is always accepting blog posts and content. Looking for internship or scholarship candidates? Has your chapter volunteered on a project or visited a local site? Have a project you want to share in an informal way to students, educators, FAS members, and the general public? Compile your content in a MS Word document. Add a title and one or more pictures including their descriptions and photo credits. Please email your flyers, notices, and other content to: [email protected]

Jen Knutson and student blogger, Sabrina Cummings, at the 2015 FAS Annual Meeting.

TEACHERS! 

Join the NCSE Teacher Network. “Are you teaching climate change or evolution in your K-12 classroom? Are you interested in finding quality materials on these topics to use? Are you wondering how to deal with challenges? Join the NCSE Teacher Network! Members of the network will receive a free monthly e-newsletter containing recommendations of quality materials on climate change and evolution, strategy and advice — written by teachers for teachers — on dealing with challenges, and opportunities to hear about the latest in NCSE's educational initiatives.In addition to the e-newsletter, the NCSE Teacher Network will be participating in social media on Facebook  and on Twitter . K-12 teachers (and others) are welcome to enroll in the NCSE Teacher Network through NCSE's website.” 

************NCSE is also currently hiring a Director of Teacher Support!************

GRADUATE STUDENTS!

Grad Students Free 1-Year Membership

The Timucuan Preserve Student Research Grant Program was established through sponsorship at the 2nd annual "Timucuan Science & History Symposium" held in January 2013. To qualify, applicants have to be currently enrolled as undergraduate or graduate students and submit research project proposals. The purpose of the grant is to provide the student with financial support while conducting research. The winning students will present their work at the Annual Timucuan Science and History Symposium. The deadline has been extended to April 1, 2017.

By Uzi Baram, New College of Florida

Archaeology exposes, reveals, analyzes, and interprets the past. As anthropology, archaeological interpretations offer alterity, differences from our world. Once the scientific research was completed and published, some archaeologists would tell stories of the past connecting material culture to social life in a manner that allowed audiences to imagine a past social world, one different from their own. Those narratives were given in public lectures or written as popular books. Today digital technologies provide impressive visual opportunities to go beyond the printed page or a spoken performance.

 The maroon history for Second Spanish Florida (1783-1821) is not well-known. The heritage of Florida as a haven from slavery is commemorated by Fort Mosé Historic State Park, with exhibits, books, reenactments, and films. As one of the most challenging wars in US history and as a key period for the Seminole peoples’ survival in Florida, the Second Seminole War (1835-42) is documented by a wide range of scholarship even if the era is not readily recognized by many today. Between Fort Mosé and the Second Seminole War, researchers have only recently uncovered the struggle for freedom from the Apalachicola River to Tampa Bay. The history comes mostly from US military records from battles in 1816 and 1818 and raids in 1821 – we only have archaeological traces of the Black Seminoles, African Seminoles, self-emancipated people of African heritage, maroons, and other terms used for freedom-seeking people on the Florida Gulf Coast.

 In remembrance of the July 27, 1816 military battle at Prospect Bluff on the Apalachicola River, I partnered with Digital Heritage Interactive to create virtual worlds for the maroon landscapes at Prospect Bluff and the Manatee River. The virtual worlds offer the opportunities to walk in the footsteps of the maroons, at the Prospect Bluff military fort and the refuge by the Manatee Mineral Spring. Unlike the published articles and site reports, or my public presentations, the virtual worlds offer an avenue to engage the landscape of early 19th century freedom-seeking peoples.

 The commemoration is titled Tragedy and Survival, to represent both aspects of the history as military defeats led to falling back from the US border, further and further south into peninsular Florida. The people survived, some in interior Florida and others on Andros Island in the British Bahamas. The virtual worlds show the landscape without people, just the place and the materiality of the time before destruction – the viewer needs to imagine the places populated by people fighting for freedom.

Prospect Bluff, 1816

 Community of Angola on the Manatee River, 1821

 The virtual worlds are available for engaging online and for downloading, for free. Time Sifters Archaeology Society hosts the website for the project at http://tragedyandsurvival.timesifters.org/

via The Sepia Rainbow:  The fascinating story of human skin By David Pacchioli on Penn State News on November 18, 2015.

Article Excerpt:

“Evolution and Prejudice

After publication of her first book on the subject, Skin: A Natural History, in 2006, Jablonski began to lecture frequently about the evolution of skin color. She found her audiences eager to hear more about how that story fit with our society’s concept of race, if it fit in at all. It’s a topic many anthropologists shy away from, but Jablonski realized that her vantage point could be uniquely valuable.

“I am talking about humans from the perspective of deep evolutionary time,” she says. “There are certain things that we can look at—patterns of pigmentation, distribution of fossils and of populations of ancient humans—that are pretty much beyond question. By looking at them, we can begin to understand how humans came to be as diverse in appearance as they are today. Then, having understood the mechanisms, we can look at what’s happened in the more recent past.”

The Florida Anthropological Society has chapters across the state. Check out the interactive map on our website to find the one nearest to you! https://fasweb.org/chaptermap/