The Padgett Figurine and Other Pre-Columbian Wooden Statuettes from Florida

This chapter examines a corpus of anthropomorphic wooden carvings, primarily known from southern Florida wetsites, including the famous Key Marco cat statuette. Marquardt makes a catalog of the carvings, notes possible similarities to wooden and stone figurines from elsewhere in the Southeast, and suggests some new ways of thinking about these carvings.

The Pineland Site Complex

In chapter 6, Karen Walker, William Marquardt, Lee Newsom, and Merald Clark explore the uneven distribution of wetsite deposits at the Pineland site complex in Southwest Florida. Walker and her colleagues propose a model that explains where wetsite deposits can be expected within the sprawling complex of mounds, middens, and canals. The Thomasson figurehead of a crane also is discussed in light of the similar figurehead carvings from Key Marco.

Fort Center’s Wooden Bestiary

This chapter by S. Margaret Spivey-Faulkner complements chapter 2 by revisiting earlier interpretations of the animal carvings recovered by archaeologist William Sears in the 1960s from the Fort Center mortuary pond. Spivey-Faulkner proposes a new classification scheme, rejects many of Sears’s identifications, and suggests that the carvings may have been architectural elements of buildings that were intentionally interred in the pond along with human burials.

Owls, Otters, and Pelicans in Watery Realms

This chapter explores the context of the three monumental animal and bird carvings found at the Hontoon/Thursby site on the St. Johns River: the owl, otter, and pelican. Archaeological and ethnographic information from Florida and surrounding areas is brought to play in interpreting the carvings and their placement at the site.

Canoe Caching at Transit Points

This chapter by Julia B. Duggins examines one of the most frequently asked questions that followed the discovery of over 100 ancient dugout canoes in Newnans Lake (Lake Pithlachocco) near Gainesville, Florida: why so many canoes in one place? Duggins analyzes ethnographic data in this exploration of how canoes may have been kept at intersections between major watersheds, facilitating canoe travel throughout the Florida peninsula.

Mounds, Watery Places, and Death in South Florida

This chapter by Daniel Seinfeld revisits William Sears’s 1960s excavations at Fort Center, specifically looking at ideas about the mortuary pond. Seinfeld provides a reassessment of earlier ideas about a mortuary platform, the date of the pond burials, and new ways to think about the Fort Center mortuary pond in light of our understanding of Southeastern Native American worldviews.

Wood Preservation Dilemmas of Florida’s Prehistoric Saltwater Sites

In chapter 4, Phyllis Kolianos compares the challenges presented in the conservation of objects from waterlogged sites, especially those in saltwater wetsites. Kolianos compares the efforts made to conserve and preserve the fabulous carvings and wooden artifacts recovered from the Key Marco site in the last decade of the nineteenth century and recent efforts to recover, conserve, and exhibit a 40-plus-foot-long dugout canoe and associated canoe pole found by avocational archaeologists at the Weedon Island Preserve.

Spring Surprise

Chapter 3 by Michael Faught and Michael Arbuthnot examines methodological and policy considerations regarding spring restoration projects in Florida, which are becoming more common and have the potential to reveal and impact significant wetsite archaeological deposits. The case study is Chassahowitzka Springs in Citrus County, where an archaeological investigation and monitoring recovered significant archaeological remains, including wooden carvings and canoe paddles.

From Watery Realms

This introductory chapter by Ryan Wheeler and Joanna Ostapkowicz provides a brief overview of the volume. Ideas about wetsite archaeology and a wetland-focused worldview are discussed. The authors also discuss some broader trends in wetsite archaeology and some common themes that link the chapters, including the value of collaboration and symposia, contributions of amateur and avocational archaeologists, the value of revisiting legacy collections, the value of wetsite archaeology and the challenges in finding these sites, and the challenges presented by Florida’s iconographic materials.