Soggy Middens

Today I visited the Timucuan Preserve office at the Fort Caroline National Memorial for a presentation by Dr. Keith Ashley, hosted by Preservation North Florida.
My shoes are still drying as i type this.

Driving I-95 through Jacksonville in the pouring rain is something really special, and something that I encourage people - mostly people that have wronged me in some way - to experience at least once in their life. But today it was worth it. I got to the visitor center and saw some familiar faces, and met some friendly new ones too. Dr. Ashely gave us the rundown on the St. Johns II period midden site that he has been working on in the park. He showed us some of the pottery sherds and faunal remains that had been recovered, and gave us a really great explanation of the chronology of the ceramic styles and paddled decoration in the area, as well as a history of the trade that the natives were involved in.
Of course, after hearing all this, there was no way we could all drive back home without seeing the site, even if it was still raining. So, we all grabbed our ponchos, umbrellas, galoshes, and wetsuits and followed Dr. Ashley down the trail to the midden site. It was really great to be able to see the site and have some of the specific areas that Dr. Ashley mentioned in his presentation actually pointed out.
It was a really great outing, and I was very happy to be able to be there and represent FPAN. Hats off to everyone involved, and I know that we're all looking forward to hearing more about Dr. Ashley's future projects!
And thats the Dirt for today.
-Matt Armstrong