FPAN Celebrates 10 Years at SAAs!
This month the Florida Public Archaeology Network (FPAN East Central) welcomed the 81st annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology in Orlando. FPAN staff took it as an opportunity to celebrate 10 years of helping save the state's buried past through education and outreach by organizing a group session. Below are the cover slides and abstracts from each of the papers. If you're interested in learning more about the papers or projects, contact the author by clicking on their name which will take you via hyperlink to his/her email.
My Best (and Worst) Day at FPAN: Celebrating 10 years of
Florida Public Archaeology Network Program Highlights and Continuing Challenges
The Best Days at FPAN are Under Water: The SSEAS and HADS Programs for Sport Divers and Diving Leadership
FPAN’s
development of the Submerged Sites Education & Archaeological Stewardship(SSEAS) program targeted to sport divers and the Heritage Awareness DivingSeminar (HADS) targeted to diving leadership has led to gains in the
appreciation and protection of the underwater cultural heritage, in Florida and
elsewhere. In presenting these programs, FPAN staff have worked with divers
ranging from newly certified to long-time educators, in the process learning as
much as we teach. This paper describes these programs and how they are intended
to encourage divers to become active in preserving underwater cultural
heritage, monitoring historic wrecksites, and making their own discoveries, thereby
producing information instead of simply consuming information.
Engaging the Living in Honor of the Dead: the Cemetery
Resource Protection Training (CRPT) Program across Florida
The flagship program to come out of FPAN’s Northeast
Regional Center, hosted by Flagler College in St. Augustine, is the Cemetery Resource Protection Training (CRPT) workshop. CRPT developed in an effort to
curb the mass deterioration of historic cemeteries across the state,
particularly in Jacksonville, Palatka, and Fernandina where municipal
governments are responsible for their preservation. Outcomes of CRPT were the
subject of a recent AAP article (Miller 2015:275-290) but the challenges are
on-going and subject to great change after local elections. This paper will
describe the CRPT program, present the most challenging cases to date, and
deliberate how to stay the course through political and economic change.
Understanding Archaeological Site Protection at the Local
Level in Florida
Archaeological sites face many threats in Florida. While
both natural and cultural forces are at play the most destructive threat might
be inaction at the local level from the professional and amateur archaeology
communities. Local preservation programs began in earnest with the passage of
state laws aimed at managing and regulating growth in the state and have
continued largely through the implementation of the Certified Local Government
Program. However, an apparent lack of a clear understanding of archaeology and
best management practices at the local level has left archaeological sites to
be sorely underrepresented in local government preservation programs and
woefully unprotected under local ordinance. This presentation details some of
the initiatives undertaken by FPAN to bring together information on local level
preservation ordinances throughout the State of Florida, work with local
governments on their management of archaeological sites, and create a clearing
house for preservation ordinances and locally designated sites and resources.
The Best Days at FPAN are
Shared with Others: The Various Partnerships FPAN had Developed over the Years
Since its inception, the Florida Public Archaeology Network
has relied on partnerships with other organizations to help meet our goal of
public awareness and education. Throughout the years we have partnered with
various organizations to offer training, workshops, youth and adult programs
and other opportunities for the public to learn about Florida's archaeological
heritage. Each of these partnerships is unique and bring with them their own
challenges and successes. This paper will discuss some of the lessons we have
learned through these partnerships.
The Best Days at FPAN are Out of Sight: Public Archaeology Airwaves of Unearthing Florida and the DARC Geotrail
The Florida Public Archaeology Network has created
a variety of unique projects throughout the past decade of its existence. Two
of these projects called Unearthing Florida and DARC Geotrail used “airwaves”
through the medium of radio and the technology of GPS satellites as a way to educate
the public about Florida’s archaeological heritage and to promote
archaeotourism. Unearthing Florida is a radio program broadcast Florida public
radio NPR member stations designed to enhance the public’s understanding and
appreciation of Florida’s archaeological heritage. DARC Geotrail is a project that
uses the worldwide GPS based scavenger hunt game of geocaching as a way to
promote responsible site visitation and tourism to historic and archaeological
sites in Northwest Florida. This paper reflects on some of the successes and
challenges of creating and maintaining both these projects using “airwaves”
over the past four years.
What Have We Here?: Demonstrating the Opportunities for
Heritage Preservation to Local Governments
Tristan Harrenstein
Tristan Harrenstein
Part of the Florida Public Archaeology Network’s mission is to work with local
governments to both protect archaeological sites and to ensure that these
communities receive the benefits related to their preservation. However, many
of the smaller communities in Florida are unaware of the opportunities
available for state and federal assistance in preserving their heritage. This paper
details a new project designed to educate local governments and historical
societies about the benefits and legal pitfalls associated with archaeological
and historic resources.
Among the many places that the Florida Public
Archaeology Network (FPAN) uses as a base of operation, the relationship the
Central Region has with the Crystal River Archaeological State Parks is unlike
any other. Housed within the visitor’s center at the Crystal River PreserveState Park, FPAN’s Central Region is the only regional center located at a
National Historic Landmark prehistoric mound complex. This provides the center
with a unique opportunity for outreach, education, and promotion of this
important site and the compatible mission of the Florida Park Service. The
distinct relationship comes with distinct successes and challenges. This paper
navigates these opportunities including development of site based
interpretation and collaboration on existing State Park programs. Also
considered are challenges such as working within the bureaucratic framework of
the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and ethical considerations
necessary at a prehistoric mound complex.
Archaeology in your
Backyard: Successes and Lessons Learned from FPAN-Led Community Archaeology
Projects
The last 10 years of outreach and education has
allowed staff from the Florida Public Archaeology Network (FPAN) to experiment
with many different strategies for discussing archaeology with the public. Through
this experience we have become better aware of the ways to effectively
communicate archaeological concepts and garner an appreciation for our archaeological
and historic heritage. This presentation will provide some basic strategies and
outline specific programming that we have found successful. Some of the most
useful strategies combine numerous approaches to simultaneously engage visual,
auditory, and kinesthetic learners.
CLAASP: A Public Archaeology Initiative To Preserve
Archaeological Information In Central Florida
The Communities of Lake Apopka Artifact Survey Project(CLAASP) is an attempt by several regions within the Florida Public
Archaeological Network (FPAN) to preserve information about the many
unprovenienced collections of artifacts hailing from this area in Central
Florida. Relative to several other areas
in the state, the Lake Apopka region is under-represented in the archaeological
record. This is in part due to the long term use of much of this area for
agriculture prior to the creation of laws requiring cultural resource surveys
and the collection of many artifacts by avocational archaeologists. Many of
these unprovenienced collections have found their way into local museums around
the Lake and throughout the region. CLAASP seeks to create a basic database of
these collections by creating partnerships with local cultural institutions and
avocational archaeologists. This project will allow FPAN to engage the public
via open lab days, educational opportunities, and the creation of interpretive
material.
My best day at FPAN was teaching teachers: Celebrating 10
years of Project
Archaeology in Florida
The Florida Public
Archaeology Network was established in 2005 and within a year hosted its first
Project Archaeology: Intrigue of the Past workshop. As a proud sponsor of
Project Archaeology in Florida, regional center staff partnered with the Timucuan Ecological and Historical Preserve (NPS) to publish the first Investigating
Shelter investigation in the southeast. It was also the first in the
Investigating Shelter series to feature a National Park site. Investigating aTabby Slave Cabin teacher guide and student handbook were produced through an
internal NPS grant that combined the efforts of Teacher-Ranger-Teachers, Park
Service interpreters, FPAN staff, and cooperating archaeologist Dr. James Davidson
from University of Florida. By investigating a Kingsley tabby cabin through a
series of lessons (geography, history, archaeology, preservation), we hope
teachers and students will better understand slavery and the families who
occupied the cabins. In June 2016, the new Lighthouse Shelter curriculum will
launch at the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Maritime Museum. Experience gained from the
drafting, piloting, and publishing of the program will be discussed. Finally, this paper will highlight past,
present, and future partnerships with Florida teachers.
Submerging
the Public: Perspectives on Developing Guided Archaeological Shipwreck Tours
Community
interest in archaeological shipwreck sites is increasingly profound in Florida.
Though laws protecting these submerged cultural resources in state waters have
been in place for nearly 30 years, many people are still unaware of the
importance of these resources as heritage tourism destinations, foci of
archaeological research, and representatives of community identity. After award
of a grant to explore the 16th-century Spanish Emanuel Point II shipwreck in
2014, the University of West Florida (UWF) Division of Anthropology andArchaeology began considering new avenues for providing public engagement built
around a preservation message. This paper explores the recent development of
the “PAST (Public Archaeological Shipwreck Tours)” diving program. PAST allows
FPAN and UWF archaeologists to offer local recreational divers an opportunity
to learn more about shipwreck sites (like the Emanuel Point shipwrecks) and
participate in guided dive tours. Reflections on the program include a
discussion of the successes of initial PAST events, participant feedback, and
plans for the future.
Post editor: Sarah Miller, FPAN staff
www.fpan.us