While Florida Archaeology Month 2019 has come to an end, I can't help but to highlight our theme,
Shared Collections - Shared Stories, one last time as I recently had the pleasure of touring some of the collections feature on the FAM materials. Earlier this week I drove the pine tree corridor of I-10 to visit Tallahassee for this year's Archaeology Day at the Capitol. While I was in town, I was able to get a tour of the Florida Bureau of Archaeological Research
Collections and Conservation Laboratory.
The State collections include artifacts from all over Florida that were found on state lands. This includes both managed lands like state parks or forests, as well as sites on state submerged bottom land. (AKA lots of cool shipwrecks!) The collections are all currently housed at
Mission San Luis in Tallahassee.
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| I spy Mount Royal Collections! From right here in Putnam County. |
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| So. Many. Cannonballs. |
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| Here's a few of the canoes that have been collected and conserved. |
While the main poster featured the Key Marco Cat, three of the four bookmarks this year featured collections managed by the State of Florida: the Maple Leaf and the 1715 Fleet Wreck.
The Maple Leaf was a Union supply ship that wrecked in the St. Johns River in Jacksonville (check out a previous
FAM blog post about the site!) The state curates thousands of artifacts from the site, including the wooden boxes that held soldiers' personal items, military equipment like leather belts and brass buckles, and sutlery items like scales and weights. The collection is amazing because of the number and variety of items as well as the quality of preservation. The collection is house in its own room because there are so many artifacts!
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| Shelves containing scales, leather shoes and more. |
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| Utilizing all of the space possible! |
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| Racks of wood from the soldiers' foot lockers found on the ship. |
The
1715 Fleet included 12 vessels sailing to Spain loaded with trade goods and gold. All but one of ships sunk off of the now aptly named "Treasure Coast" after a hurricane. Salvagers and archaeologists have uncovered hundreds of items from the various wrecks. The State has created
Florida History in 3D as a way to bring collections to the public in the form of 3D models and interactive websites. Artifacts from the 1715 Fleet Wreck are the first digitalize collection in this program.
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| Emma from the ED Region even printed and painted this beauty! |
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| Our model is just a wee bit smaller than the real thing. |
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| Obligatory selfie with the bird majolica. #ceramicsnerd |
While the Collections and Conservation Laboratory is not open to the public, you can view artifacts from the state collections at museums across the state. Here's just a few in our area:
Mandarin Museum - artifacts from the Maple Leaf
St. Augustine Lighthouse and Maritime Museum - artifacts from the Storm Wreck
St. Augustine Pirate and Treasure Museum - artifacts from various shipwrecks
Hontoon Island State Park - artifacts from the Hontoon mounds
Text and images by Emily Jane Murray
