New College Public Archaeology Lab

06/10/2026

It's the old director jumping in to highlight the 15th anniversary of the plaque by the the door of the New College Public Archaeology Lab. Back in June 2011, I wanted to recognize the extraordinary efforts of Sherry Robinson Svekis that facilitated the grand opening of the Lab and it's programs. The partnership did not end, thank goodness

The signs are there to remember that the lab came about thanks to a provost (Char Challahan) and Sherry along with so many energetic, idealist undergraduates

The new director is doing a fantastic job, and I appreciate that the history for the facility continues to be acknowledged
U*i Baram

03/17/2026

On March 17th, 2010, a great group of students joined a professor/the NCPAL Director in planting a time capsule by the New College Public Archaeology Lab at an event hosted by the New College of Florida administration. The sign is still there. Just another 34 years before excavating and opening the time capsule

02/25/2026

There's a mystery just north of College Hall, possibly a cistern. After Facilities called professor Baram, Professor Pirone got Isaac and Arianna and the GPR out to take a look. Stay tuned...

02/24/2026

Students from Professor Baram's Method and Theory in Archaeology course came to NCPAL to see the lab's ethics, replicas, and projects and to engage in flint knapping (with some flakes as evidence), Spanish Moss weaving, making a fire (unsuccessfully), and atlatl throwing (with some amazing feats of distance and strength). There will be an open house during Florida Archaeology Month in March for the campus community

02/07/2026

an oldie (this is an archaeology page after all) from FPAN: Super Bowls of Florida

Looking forward to the on Sunday? Why not take a gander at some beautiful bowls from prehistoric Florida, these ones are all housed at the Smithsonian Museum. We have a long tradition of amazing pottery in Florida!

02/03/2026

For those around Englewood, a free/open to the public presentation on the Archaeology of Lemon Bay on Saturday February 7th at 11 am at the Englewood Charlotte County Library. Lemon Bay (southern Sarasota County and Charlotte County) includes Paulsen Point Mound; to its west is the Manasota Key OffShore Site and to its south the lands of the Calusa. We'll cover those and more. And say a few words about lemons

11/23/2025

return of an annual tradition

for your relatives who wonder why you studied archaeology....

11/20/2025

Since we're in Florida, have to share this story about the first Thanksgiving.
Massachusetts claims 1621
Florida claims in 1565 at St. Augustine
Whatever: give thanks

Science for the season 🦃🥧🌽 Most of us imagine the Pilgrims celebrated the first Thanksgiving in 1621, but there's just one catch.

The nation’s real first Thanksgiving took place more than 50 years earlier near the Matanzas River in St. Augustine, Florida, when Spanish explorer Pedro Menéndez de Avilés and 800 soldiers, sailors and settlers joined local Native Americans in a feast that followed a Mass of Thanksgiving.

🍂 Story: https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/science/before-the-pilgrims-floridians-celebrated-the-real-first-thanksgiving/

Archaeologist Kathleen Deagan and other Florida Museum researchers have been studying the artifacts and records left by Florida's early colonists in St. Augustine and the surrounding region for decades.

“The holiday we celebrate today is really something that was invented in a sense,” Kathy said. “By the time the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, the people who settled America’s first colony with Menéndez probably had children and grandchildren living there.”

Instead of flat-top hats and oversized buckles, conquistadors wore armor and colonists dressed in 16th-century Spanish garments. There wasn’t any cranberry sauce or pie—not even turkey. Instead, the meal consisted of an assortment of food, from salted pork and red wine shipped from Spain to yucca from the Caribbean.

Gifford Waters (pictured) said the meal probably took place near the mouth of present-day Hospital Creek on the Matanzas River, where today the Mission of Nombre de Dios and the Fountain of Youth Archaeological Park – the site of Menéndez’ original encampment and the first colony – are located. The feast followed a Thanksgiving Mass, which Kathy said was a common practice of sailors after a tumultuous expedition.

Besides salted pork and red wine, those in attendance ate garbanzo beans, olives and hard sea biscuits. The meal may have also included Caribbean foods that were probably collected when Menéndez stopped to regroup and resupply at San Juan Puerto Rico before continuing to Florida, Kathy said. If the Timucua contributed, it would likely have been with corn, fresh fish, berries or beans.

🍂 Story: https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/science/before-the-pilgrims-floridians-celebrated-the-real-first-thanksgiving/

11/13/2025

The Director demonstrating atlatl techniques for students and staff