Time Sifters Special Edition 2020 Newsletter

SPECIAL EDITION - 2 0 2 0 PRESERVATION  EDUCATION  RESEARCH  INSPIRE Dear Member: We are excited to announce a major archaeological excavation right here in Bradenton at the Manatee Mineral Spring site in Old Manatee Village. Sherry Svekis, Uzi Baram and Reflections of Manatee are managing the excavation on the lot at 14th Street East, Bradenton. Darwin “Smitty” Smith, President [email protected] Notes from a Time Sifter By Sherry Svekis, Time Sifters Vice President Uncovering History at Manatee Mineral Spring Fences are up around the Manatee site. They are leading a crew of signs, picnic table, and the river- Mineral Spring Park as part of a trained archaeologists to look for front are all still accessible. There major archaeological investigation any material remains of the will be an “open house” on January project to recover the histories of 1810s Angola maroon settlement, the 20th, from 10:00am - 12:00pm the site before it is impacted by 1840s early settlement of Manatee, or with a chance to get in closer and Bradenton’s RiverWalk extension. Branch Fort, where settlers lived also see some of what has been The preservation group Reflections during the Third Seminole War. found. Reflections Visitors Center of Manatee applied to the City to With a large site and limited remains open Wednesday- carry out the project and the time, a very skilled operator is Saturday 10:00 am -1:00 pm with Council agreed to fund it. using heavy equipment to remove displays and information. Sherry Svekis is the project director; the layers of fill that have been she is working with Dr. Uzi Baram, added over the years, letting the Professor of Anthropology at New archaeologists work meticulously College of Florida, who has created a on the historic layers below. research design that is best able The area is fenced, so the public to recover the nuanced history of will have to watch from a safe this multi-component archaeological distance. The park’s informational

Notes from a Time Sifter By Uzi Baram, New College of Florida A New Chapter in Revealing the Heritage of the Freedom-Seeking People of the Florida Gulf Coast In the October 2013 Time Sifters Spring, Manatee County, Florida. Photos1& 2- the 2013Excavation. Time Sifters gave me the May Photo 3 - the 2008 Excavation. Newsletter I started an essay with Photo 4 - Blue-edged Pearlware. 2016 lecture slot for Rivers of “ In 2004, Time Sifters Archaeology Freedom, Landscapes of Liberty: school children and teachers’ Society helped to launch Looking An Update on “Looking for Angola” workshops; visiting with the for Angola, the search for material and the Archaeology of Maroons in descendant community on Florida. Public outreach through Andros Island; undergraduate remains of an early 19th century presentations, videos, interviews, studies of the Tabby House Ruins at DeSoto National maroon community in southern and more; teaching materials for Memorial (by Sherry Robinson Svekis) and the Braden Castle (by Tampa Bay”. Time Sifters Rachel Roach); remote sensing at the Reflections of Manatee prop- volunteers have helped with public erty, controlled excavations, and labor- events, archaeological excavations, atory analysis were the hallmarks of that chapter. and the inventory and analysis of Continued on page 3 ... artifacts for the archaeological search for Angola, the name for a settlement that lasted from the late 18th century to 1821 on the Manatee River. The challenge of locating material evidence for people who sought freedom in southwest Florida was great, with many obstacles; some challenges radiate from the nature of the search and are others due to the specifics of archaeological research in Bradenton. But after years of public outreach, sustained research, and patient analysis, the results are surprisingly positive. In large measure, the success comes from Time Sifters’ partnership with Looking For Angola and then the New College Public Archaeology Lab, which was created in 2010. The partnership deserves acclaim...\" I wrote Partners in Search of History (the essay can be found at http://www.timesifters.org/wp- content/uploads/2013/10/ oct2013_newsletter.pdf ) to end a chapter in my public anthropology that Vickie Oldham launched and led with Looking for Angola; the next summer I submitted the final report on the archaeology to Reflections of Manatee, Inc. (which hosted the excavations); it is available to researchers at the Florida Master Site Files under the title The Historical Archaeology of Looking for Angola at 8Ma103:Excavations and Public Outreach by the Manatee Mineral

Continued from page 2 ... A New Chapter ... Angola is part of a larger history Mineral Spring. One of those lives of the maroons who lived for for people of African heritage finding signs told of Angola, including a while south of the Manatee River. freedom in Spanish La Florida. the destruction of the community in The excavations will be using a Starting in the late 17th century 1821 and how survivors reached 305 Caterpillar excavator with a at Fort Mose by St. Augustine, liberty on Andros Island. That 52” blade to remove the two feet of people could self-emancipate from sign launched Back to Angola, fill that previous excavations enslavement find liberty with the with descendants coming from revealed so there won’t be the Spanish. When the Spanish left in Red Bays in July 2018 to walk, opportunity for volunteers with 1763, some went into the interior. dance, sing, and eat on the land the January 2020 excavations. After the return of Spanish rule where their ancestors had found Once the excavations are done, and with British support, Prospect freedom even if only temporally. the findings will be brought to the Bluff came a citadel of freedom, The Bahamian Junkanoo New College Public Archaeology though destroyed in 1816; that US Lab. I have teaching responsibilities so naval attack and the 1818 Battle caught the local media’s attention; a am giving myself the semester of Suwannee sent survivors to the new celebratory chapter for the plus the summer to organize the community by the Manatee River, program began. In conjunction materials. Every single recovered a place historian Canter Brown Jr. with an application to the object will be cleaned and then recognized as Angola. Until 1821, National Park Service was students and Time Sifters the maroon community grew; approved in January 2019 and volunteers can help identify them; survivors of a slave raid escaped the Manatee Mineral Spring is we will need to catalogue, to the Florida interior or to the photograph or draw selected British Bahamas, specifically on the Network to Freedom. belongings, and then work on Andros Island where generations With the second Back to Angola analyzing and interpreting and found freedom. festival, the new chapter was ultimately representing and even moving forward. And getting so exhibiting the materials. much public interest that River- Reflections of Manatee has a Walk is expanding to the spring. Visitors Center (opened last spring). The archaeology and history for Thanks to community support, Angola continues to inspire scholarly the City of Bradenton funded So stay tuned and get involved – and community interest. But with excavations but with a deadline: there’s a lot to do. have to get the excavations done the conclusion of the archaeology by the end of January. We have report, I moved on to other projects, a new chapter in most notably the Community revealing the Heritage Awareness and heritage of the Management Program (CHAMP) at freedom-seeking Phillippi Estate Park. For two peoples of the years (2014-16), I focused the New Florida Gulf College Public Archaeology Lab on Coast. that project. Just as that was finishing up with heritage Got a lot to do interpretation signs being placed quickly and will around the park, Daphney Towns be testing the noticed the heritage interpretation previous work. signs at Reflections of Manatee. There is the Those signs, orchestrated by promise we will Sherry Svekis and produced with see more mate- my scholarly input, told of the rials from the many histories by the Manatee Officers: Board of Directors Copyright © 2020 Darwin \"Smitty\" Smith, President Time SiftersArchaeologySociety,Inc., Sherry Svekis, Vice President Directors: Evelyn Mangie All rights reserved. Marion Almy, Secretary Dorothy Cascio Don Nelson We send newsletters to people Laura Harrison, Treasurer Steven Derfler who have attended or expressed Karen Jensen, Membership interestin our lecturesand given us their email address.

Membership Speakers & Events Calendar Lifetime: $350 Unless noted, all will be held at 6:00 PM Individual: $25 Selby Library, 1331 First St., Sarasota 34236 Family: $35 Student: $10 January 22, 2020 Supporting $40 Archaeology Year in Review: A look at what was talked about in 2019. Pay online at: Smitty Smith WWW.TimeSifters.org Or mail checks to: January 31, 2020 - 9:30 to 3:00 at OLLI Life Long Learning Time Sifters, Inc. In-Depth Series … Neanderthals & Early Humans: An all PO Box 5283 day Workshop on our early Ancestors Sarasota, FL. 34277 Dr. Edward Gonzalez-Tennant See website for details and registration information. February 19, 2020 Kolomoki Mounds: One of the Largest earliest Woodland Period earthwork mound complexes in the SE USA Dr. Thomas Pluckhahn Time Sifters Archaeology Society P. O. Box 5283, Sarasota, FL 34277