Time Sifters Archaeology Society Newsletter April 2017

A P R I L -2017 April Program April 19 - at 6:00 PM - Selby Library, 1331 First St., Sarasota 34236 “The Dating Game:Palmer Mound Pots and People.” Maranda Kles, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, University of Louisiana at LafayetteDear Member:Springtime in Florida merges quickly into summer, reminding us that we only have a couple of meetings leftbefore we take a break until September. Our speaker for April, Maranda Kles, Ph.D., received a Time Sifters'research award to help her obtain new radiocarbon dates for an important Sarasota site, the Palmer Mound.Maranda followed her mom in pursuing a career in archaeology; her mother, Marion Almy, was one of TimeSifters founding members.Time Sifters volunteers have been in action recently at local excavations, site monitoring, and in the lab. Ournext site monitoring meet-up will be in April at Emerson Point Preserve and we have ongoing work at NewCollege Public Archaeology Lab. Email me if you are interested in joining either of these initiatives.No experience is required.Your membership renewal date is indicated on the mailing label If that date is April 2017 or earlier, pleaserenew now. You can renew by credit card online at www.Timesifters.org or with cash or check at the Aprilmeeting.Thanks for being a Time Sifters member!Sherry Svekis, President [email protected] 19 - The Dating Game: Palmer, Pots, and People The Palmer mound this time. Further, several whole pots were found site is located at broken within the mound. These pots are found in Historic Spanish Point the Manasota period strata, which dates to before in south Sarasota the usual “sacrificed” or “killed” pots that are found County. Recent in many of the Weeden Island period sites. This research has provided presentation will detail the new radiocarbon and new radiocarbon biological data and discuss the implication of pots dates for the mound and pottery at the Palmer site. and has also examined Maranda Kles is a bioarchaeologist and forensicsocial structure, shedding new light on the people anthropologist. She was born is Sarasota andthat inhabited the Sarasota area 2000 years ago. earned her PhD from the University of Florida. SheBiological distance analysis suggests that the is an assistant professor of Anthropology at thepopulation was matrilocal, therefore the men University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Her researchmoved to the area to “date” and marry their interests focus on biological and cultural variationwives. This pattern has yet to be demonstrated at in pre-Contact populations in the Southeastern US.other sites in Florida making Palmer unique at

Notes from a Time Sifter hands of widows and fatherless daughters. The 2nd Punic War (218-201 B.C.E.) was especially lethalThe Power of Women leaving at least 50,000 Roman soldiers dead and many women in charge of their property. ThatWomen have been second-class citizens since the alarmed the Senate so they passed the Oppian Lawstone age. This is largely because babies need several (216 B.C.E.), which limited the amount of wealth ayears of constant care so a woman had to depend woman could have. The women objected and organized toon a man to support her and the child during that lobby the magistrates. When that didn’t work, thetime. The supporting male took advantage of that women blockaded the city streets and barricadedand became overly protective to make sure that the the doors to the meeting room until the law wasoffspring she was carrying was his (she is the only repealed (Livy, 34.1).one who really knew). Many of the outrageousrestrictions on women that developed are still Women’s history goes silent after that except forenforced leaving women underrepresented in electoral William Shakespeare’s “Merry Wives of Windsor,”politics. A mere 22 % of world governments include a comedy about women who together plan to punish anwomen and only 17 % of government heads are obnoxious man. It is a fantasy but it indicateswomen (U.N. Women). Women have always objected that17th century Elizabethan society recognized theto their subordinate condition but it has not always power that women might have if they united for anbeen reported and there is no physical evidence issue. In the late 18th century in enlightenedthat archaeologists can find to substantiate the France, the Marquis de Condorcet suggested thatstruggle. However, a careful look at literary evidence women should be allowed to vote but that idea wasreveals some attempts by women who bravely quickly squelched, and there were clear efforts torefused to accept their traditional role in keep women submissive in the 19th and 20thmale-dominated societies. centuries. Between 1830 and 1896, Godeyʹs Ladyʹs Book and Magazine published articles suggestingSome of the earliest evidence comes from ancient that “proper” women should not be educated inGreece in the story of the Amazons who used men anything except homemaking because they couldonly to procreate. The Amazons kept the female babies not think for themselves (“don’t you worry yourand sent male babies away with their fathers. We pretty little head dear”). Society also insisted thatread also of Greek women who joined cults that women’s morals could be easily corrupted so malewere dedicated to the agricultural goddess Demeter protection and guidance was essential to keep womenand her daughter Persephone. Their secret cultic from falling into sin. Housewives were told torites offered women social bonding and the opportunity to arrange bookshelves to separate the female authorsexpress themselves away from the eyes of men torelieve the oppressive stress of their daily lives. from the maleSometimes the celebrations turned violent, imitating the authors unlessMaenads who engaged in frenzied dancing and slaugh- the authors wereter of men married to each(Euripides, other. ElizabethBacchanals). Blackwell dispelledOther gender- such nonsensebased issues are by becoming thehighlighted in first woman toAristophanes’ earn a medicalplay, Lysistrata degree in 1847.(411 B.C.E.), a The officials ofcomedy wherein Geneva Medicalthe women of College admitted her as a practical joke but despiteAthens vow to being ostracized by both educators and patients,withhold sex she finished at the head of the class and opened afrom their husbands until they stop fighting the medical school for women. In 1895, her autobiog-Peloponnesian War. raphy, Pioneer Work in Opening the Medical Profession to Women, helped to change women’sRoman women were also subject to male domination. A image in society. (pbs.org).woman of the Republic was not allowed to vote orhold office but she could inherit property. Once Continued on next page … Notesmarried, she and her property belonged to herhusband and she was supposed to devote herself toraising his children (M. Jastrow). But the PunicWars (264-146 B.C.E.) left land and wealth in the

Notes: continued ... (NPR, 3/9/17). Finland was the first to grant women suffrage (1909), the U.S. in 1921, the U.K in 1928,Equality was not yet theirs although women every- Saudi Arabia in 2015. Today, women all over thewhere continued to demand it. Some by writing, world unite against gender prejudice as they did sosuch as Jane Austin and the Brontȅ sisters who many millennia ago, in the hope of at last gainingwrote of women and social issues, and others by equality.joining feminist groups like the Women’s ChristianTemperance Union and the National Woman Suf- Never underestimate the power of a woman —frage Union. They also led rebellions such as the or 100 (Emma Gray, Damon Dahlen).Nigerian women who gathered in the early 20th century toprotest government policies (Materiait al., The Women’s South Korean woman inWar of 1929). In London, just after WWI, women front of riot police duringwent on strike to demand equal pay. They had held the anti-governmentmen’s jobs while the men were at war, and many protest, Associatedcontinued to work alongside the returned soldiers Press, April 24, 2015.but for lower wages because government officialsinsisted that women were less productive. Currentlyno country has agreed to equal pay for equal workalthough Iceland is considering a law to require itNew College Public Archaeology Lab Time Sifters volunteers analyzing shells from the Phillippi Estate midden. 69th Annual Florida Anthropological Society Meeting May 5-7, 2017 - Jacksonville, FloridaThe Archaeology Lab at the University of North Florida (UNF), with the support of the ArchaeologicalInstitute of America – Jacksonville Society is honored to host the 69th annual meeting of the FloridaAnthropological Society (FAS). Situated amid woodlands, beautiful lakes, and nature trails, the meetingpresentations and related events will be held on the UNF campus in Jacksonville. UNF is located within10 miles of both the Atlantic Ocean and Downtown Jacksonville.REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN: The general cost is $50 and a student rate of $20 is also available.Regular registration deadline has been extended to Friday, March 24th, after which late registration feesgo into effect ($60 for general and $30 for student).For all the conference information including hotel, reception, banquet, keynote speaker, and a greatchoice of site tours, check the FAS website: http://www.FASWEB.org.

Membership Speakers & Events CalendarLifetime: $200 All to be held at 6:00 PMIndividual: $25 Selby Library, 1331 First St., Sarasota 34236Family: $35Sustaining: $50 April 19Student: $10 “The Dating Game: Palmer Mound Pots & People” Maranda Kles, Ph.D., Assistant Professor,Pay online at: University of Louisiana at LafayetteWWW.TimeSifters.orgOr mail checks to: May 17Time Sifters, Inc. Etowah Indian Mounds, Carterville, GAPO Box 5283 Dr. Adam King, Research Associate Professor, University of SCSarasota, FL. 34277 Time Sifters Archaeology Society A Chapter of the Florida Anthropological Society http://timesifters.org/Time Sifters Archaeology SocietyP. O. Box 5283, Sarasota, FL 34277