Time Sifters Archaeology Society Newsletter September 2016

SEPTEMBER-2016 September Program September 21 - at 6:00 PM - Selby Library, 1331 First St., Sarasota 34236 Ground Truth: The Notorious Dozier School for Boys. Ben Montgonery Reporter, Tampa Bay TimesDear Member:Summer is over and Time Sifters has a great slate of lectures planned for the coming season. As a new andexciting innovation this year, we will be filming our speakers and posting their lectures to YouTube. So, if youare not able to make the lecture you will still be able to take advantage of our programming. But, we would ofcourse like to see your faces and fill the seats of the auditorium.Thanks for being a Time Sifters member!Sherry Svekis, President [email protected] 21, Selby LibraryGround Truth: The Notorious Dozier School for Boys.Late in 2008, five elderly men -- deaths at the school. But the questions. He got the attention offormer wards of the state of Flori- Florida Department of Law forensic anthropologists and ar-da -- stood before a microphone Enforcement's investigation left chaeologists from the University ofon the campus of Florida's oldest more questions than it answered. South Florida, who used ground-reform school. The stories they Were there really only 31 boys penetrating radar and found theretold about being abused at the buried in the clandestine ceme- were actually 55 graves. With thatFlorida School for Boys in the information, they convinced the tery on the campus? And how1950s and '60s, and about classmates state to let them excavate thewho went missing, were enough to did they die? Ben Montgomery, graveyard to try to find the truthcompel the state to launch a formal an investigative reporter at the and provide some answers for the Tampa Bay Times spent seveninvestigation into abuse and years trying to answer those relatives of the dead boys.

Notes from a Time Sifter There were no laws against torture, and executions could be horrific.Jails and History First millennium B.C.E. Neo- Assyrians peeled the skin fromHuman beings are social animals; put them. Ancient Roman prisons living prisoners. Tang Dynastywe need each other so we live were built underground and legalists (618-907 C.E.) practicedtogether in social groups. But used primarily as a place to keep Sha quan dao, slowly slicing intoeven in small family groups, such prisoners who were awaiting different parts of the prisoner’sas hunter-gathering societies, execution. At least one Roman body (Kai Wen, “Torture in Ancientthere were rules, laws that guided prison has survived; it was China”) and Near Eastern criminalsthe behavior of group members. called the Tullianum after its were crucified. There were no prisons inThe very basic laws (don’t murder, builder, Servius Tullius, the the Empire of the Aztecs. There,don’t steal) are universal. Thank- legendary sixth king of Rome. It criminals were either enslaved orfully, most people follow those later became known as the sacrificed atop a pyramid (Aztec-rules because we expect to be Mamertine Prison where the History.com).treated as we treat each other. most important political offenders Prisons were always harsher for theNevertheless, some people break were detained. It held Jugurtha, lower classes and inmates werethe rules and so humans long ago the king of Numidia in 104 almost always adult men. Womendeveloped punishments. Hunter- B.C.E., Vercingetorix, the lead- and girls were punished by thegatherers and small nomadic er of the Gauls in 52 B.C.E., and head of the household who couldgroups could shun an offender or in the 1st C.E., Saints Peter and beat, maim, or kill them withoutexpel or even execute a member Paul. In the 19th century, even raising the eyebrows of thefor a very bad offense. When Charles Dickens visited the public. The Greeks held parentspermanent settlements developed, Mamertine Prison and described responsible for their children untillarger societies created areas of “the dread and gloom of the pon- they became adults. Roman maleconfinement that became jails. derous, obdurate old prison” children were considered too youngThe word “jail” comes originally to be responsible for crime untilfrom Latin and meant “cage” (wings.buffalo.edu). puberty although if the court waswhich is really what a jail is. The ancient Greeks were not as convinced that the child was capable ofThere is no archaeological evidence for severe as the Romans and some criminal intent, the child would bethe earliest jails but ancient philosophers actually suggested treated as an adult (encyclopedia.com).records indicate that they were in rehabilitating prisoners (Plato, In the Middle Ages, English civiluse from very early in human history. The Republic). Their prisons were courts jailed male and femaleA four-thousand-year-old stele built above ground and family juveniles of more than seven yearsfrom ancient Mesopotamia orders visits were allowed but the prisons of age for even minor crimes likeimprisonment for a kidnapper were isolated and poorly ventilated. If petty theft. In 1629, a boy of eight(Code of Ur-Nammu), and the Bible a prison was not handy, the or nine was executed for setting firementions using dry cisterns for Greeks detained prisoners by to two houses. The United Statesprisons (Genesis 37:20). The Bible tying heavy wooden blocks to the borrowed English law but in thealso says that says the Egyptian prisoner’s feet (PrisonHistory.net). 19th century juvenile courts werepharaoh put Jacob into a prison All societies treated prisoners created with jurisdiction over children(Genesis 40.3) and we find that as harshly. Babylonian prisoners under 18, separating juvenile andfar back as Predynastic Egypt (6th might be beaten (Code of Hammurabi), adult offenders (R. Clark, A History-4th millennium) there was a hier- and ancient Chinese jails provided of Oxford Prison). Youth prisonsoglyph for “man-prisoner” so we inmates with only a rush mat for were established to rehabilitatecan assume they had a place to sleeping and a bucket for human juvenile offenders but the benevo- waste. Roman prisoners were lent intentions were often abused often chained to the walls, the and oppressive juvenile incarcera- ancient Egyptians tied prisoners tion is still common throughout the together around their necks world (ncjrs.gov/html). In spite of (Bible History) and the Philistines this terrible history, no society yet forced prisoners to grind “at the has discovered how to humanely mill in the prison” (Isa. 16.21). deal with criminals, male or female, old or young, without jails.

2016/2017 Calendar of PresentationsTime Sifters is excited about our slate of outstanding speakers this season. We have a wide selection of topics from recent toancient; from local to the middle east. We hope you enjoy it. If you miss one, you will be able to see a recorded version on ourNEW YouTube Channel. As always we hope to see you at the Selby Library.September 21 Ground Truth: The Notorious Dozier School for Boys - Ben Montgomery of the Tampa Bay TimesOctober 19 Slavery and Health Practices in 19th Century Virginia - Lori Lee of Flagler CollegeNovember 16 King Herod’s Palace at Masada - Dr. Derfler, Executive Director, Educational Resources, Inc.December Holiday PartyJanuary 18 Year in Review - Darwin Smith, Vice President, Time SiftersFebruary 15 Excavating the Byzantine Church at Tel Kerioth - Dr. Derfler, Executive Director, Educational Resources, Inc.March 15 TheResurrection ofCamp Lawton:theWorld’sLargestPrison -Dr. John Derden, Professor of Emeritusof History, East GA CollegeApril 19 Student Award WinnersMay 17 Etowah Indian Mounds in Georgia - Dr. Adam King, Research Associate Professor, University of South CarolinaOfficers: Board of Directors Copyright © 2016Sherry Svekis, President Time SiftersArchaeologySociety,Inc.,Darwin \"Smitty\" Smith, Vice Pres. Directors: Evelyn Mangie All rights reserved.Bernice Jones, Secretary Valerie Jackson Bell Sharon McConnell We send newsletters to peopleCaroline Reed, Treasurer Robert Bopp Saretta Sparer who have attended or expressedKaren Jensen, Membership Glenn Cooper interestin our lecturesand given us their email address.

Membership Speakers & Events CalendarLifetime: $200 All to be held at 6:00 PMIndividual: $25 Selby Library, 1331 First St., Sarasota 34236Family: $35Sustaining: $50 September 21Student: $10 Ground Truth: The Notorious Dozier School for Boys Ben Montgomery, Reporter, Tampa Bay TimesPay online at:WWW.TimeSifters.org October 19Or mail checks to: Slavery & Health Practices in 19th Century VirginiaTime Sifters, Inc. Lori Lee, Asst. Professor of Anthropology, Flagler CollegePO Box 5283Sarasota, FL. 34277 November 16 King Herod’s Palace at Masada Dr. Steven Derfler, Executive Director, Educational Resources Time Sifters Archaeology Society A Chapter of the Florida Anthropological Society http://timesifters.org/Time Sifters Archaeology SocietyP. O. Box 5283, Sarasota, FL 34277