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Poetter Hall was purchased by the SCAD founders in March 1979. Classes began in September of that year.  
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Trivial Pursuits

Trivial Pursuits
 
Professor excavates stories of the past

Trench
Photo courtesy of Keith Ashley 
Colleagues of SCAD professor Keith Ashley, Ph.D., excavate a Native American archaeological site on Black Hammock Island near Jacksonville, Fla., Summer 2003.

By Monique Bos
Published: Friday, April 14, 2006

For Savannah College of Art and Design professor Keith Ashley, Ph.D., archaeology isn’t just a component of the anthropology courses he teaches — it’s a passion.

Ashley’s particular area of interest is Native American tribes who lived in northeastern Florida and southeastern Georgia during what’s known as the Mississippian period, A.D. 900-1200, shortly before the European explorers arrived.

“I have a long-term goal of trying to understand this area,” he said.

This summer, he’ll pursue his passion with colleagues from the University of North Florida at two sites near Jacksonville, Fla.

In June, he plans to excavate a shell ring located on Big Talbot Island, which is part of a Florida state park.

“It’s a massive pile of shells,” he said. “It’s about 30 yards across with a hole in the middle. The shells were intentionally piled up in this ring form.”

While shell mounds can be found from Charleston, S.C., to St. Augustine, Fla., this one is unusual in two respects, Ashley said. Using radiocarbon dating, archaeologists have determined that the other mounds were created around 2,000 B.C. The one on Big Talbot Island was dated at A.D. 1100 — “right in the middle of my era,” he said. “There’s no other one known for that time frame.”

In addition, while shell mounds usually served as garbage dumps, he theorizes that this one had a dual purpose.

“We think this may have been the result of ceremonial feasting. It may have served a ceremonial purpose,” he said.

To test this idea, he and his colleagues plan to excavate a three-foot trench through the middle of the ring “to see what its internal structure is like,” he explained. In addition, they will analyze artifacts they find in the ring, such as pottery shards and pieces of animal bone, to see if these items differ from usual household garbage of the period.

The shell ring was created by a tribe who identified themselves to later European explorers as the Timucua.

Ashley plans to spend July working in a national park, the Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve, on an island called Black Hammock, located just inland from Big Talbot. He and his colleagues have discovered a site with artifacts from several cultures and eras there.

“The park wanted to expand an existing boat ramp,” he explained. “National parks are required to do archaeological research before any development and not harm historic sites.”

In this case, the investigating team hit pay dirt.

“We think we found a 17th-century Spanish mission that was established among the Native Americans,” Ashley said. “It was documented to exist from 1684-1696 and previously had been located on St. Simons Island. When the English established Charleston and sent raiding parties to Spanish missions for slaves, this mission retreated from St. Simons to the Jacksonville area for protection from the fort at St. Augustine.”

In addition, they have found evidence from a thousand years of occupation by Native Americans prior to the Europeans’ coming.

“We have what we think is part of the structure of a house that’s been dated to A.D. 500,” Ashley said. “Houses were made out of wood, so we look for stains in the ground where posts were.” He explained that as wooden posts decompose, the organic matter leaves circular black stains in the earth.

“We have a portion of an arc-patterned trench with post markings,” he said. “It’s really piquing our curiosity. Structures are elusive because they decompose.”

Their findings may impact future development on the site.

“They were hoping to build bungalows. This will affect whether that gets done,” Ashley said. “Now that we’ve got good information, we’re going to go back and extract as much data as possible.”

After the excavations are completed, Ashley and his colleagues will spend time in the lab, studying their findings, creating documentation and writing up results for publication.

“The University of North Florida and the National Park Service let me use their labs,” he said. “We do pretty detailed analysis. For radiocarbon dating, we have to send off to a specialist.”

Part of what Ashley finds exciting in his work is the chance to learn the stories of people who were excluded from any written historical record.

“Archaeology can kind of give people a voice, especially people who were never documented in writing,” he said. “In this area, most of them were eradicated by disease. The last Timucua went with the Spaniards to Cuba, so there’s no link between the Native Americans today and those of the past.”

“In archaeology, we acknowledge that there’s a great bias regarding the material stuff, because not everything survives,” he admitted. Nonetheless, “Archaeology helps us get to what was going on.”


Students who are interested in volunteering at either dig this summer can contact Ashley at kashley@scad.edu.