Excavations at the Ruth Smith Mound (8Ci200)

"Indians, Colonists, and Slaves: Essays in Memory of Charles H. Fairbanks", edited by Kenneth W. Johnson, Jonathan M. Leader, and Robert C. Wilson. Florida Journal of Anthropology Special Publication No. 4, 1985. FASA, Department of Anthropology, U. of Florida, Gainesville., 1985

1986

1987

The Florida Anthropologist, 1989

Florida Scientist, 1985

Florida Anthropologist, 1996

2008

This report presents the results of an archaeological survey and evaluative testing of the Bayshore Homes archaeological site in Pinellas County, Florida. The Bayshore Homes site proper is recorded in the Florida Master Site File as 8PI41 and consists of two burial mounds, a flat-topped platform mound, and a large shoreline midden. Recent investigations, however, have expanded the site complex to include the adjacent midden at Abercrombie Park (8PI58) and the Kuttler Mound (8PI10650), a large shell mound situated between Abercrombie Park and the Bayshore Homes midden. the report summarizes previous excavations at the site by William Sears and presents new data on settlement layout, site formation, chronometric dating, subsistence, ceramics, and lithic, shell, and bone artifacts.

2011

This report presents the results of Phase III excavation and data recovery at 8LA243, also known as the Montverde site, located in the town of Montverde in Lake County, Florida. The site was a relatively permanent habitation site that occupied primarily during the Terminal Late Archaic and Early St. Johns I periods, or between about 3650 to 2320 calibrated years B.P. (cal 1700-370 B.C.). In addition, one radiocarbon date from soot on a St. Johns Check Stamped pottery sherd returned a calibrated age of 760-660 B.P., or A.D. 1180-1290. This suggests that the site was reoccupied during the late St. Johns II period. Since St. Johns Check Stamped, the primary marker for St. Johns II, is not well represented at Montverde, it appears that this late occupation was not extensive. The faunal remains are dominated by freshwater aquatic species, specifically a variety of turtles and fish as well as alligator. Freshwater mussels are present but were apparently a minor contributor to the diet. Deer was the primary mammal that was hunted and consumed. Other animals that contributed to the diet are rabbit, raccoon, opossum, turkey, salamander, snake, and gopher tortoise. Botanical remains include nutshells of oak and hickory and seeds of the bottle gourd, saw palmetto, wild grape, wax myrtle, bedstraw, and wild grasses (Poaceae family). The presence of bottle gourd suggests the possibility of limited horticulture. Fire woods included pine, live oak, red oak, hickory, and walnut. Based on the seasonal availability of the various nuts and seeds recovered from the features, it appears that the site was occupied during the late summer through winter months. Although bioturbation and other site disturbances made the separation of the site’s various temporal components impossible, pit features, postholes, and postmolds in submidden contexts did enable some reconstruction of settlement structure for the site’s earliest intensive occupation. At least one fairly large structure, and possibly two others, was identified. Settlement layout appears to have been relatively informal with structures probably aligned along the top of the ridge overlooking Lake Apopka.