Archaeology Lecture Series: Archaeology of Early Contact & FL Mission Sites
Thu Apr 19, 7:00 PM - Thu Apr 19, 8:00 PM

The Marion County region of northern central Florida was the location of three of the Timucuan chiefdoms Ocale, Potano and Acuera, referred to in accounts of the Hernando de Soto entrada, as well as several seventeenth-century mission sites. Claims were made in the popular press in 2012 that the so-called "White Ranch Site", 8MR3538, in this region represented the early contact and mission-era site of Potano. Long-term research at the Hutto/Martin Site (8MR3447) and the Richardson Site (8AL100) has confirmed that these sites represent genuine early contact and mission sites, while archaeological study at the purported "White Ranch Site" revealed no precontact, early contact, or mission-era site ever existed there. The results of study at these and other sites will be presented, and avenues for future long-term research in this region discussed.

The featured speaker for this lecture will be Dr. Willet A. Boyer III of the Aucilla Research Institute. This program is sponsored by the Central Gulf Coast Archaeological Society, and the Alliance for Weedon Island Archaeological Research and Education.