Florida Archaeology Month 2018: Heritage at Risk

It's finally that time again - like Christmas, planning a wedding and moving all at one! That's right - it's Florida Archaeology Month!! We'll be hitting the streets hard to spread the word about Florida's buried past and hand out some fantastic posters and bookmarks. For a complete list of all FAM events, check out the newly designed FAM website.


This year's Florida Archaeology Month theme is Heritage at Risk. But, you may ask, what exactly does that mean? Archaeological sites are threatened and being impacted by a variety of natural and human causes. One of the biggest threats include impacts from climate change. In Florida, these include coastal erosion, increased and intensified storm events, and increased and intensified flooding. Archaeologists, historic preservationists, museum specialists, archivists and others are working hard to find solutions to address these issues before we loose important heritage sites. 


Learn more about the sites and projects featured on the poster:

The University of South Florida's Digital Heritage and Humanities Collections is working with the National Park Service to document important structures like the Castillo de San Marcos and Fort Matanzas using 3D technology.

The Seminole Tribal Historic Preservation Office is looking at how Egmont Key, an important site to the Tribe for it's role during the Seminole Wars, has changed through the years - and how it could continue to change in the future.

Don't dive? Don't worry! You can take a virtual tour of any of the sites on Florida's Underwater Archaeological Preserves or the Florida Panhandle Shipwreck Trail.

Archaeologists with NPS's Southeastern Archaeological Center have been working at Canaveral National Seashore to document and slow coastal erosion at sites like Turtle Mound and Castle Windy.

And of course, here at FPAN, we've been working on monitoring archaeological sites across the state through Heritage Monitoring Scouts (HMS Florida).

Words by Emily Jane Murray, FPAN Staff.