THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL FIELD SCHOOL

ANT 4823/4824

Download Syllabus (pdf file)

Summer Session A 2009 (May 11-June 19)

Instructor: James M. Davidson, Ph.D.
Graduate Teaching Assistants: Karen McIlvoy , Clete Rooney, Jason Wenzel
Meeting Times: Monday through Friday, Kingsley Plantation, Fort George Island, FL
Email: davidson@anthro.ufl.edu
Office Hours: on island

Course Description:
As part of this archaeological field school, you will receive training in controlled excavation techniques, field survey, instrument mapping, geophysical prospecting, artifact identification, and artifact analysis. All students will be enrolled for nine credit hours (ANT 4823/4824).

Site Background

Kingsley Plantation: Zephaniah Kingsley was a slave trader and ship’s captain who took as a wife Anna Madgigine Jai Kingsley, an enslaved girl from Senegal.

Building on our 2006 through 2008 field seasons, we will excavate within the interiors of slave Cabins W-15 and E-10, continue our excavations within the Sugar Mill, and begin the exploration for the lost slave cemetery.

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Course Requirements:  Participation in all field work, lab sessions, and lecture is required.

Grading:
Based on participation in field work, lab sessions, and lecture, but at my discretion, there may be one or more written assignments or quizzes over some material.  There will not be a final exam for this course.  

Required Texts for Course:
There is no required textbook, but the following readings are required.  They will need to be downloaded and printed off (or available via a laptop) prior to arrival to field school

Readings on Plantation Archaeology (downloadable pdf’s of articles; see below)

Required Readings:

Davidson, James M.
2007        University of Florida Historical Archaeological Field School, 2007 Preliminary Report of Investigations, Kingsley Plantation (8Du108), Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve, National Park Service, Duval County, Florida. Submitted to the United States Department of the Interior, National Parks Service, Southeast Archaeological Center, Tallahassee, Florida.    

Davidson, James M.
2008    Interim Report of Investigations of the University of Florida 2008 Historical Archaeological Field School: Kingsley Plantation (8Du108), Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve, National Park Service, Duval County, Florida. Submitted to the United States Department of the Interior, National Parks Service, Southeast Archaeological Center, Tallahassee, Florida.    

Orser, Charles E. Jr.
1998    The Archaeology of the African Diaspora. Annual Review of Anthropology 27:63-82.

Fairbanks, Charles
1974    The Kingsley Slave Cabins in Duval County, Florida, 1968. Conference on Historic Sites Archaeology Papers 7:62-93.

Baker, Vernon G.
1980 Archaeological visibility of Afro-American Culture: An Example from Black Lucy’s Garden, Andover, Massachusetts. In Archaeological Perspectives on Ethnicity in America, ed. Robert L. Schuyler, pp. 29-37. Baywood Press, Farmingdale, New York.

Otto, John Solomon
1980 Race and Class on Antebellum Plantations. In Archaeological Perspectives on Ethnicity in America: Afro-American and Asian American Culture History, edited by Robert L. Schuyler, pp. 3-13.  Baywood Publishing Co, Farmingdale, NY.

Fairbanks, Charles H.
1984    The Plantation Archaeology of the Southeastern Coast. Historical Archaeology 18 (1):1-14.

Wheaton, Thomas R. and Patrick H. Garrow
1985 Acculturation and the Archaeological Record in the Carolina Lowcountry. In The Archaeology of Slavery and Plantation Life, edited by Theresa Singleton, pp. 239-269. Academic Press, Orlando, FL.

Potter, Parker B. Jr.
1991 What is the Use of Plantation Archaeology? Historical Archaeology 25(3):94-107.

Howson, Jeane E.
1990 Social Relations and Material Culture: A Critique of the Archaeology of Plantation Slavery. Historical Archaeology 24(4):78-91.

Babson, David W.
1990 The Archaeology of Racism and Ethnicity on Southern Plantations. Historical Archaeology 24(4):20-28.

Orser, Charles E. Jr.
1994 The Archaeology of African-American Slave Religion in the Antebellum South. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 4 (1):33-45.

Young, Amy
1996 Archaeological Evidence of African-Style Ritual and Healing Practices in the Upland South. Tennessee Anthropologist, 21(2):139-155.

Fennell, Christopher C.
2003  Group Identity, Individual Creativity, and Symbolic Generation in a Bakongo Diaspora. International Journal of Historical Archaeology 7(1):1-31.

Davidson, James M.
2004 Rituals Captured in Context and Time: Charm Use in North Dallas Freedman’s Town (1869-1907), Dallas, Texas. Historical Archaeology 38(2):22-54.

Franklin, Maria
1997 “Power to the People”: Sociopolitics and the Archaeology of Black Americans.Historical Archaeology 31(3):36-50.

Kingsley, Zephaniah
1829    A Treatise on the Patriarchal, or Co-Operative System of Society as it Exists in Some Governments, and Colonies in America, and in the United States under the Name of Slavery, With Its Necessity and Advantages, By an Inhabitant of Florida. Reprint edition, Books for Libraries Press, Freeport, New York.  

Recommended Texts (not required):

1. Anna Madgigine Jai Kingsley: African Princess, Florida Slave, Plantation Slaveowner, by Daniel L. Schafer. University Press of Florida (2003).

2. Balancing Evils Judiciously: The Proslavery Writings of Zephaniah Kingsley, edited and annotated by Daniel W. Stowell. University Press of Florida (2000). 
 
In addition to these texts, there will be copies of textbooks on archaeological field techniques, and other reading on Kingsley Plantation and plantation archaeology at the crew field house, for you to check out and study.
 
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Food and Misc Supplies Fee:
A $500 check or money order from each student enrolled in the field school will be required to cover all food costs, plastic artifact bags, gasoline for the department van, film purchasing and film processing, cleaning costs for the clubhouse apartment, and miscellaneous supplies.  You cannot participate in the field school until that fee has been paid.
 
If during the course of the field school we run short of food, we may be required to request an additional and smaller supplemental fee (e.g., $20 per student).

Volunteers in Park Program Form:
Each student and volunteer will be required to fill out a “volunteer in the park” form.  This form is necessary, in part because it allows you to be covered by National Park insurance (e.g., workman’s compensation) in case anyone is hurt or injured on the site during the duration of the field school.

Food:
Breakfast will be largely self service, and consist of cold cereal, breakfast bars, fruit, milk, juice, etc.
Lunch will typically be sandwiches or similar easy to prepare food.
Dinner will be the main meal, and will be a hot dish with sides. 
We will likely have some vegetarians on the crew, so each dinner will have a veggie option.  The larder/kitchen will be accessible for evening snacks, etc. 

There are no vending machines on the park property, so if you have a favorite snack, etc, you may want to pack it along.
There is a convenience store about 2 miles away, down on Heckscher Drive (Hwy 105).    

Housing:
Students will be living in two houses provided by the National Park Service and Florida State Parks, on the island.  The historic Fort George Clubhouse will serve as our dining hall and space for artifact processing and lectures. Although we will only work weekdays, you have the option to stay on the island on weekends.    

We are receiving free housing, free electricity and water, use of some NPS equipment, etc., so we need to be very consciences guests and act accordingly.      
Save for two rooms, the residences for students have no furniture at all.  Each of you will be responsible for supplying your own bedding suitable for a camping trip or “slumber party.”  This would include a sleeping bag, extra blanket and sheet, pillow, and a small air mattress or foam pad. 
You will also need to supply your own bathroom and toiletry needs: bath towel, toothpaste, shampoo, etc.

Finally, PACK A FLASHLIGHT.  Loss of electricity is not unheard of. And it gets very dark on the island at night.

Clothing:
Summers are hot in Florida, and especially so when digging all day in the sun.  The best excavation attire is light, loose summer style clothing.  Since we are on a national park in a highly visible location where tourists will be observing our work, socially inappropriate or revealing clothing cannot be worn.

Field Equipment and supplies
You will be responsible for supplying:
Personal Water bottle or canteen, Gloves, Kneeling pad (if desired), Insect repellent, Sunscreen, Hat; any prescription or over-the-counter medications that you take on a routine or daily basis.

Optional Field equipment:
We will supply all basic excavation equipment for use during the field school.
But you may wish to purchase the following equipment to begin building your own “dig kit”:
Marshalltown Trowel (5 inch pointing); Compass (orienteering style; liquid filled, with azimuth ring); Folding rule (metric); Tape measure (3 meters; locking; metric); Root clippers; Line level (spirit level); Camera (film or digital, for personal use).

Travel to and from Kingsley Plantation:
For those students who do not have their own vehicles or do not wish to drive, we can provide transportation for a limited number of students (approximately 8) to the Island on Week 1, Day 1, and will additionally be driving the van back to Gainesville on some weekends.  
The first week, on Monday May 11, we will meet on campus in the parking lot of Turlington Hall (intersection of Buckman Drive and Union Road) at 7:00 am, and will depart for Jacksonville no later than 7:30 am.  We will arrive at Kingsley Plantation at approximately 9:45 am. 
If you will be riding in the University vehicle, you must inform me of this before the morning of Monday, May 11.      
For those of you driving your own vehicles, you may caravan with us, or leave separately, but plan to arrive at Kingsley Plantation no later than 10:00 am on the morning of Monday, May 11.  We will meet at the park headquarters before walking out the site.  

Directions to the Field School:
Kingsley Plantation National Park is located off of A1A/Heckscher Drive, ½ mile north of the St. John’s Ferry Landing, on Fort George Island.

Driving Directions to Kingsley Plantation

From I-95 north of Jacksonville:
Traveling from the north via Interstate 95, exit at Florida Route 9A (Exit #362). Exit at Heckscher Drive, turn left. Continue on Heckscher. After passing the St. Johns River Ferry landing on your right, turn left at the brown National Park Service sign onto Fort George Island. Follow the signs; the road leads directly to the Kingsley Plantation parking lot. You will travel down a two-mile dirt road.

From I-95 south of Jacksonville:
Traveling up the east coast of Florida via Interstate 95 from the south, leave I-95 at Exit 340, Southside Boulevard. Travel north on Southside Boulevard approximately eleven and one-half miles and continue straight ahead as Southside Boulevard (then later as Southside Connector) merges with Florida Route 9A. Continue north on 9A as it crosses the St. Johns River via the Napoleon Bonaparte Broward Bridge at Dames Point. After crossing the bridge, take the first exit, turning right (eastbound) on Heckscher Drive, Florida Route 105. Travel approximately ten miles on Heckscher Drive. Then, after passing the Mayport Ferry landing on your right, turn left at the brown National Park Service sign onto Fort George Island. Follow the signs; the road leads directly to the Kingsley Plantation parking lot. You will travel down a two-mile dirt road. If you prefer to stay on I-95 instead of driving through Jacksonville, please see directions from I-95 north.

The actual physical address is:
11676 Palmetto Ave
Jacksonville, FL 32226-2449
(904) 251-3537

On Friday afternoon’s, the van will depart for Gainesville (Turlington Hall) around 4:00 pm, and arrive on campus around 6:00 pm. 

****NOTE****
For all other weeks we will drive back to Jacksonville on Sunday evenings, departing campus around 4:00 pm. 

You have the option to stay on site at Kingsley Plantation on the weekends, if that is your wish.  There are lots of things to do, including swimming and beachcombing at the Little Talbot Island State Park, which is the barrier island adjacent to Fort George Island.

You are also free to leave the site in the evenings (when we don’t have a lecture or lab), to go to a restaurant, store, attend a movie, etc.
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Preliminary Field School Schedule:

Typical week: Monday thru Friday

7:00 to 7:30 am Breakfast

7:30 am Leave for site
10:00 to 10:15 am Break
12:00 to 12:30 pm Lunch
2:30 to 2:45 pm Break
4:00 pm End of Work

Dinner 6:30 pm
Lecture 7 to 7:30 pm (some nights)
Artifact processing 5:30 to 6:30 pm, or 7:00 to 8:00 pm

Duty assignments:
1 to 2 students per day for kitchen detail.
Typically, 1 student will help prep; 1 student will help clean up
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Commuting Schedule:
First week: Monday, May 11 - leave from Univ of Florida campus by 7:30 am
Friday -- Leave from Kingsley to UF campus 4:00 pm (arrival circa 6:00 pm)

All other weeks:
Return to Kingsley from Univ. of Florida campus; depart Sundays at 4:00 pm.      
Fridays -- Leave from Kingsley to UF campus 4:00 pm (arrival circa 6:00 pm)

Grading: