An anthropology professor at the University of North Florida is leading a team of students in a 6-week excavation project within the Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve. 

The professor, Dr. Keith Ashley, and his team hope to uncover the deep and lengthy history of Northeast Florida by sifting through shell mounds and the surrounding area.

“We want to understand what it was like 1,000 years ago in Jacksonville, and you can’t do that by looking at just one side of the story,” said Ashley. 

His goal is to center and emphasize indigenous history in the area. “It didn’t start with the Spanish and French,” he said.  

The team is excavating large shell ridges and the surrounding area, uncovering pottery, fish bones, and shellfish that were discarded by the indigenous people living in Northeast Florida. They chose the Timucuan preserve because these shell formations are not seen anywhere else and can give good insight into what life was like thousands of years ago, according to the team.

Victoria Hayes, a UNF anthropology graduate, is working on her postgraduate degree at the University of Florida and is studying this location for her thesis. She said they’ve found evidence that the indigenous people were only living in this area seasonally and that the mounds could be ritualistic in nature. They’ve also found evidence of large trade networks between indigenous tribes from the Appalachia region up to Missouri.

“We’re getting little pieces of the puzzle each summer,” said Ashley. 

The team runs all of their efforts through the indigenous people still living in the area, the Seminoles, according to Ashley. They don’t move forward with anything unless they have Seminole approval.  

Cassie Marro, a recent UNF anthropology graduate, came to help on the excavation as a volunteer.  

“I’m not getting credit for being out here,” said Marro, “I just love to dig and I love being out here in the marsh.” 

Marro said she particularly loves being in the field because there’s a lot that can’t be taught in the classroom, and a lot of comfort and learning comes with real field experience. She said learning from indigenous history is important, and that Ashley does it the “right way.”  

Haley Walker, a junior at UNF, initially majored in history, but after joining the excavation team, she was inspired to add anthropology as a second major.

“This made me add anthropology as a major. I’d love to fit this into my career in the future,” said Walker.  

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