Spring Surprise: The Lessons Learned and Unexpected Results of the Chassahowitzka Headsprings Archaeological Assessment and Monitoring Project

Summary

In 2013 SEARCH conducted underwater archaeological investigations and monitoring at the Chassahowitzka Headsprings restoration project in Citrus County, Florida. Although the initial underwater survey yielded a sparse artifact count, hundreds of artifacts were recovered during the monitoring of commercial diver's as they removed substantial amounts of algae, detritus, and cultural materials from the springhead with 6-inch induction dredges. Diagnostic and rare artifacts include a Suwannee Paleoindian projectile point; a bone fishhook; an intact Pasco Plain bowl (Woodland aged); 17th Century Spanish majolica fragments; a hand-carved, radiocarbon-dated prehistoric wooden paddle; a large radiocarbon-dated prehistoric wooden fin effigy; and over 100 soda bottles dating from 1885 to present. The project is important not only for the cultural materials it produced, but for the lessons learned; the results of which will undoubtedly influence future compliance work in Florida springs. Many springs in Florida are slated for similar restorations.

SAA 2015 abstracts made available in tDAR courtesy of the Society for American Archaeology and Center for Digital Antiquity Collaborative Program to improve digital data in archaeology. If you are the author of this presentation you may upload your paper, poster, presentation, or associated data (up to 3 files/30MB) for free. Please visit http://www.tdar.org/SAA2015 for instructions and more information.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• The Geoarchaeology of Submerged, Intertidal, And Wetland Places: Advances In Method And Theory of Prehistoric Archaeology Underwater 2015 -- Part 2   •
• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage