"It’s not all Disturbed!": Perspectives of Urban, Municipal Archaeology in the Nation’s Oldest City in St. Augustine, Florida

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Urban Preservation Challenges in a Global Perspective", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Often called the Nation’s Oldest City, St. Augustine is the earliest, continuously occupied European settlement in the continental United States. In 1986, the City of St. Augustine was proactive in creating its own Archaeology Preservation Ordinance to protect its buried heritage. This ordinance is unique because it applies to both public and private properties and integrates archaeological review into the planning and building-permit process. Ground-disturbing projects are evaluated by the City’s Archaeology Program, which has the opportunity to investigate the urban past prior to construction impacts. Nearly four decades of municipal archaeology has dramatically altered the understanding about the city’s history, as well as created unique sets of challenges. Questions associated with archaeological context in an urban setting, collections care, long-term curation, impacts of heritage tourism, managing archaeological data, minimizing climate and development threats, and decisions about whose community heritage to preserve drives daily operations for this small, municipal organization.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Urban Preservation Challenges in a Global Perspective   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2023

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow