A Temporal and Spatial Analysis of the Preservation of Macrobotanical Remains at the Penny Site in Cape Canaveral, Florida

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Cape Canaveral Archaeological Mitigation Project (CCAMP) is an ongoing collaboration between archaeology faculty and students at the University of Central Florida and personnel at Space Launch Delta 45 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Phase II excavations at the Penny Site (8BR158) of late precolonial contexts provides the opportunity for advances within paleoethnobotanical analysis along the East-Central Florida coast. Previous paleoethnobotanical analysis of micro remains, starches, and phytoliths at the Penny Site has identified a variety of food plants, including greenbrier (Smilax sp.), maize (Zea mays), bean (Phaseolus vulgaris), and acorn (Quercus sp.). This study focuses on macro botanical remains collected through soil flotation of features and stratigraphic column samples to investigate further plant use at this site. Through statistical analyses, spatial and temporal patterns of plant remains will be uncovered and will be used to assess the distribution, preservation, and cultural use of plants at the site. This study will enhance our understanding of preservation of plant remains in coastal Florida contexts and better our understanding of footways that made up the subsistence practices of Indigenous populations that occupied Cape Canaveral.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 53987