St. Augustine Archaeological Association - SAAA

05/06/2026

Our last SAAA member meeting until September. The usual interesting update from Chuck Meide, Director of the St. Augustine Lighthouse Archaeological Maritime Program in his 20th year at the Lighthouse! Info on shipwrecks and even some terrestrial lighthouse keeper archaeological units.

We also mentioned our 2026 ELEF scholarship awards: Jazmin Adams, senior, Flagler College, $1000 toward tuition -She will be working with Dr. Lori Lee on identifying, analyzing, and cataloguing the artifacts recovered from Fort Mose.
And Daniella Furtado, 2025 Master of Arts in Global Maritime Archaeology at the University of Malta, $1000 toward Lighthouse Archaeological Maritime Program (LAMP) field school costs working with Chuck Meide.

See you in September!

04/24/2026

Happy National Historic Marker Day on Friday!!!

St. Augustine is home to many historic markers all throughout the city. They provide tourists and locals alike with knowledge about our city that may not be widely known. St. Augustine’s historical markers offer a wide array of history from the first landing in 1565 to the first free black fortification, from sieges on the town to Henry Flagler and his grand hotels.

The St. Augustine Archaeological Association has quite a few historic markers located throughout the city showcasing some of the exciting work the city archaeological program has done with our volunteers over the past decades.

One of our first historic markers was for Nuestra Señora de los Remedios (Our Lady of Remedies) on Aviles Street. This historic marker recognizes the original wooden church that stood here from 1574-1702, when the British burnt down much of the city, including the church.

Our latest historic marker was for the Young Avenue site located in the current Alligator Farm parking lot. This site contains centuries of history, from the thousands of years the Timucuan people lived on the land through the Spanish colonists discovering coquina, which would later be used to build the Castillo de San Marcos and many buildings throughout the city. This is also the site where former city archaeologist Carl Halbirt uncovered the now famous disarticulated donkey.

Our Historic Marker Committee, led by our Vice President Bob Maerz, has done incredible work on our historic markers and we look forward to seeing the next site they choose. The SAAA Historic Markers program wouldn't be possible without your donations and participation in the 50/50 raffle at our monthly meetings. If you are interested in learning more about our historic markers, or making a donation to the historic marker committee, more information, including a list with their locations can be found on our website, staugarch.org.

04/16/2026

On Monday, April 20th at 5pm, the City of St. Augustine Archaeology Program will be hosting a public meeting with past and current members of the Lincolnville community. This community workshop aims to hear how segregated schools played a role in the Black community—directly from those who lived through it!

04/14/2026

The Archaeological Institute of America—Jacksonville Society will meet at noon on April 18, 2026, in Building 51 at the University of North Florida to hear a lecture by Dr. Zachery Dunseth, Associate Professor of Anthropology and the Kershaw Chair of the Archaeology of Ancient Israel and Neighboring Lands at the University of California at San Diego. The title of his lecture is “Dung and Copper: Environmental archaeology at the macro- and microscale.” His talk will focus on the earliest waves of large-scale settlement in the Negev during the Early and Intermediate Bronze Ages spanning the rise and fall of urban cities to the north and the “Megadrought” 4.5 thousand years ago. He will report on the results of his investigations into subsistence, animal rearing, and the copper industry across Negev sites. The lecture is free and open to the public. Complimentary refreshments will be served afterwards in the Anthropology Lab. On Saturday, parking is free, and the staff/faculty/vendor spaces are available to everyone. For more information, contact Melva Price at (904)241-9411 or [email protected].

04/14/2026

FLorida Public Achaeological Network presenters at last week's SAAA meeting with Sarah Miller, Emily Jane Murray, Robbie Boggs, and Maria Fortunate. We had a lively discussion and note Sarah's 20 years at FPAN!

03/28/2026

URGENT HELP WANTED!
We currently have openings for the following positions at SAAA:
**Webmaster- we are looking for a volunteer to train with our current webmaster, in order to take over the position by January 2027.
**Tour & Events Coordinator- Plan and arrange off-site trips and events for the membership. An example includes our recent field trip to Fort Mose.
**Director at Large (Board Member)- Attend monthly Board meetings and help shape the future of the Association.

03/26/2026

Time is running out…The Eugene Lyon Education Fund grant applications are due on April 3rd. We’d love to see a great history or archaeology research effort be funded! The grant guidelines and application can be found on our website.

The Eugene Lyon Education Fund Funding provides support for research across all disciplines of archaeology, anthropology and history relating to St. Augustine or Northeast Florida.

03/21/2026

A Deep Indigenous History of Northeastern Florida Through Archaeology
March 25 @ Univ. of North FL
Presented by Dr. Keith Ashley, Associate Professor of Anthropology,
Allen Lastinger Center for Florida History Speaker Series In-Person
As part of the University of North Florida’s America 250 celebration, the Allen Lastinger Center for Florida History is hosting an interdisciplinary speaker series examining various aspects of Florida history.
Northeast Florida has a deep and rich Indigenous history, yet it remains under-publicized and underappreciated. This presentation draws on local archaeological evidence to explore our region’s 13,000-year Indigenous past.
Related LibGuide: Allen Lastinger Center for Florida History by Hilary Streifer
Date: Wednesday, March 25, 2026
Time:5:00pm - 6:00pm
Allen Lastinger Center for Florida History: Reading Room (Map )

03/17/2026

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

This glass wine bottle seal was made by high-end wine merchants Carrothers and Wilson operating out of Dublin, Ireland, in the 18th century. Their partnership was very brief, and the company declared bankruptcy in 1785 or 1786, making this find a great temporal marker for the trash pit it was found in.

After this seal was found in 2019, the Florida Public Archaeology Network - Northeast & East Central Regions scanned it using photogrammetry. It can now be viewed online (and printed) as a high-resolution 3D model: https://skfb.ly/otz7y

We have several 3D prints of this wine bottle seal—expertly painted to look like the original—that are used in our teaching collection for students.