St. Augustine Archaeological Association - SAAA

09/03/2026

Highlights from our September meeting. Informative speaker Della Scott-Ireton, Associate Director FPAN. Also, another farewell and presentation to Nick McAuliffe and Cynthia.

08/20/2026

08/19/2026

Last night’s celebration with Nick and Cynthia McAuliffe as they soon embark on their long road trip to settle in San Diego, CA to live near loved ones. Their friends wish them well and we will miss them. ¡Buen viaje! and Bon Voyage! and Buen Camino! The citation from Mayor Nancy Sikes-Kline, Mayor of St. Augustine reads, “In Recognition of the many years of dedicated service and leadership to the St. Augustine Archaeological Association. Nick served as a former President and Treasurer and was the creative visionary behind the Eugene Lyon Education Fund. Both of you have made a lasting impact to the SAAA organization and the people it serves. We extend our deepest gratitude for Nick and Cynthia’s support, friendship, generosity, and enduring connection to St. Augustine. Your legacy will remain a valued part of our community for years to come.”
Camino photo during the 2015 St. Augustine archaeological trip to our sister city, Avilés, Spain.

08/11/2026

Northeast Florida college students, this is a great opportunity to learn more about diverse skills and potential fields of study in archaeology!

Are you a college student interested in pursuing archaeology? Are you interested in learning more about the field before committing to a field school? Join us this fall for our 2026 ArchaeoBootCamp Skills Weekend program! Free and open to college students! Registration is now open: https://www.fpan.us/projects/bootcamp/

08/03/2026

The Archaeological Institute of America—Jacksonville Society will meet at noon on Aug. 15, 2026 in Building 51 at the University of North Florida to hear a lecture by Dr. John Kantner Senior Associate Provost at UNF. The title of his lecture is “Boundedness and Borders in the Chaco World.” Borders and boundaries of ancient sociopolitical entities are difficult to find archaeologically. In this illustrated talk, Kantner shares recent research he has conducted to identify the borders of the Chaco World, a mysterious tradition that was centered on Chaco Canyon 2,000 years ago in what is now northwestern New Mexico. Using data from pottery, obsidian, and architecture, Kantner presents the history of a Chaco World borderlands area and what it suggests about how this sociocultural tradition evolved over time. The lecture is free and open to the public. Complimentary refreshments will be served afterwards in the Anthropology Lab. On Saturdays, 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].

07/27/2026

Another perspective: do you like cool shipwrecks? Would you like them to stay preserved? The current proposed updates to Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act will jeopardize them, too. Be ready to voice your opinion when the 30-day public comment window opens!

07/25/2026

🚨If you care about historic resources and archaeological sites, please read this!🚨

The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation is currently considering significant revisions to the regulations that implement Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. This federal legislation currently ensures that projects with federal involvement must consider impacts to cultural resources and sites during project planning. This process brings together federal agencies, Tribal Nations, State Historic Preservation Offices (SHPOs), local governments, preservation professionals, and the public to identify and consider places that matter to communities.

If allowed, the proposed changes will substantially reduce opportunities for consultation and public involvement in the review process. This would place the decision making about historic properties strictly in the hands of the federal agencies and REMOVE States, Tribes, Descendants, and Local Communities from the process.

🚩What does this mean for the people of St. Augustine, St. Johns County, and the rest of the country?
👎🏼 Significantly less protections for archaeological sites that will be impacted by development projects
👎🏼 Eliminated, limited, or shortened opportunities to voice concern about the destruction of cultural resources
👎🏼 If public consultation would delay development projects, they will be excluded from the process
👎🏼 Even if resources in need of protection are identified, federal agencies can ignore them to reduce review time and project cost

🚩What types of “development” projects are we talking about?
St. Johns County is the fastest-developing county in Florida. Any development projects that are carried out, funded, permitted, licensed, or approved by a federal agency were required to undertake the Section 106 process. Some examples of projects would be: wetland infilling, highway development, bridges, infrastructure, projects on federal land, cell towers, gas pipelines, railroads, modifications to shorelines, and dredging…just to name a few.

🚩What do we need to do?
We have only a 30-day window for the public to comment on these revisions. While the window is not yet open, we want to make sure everyone understands what we stand to lose if this is allowed. We will share updates when public comment is opened!

To read a more comprehensive analysis from the American Cultural Resources Association - ACRA about the proposed updates to Section 106, please visit the link below.

https://acra-crm.org/achp-draft-proposed-regulations-an-analysis/?fbclid=IwdGRjcATR0dNwZG9mBWZkaWQWULPOb4Z9YXH6kytSVm2g78KQv2HUeGV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkCjY2Mjg1NjgzNzkAAR73X5XFoAeT7Pmhiym9Dlsfis1dOPvhzpmxH4EQTz_dn15Bkg4UQrsJcnAtYA_aem_B272H9aJWBaq3o8XHlnwNA

ACHP Draft Proposed Regulations: An Analysis by [email protected] | Jul 24, 2026 | ACRAsphere | 0 comments A preliminary assessment of the ACHP’s proposed overhaul of the 800 regulations that implement Section 106 finds that the changes will lead to more project delays, more confusion about the ...

07/15/2026

There’s always something new to learn in St. Augustine!

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!